Courtesy William Daigneault, Unsplash

Charting a New Normal

Dawn Camacho
Nov 5 · 4 min read

5 steps to navigating a major change in 60-ish days.

Feeling overwhelmed with knowing the status quo isn’t working, that something in your daily hamster-wheeling is just too much, but unsure how to get to the other side? Did you know that it takes an average of 66 days to make a shift your new normal? Here are five simple steps to figuring out and implementing your revamped day-to-day, without falling back on the old way.

“The human brain is wired to favor routine over novelty, even if that routine is unhealthy.”- Courtney Lopresti, M.S., of Sovereign Health.

1. Set a benchmark: Think about 60-ish days from now. In your ideal world, where would you like things to be? Set yourself a clear, quantifiable, measurable benchmark. The more concrete it is, the more likely you are to achieve it. For example, rather than saying, “I’ll have more energy by then,” you might say, “I’ll be out of bed rested and clear by 5:30am, and will be working out at least 20 minutes per day, Monday-Friday.”

2. Break down tasks into tiny, bite-size bits: We often think of our projects and tasks as ‘one thing’ we need to do. For example- I know I need to donate all the clothes I don’t wear anymore. One thing, right? No. This involves setting aside time to go through your closet and drawers (even finding a block of time on your calendar can be one ‘bite’), trying on clothes, dividing in to piles (keep, give away, throw away, and, more likely than not, a ‘maybe’ pile that you might agonize over or want to try on for others?), deciding where to take the donations, and finding a time to do that. So break down one of your project into 5–20 minute components and tackle ONE today. Just one. Yes, it might feel too small. But you’ll do it, and your brain won’t reject it, the way it tends to do after we’ve taken on too much, too soon. And it works. By the way, that break down counts as one. So you just made progress. Great job. Don’t you feel lighter and more energized already?

3. Push your boundaries: Astro Teller, head of Google X, talks about making things 10 times better, rather than 10% better. (Read his and other tips of success in one of Eric Barker’s brilliant newsletters.) Think about that for a moment. How many times have you tried to take your current situation and improve it a little? I’ll get up five minutes earlier tomorrow. I’ll see if someone else can manage one of those meetings next week. I’ll watch two episodes instead of binging the series. When you make a decision to make a situation 10 times better you’re forced to overhaul the system. To flip the dominant paradigm. What if you got up an hour earlier, threw on a party hat, and celebrated the rising sun? What if all meetings got halted for 30 days, to see which really matter, or, at a minimum, got renamed to ‘parties’ and required cake and streamers? What can you do to flip the whole script on your situation?

4. Reward yourself: “Thus, wise advice for clients that is grounded in the neuroscience of motivation and reinforcement learning is to start behavior change with modest goals and reward even the smallest steps toward them.” — Elliot T. Berkman’s study, The Neuroscience of Goals and Behavior Change

Our brains work very similarly to animals — if your mind knows you will receive a reward or positive reinforcement for taking a step towards your goals, it will reinforce those neural connections. As Martha beck puts it,

“You’re an animal, and your motivational system works the way an animal’s system works. But you’re trying to apply an analytical approach. You put out a lofty goal and think you’ll just keep striving, and the only motivation you need is this vague idea that one day you’ll be fantastic. But to train an animal, you give high levels of reinforcement for very small moves. To train a killer whale to jump out of the water, you start by rewarding it just for coming to the surface.”

You don’t have to give yourself something physical (though chocolate ALWAYS works for me) — consider holding off something you love (coffee, checking in with Facebook), until you’ve done your mini-action of the day.

5. Get support: Yup. Accountability. It works.

Who do you generally turn to when you need support making a change? Most of us either bounce the ideas incessantly off the echo chamber of our own minds, or turn to a parent, partner, or best friend.

Turns out, there are at least three reasons those may be the worst people to turn to… .

  • They can’t help but see you through their (well-meaning) lens.
  • Once you know how they feel, chances are you can’t help but let it influence you.
  • They don’t tend to be experts at whatever you’re pursuing…

So find someone who can be neutral- who will not have emotional influence but with whom you can share openly — a colleague? A cousin? An old college buddy? Or a coach.

Someone whose whole job it is to be a sounding board and to share tools and resources for the ride. Need an advocate for your new normal? Let’s talk.

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Dawn Smith-Camacho is the founder of Whole Life Solutions. She serves as a speaker on navigating major change, mastering decision-making, and managing crisis and chaos, as well as a coach for entrepreneurs and professionals at a crossroads. Clients include ORACLE, The City of Los Angeles, VISTAGE, Intrepid Health, the LAPD, NACE, ILEA, WeddingWire, and UNICEF. She is currently booking for select keynote and workshop engagements for first quarter of 2020.

Dawn wakes up every day grateful to do what she loves and that working for herself allows her to squeeze in salsa classes in between sessions.

Whole Life Solutions

Tips, Hacks, Advice, and Inspiration for Living as Your Most Perfectly Imperfect Self

Dawn Camacho

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Whole Life Solutions

Tips, Hacks, Advice, and Inspiration for Living as Your Most Perfectly Imperfect Self

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