You change your life by choosing to, then designing it one area at a time. Transformation is a choice, and I call my method the 7 Steps to Transformation. Start with vision, mindset and being. Then stack action, autonomy, routines and your relationship to time, like building a house.
- Transformation is a choice, and you can make it right now.
- The 7 Steps to Transformation are vision, mindset, being, action, autonomy, routines and relationship to time.
- When you hear yourself say you lack the time, check your commitment.
- Pick one of the seven areas today and take one small action on it.
What are the 7 Steps to Transformation?
The 7 Steps to Transformation are the seven areas I focused on to change my own life: vision, mindset, being, action, autonomy, routines and relationship to time. Each one stacks on the last.
My dream was to work in sports and be creative. I spent a decade in sales jobs, moving up the ladder with more money and a shorter commute, and I always knew there was something more I wanted to do.
Then I left my corporate job, went all in on my dream and went to $0 overnight. That was the moment I realized I was in charge of every single aspect of my life. I went from an ad sales party bro to a high performing leader who loves every day, and these seven areas are how I did it.
With intention, anything is possible.
Is transformation a choice?
Yes. Transformation Is a Choice means everything you need to change your life is already inside you, and you put it to work by deciding to.
The phrase came from a conversation on my podcast with David Scheiner, a meditation teacher and transformational life coach. He said transformation is a choice we make every moment, and so is happiness.
I saw the other side of it on a call with someone who had just left their job to start their own company. Once they had funding and a few more employees, they told me, then they could be happy. I almost fell over in my chair. Happiness is a choice you make today, and so is your transformation. If I can transform myself, it is completely possible for anyone.
Literally right now you can choose to change your entire life if you would like.
Rob Cressy
How do you change your life step by step?
- Vision. Get clear on where you are going and what you are creating. I built a purpose statement, wrote a one year and a five year vision, and created a visualization practice.
- Mindset. Design your thoughts so they serve you. I worked on a growth mindset, a positive mindset and my self-awareness.
- Being. Create the story you tell yourself of who you are every day. Speak it out loud, feel into it and visualize it. This is the single most important thing I have ever learned.
- Action. Design your non-negotiables, the things you do every single day without fail. Turn your to do list into a get to do list and focus on small actions repeatedly.
- Autonomy. Design the rules for how you live so you steer your own ship. Build an autopilot where you perform at your highest level, then add consistency and accountability.
- Routines. Consistently do the actions that serve you, starting with a morning routine you love. I came from a life with zero routines, and this was a game changer.
- Relationship to time. Create a lens of the world where you have more than enough time to get everything done.
Step three has its own guide on how to change your identity.
What is Time vs Commitment?
Time vs Commitment is my distinction for the biggest lie we tell ourselves. Whenever you say "I don't have enough time" about something you want, the real issue is commitment.
I learned it at a checkup with a dermatologist. He asked about my toe, and I told him it was runner's toe from the marathon I had recently run. He said he had always wanted to run one. He got up to mile 21 and just didn't find the time to do it.
The longest run in my own marathon training was 21 miles, so he had done, in theory, all of the training. All he had to do was sign up for the race and run it. He had the time. The commitment was missing. Ask yourself four questions.
- Commitment Where are you saying "I don't have enough time" when you have yet to make the commitment?
- Strategy Which areas of your life have no strategy? Uncertainty leads to inaction.
- Focus Which areas are missing your focus?
- Excuses Where are you creating excuses? Look at the small ones first.
I write "cross the finish line" on my planner for this reason. When I start something, I finish it.
How do you keep going when you don't feel like it?
Execute beyond emotion. I heard the phrase while watching Ohio State play Michigan, when the announcer shared what head coach Ryan Day said before the game. Even when the gym is a lifestyle for you, some mornings you wake up and feel like skipping it. Your emotions will sometimes lie to you, and the times you execute anyway are the true gold nuggets.
Two things make this easier. Write down your non-negotiables, the foundation of discipline that lasts. Mine began with living a life of absolute positivity, because I asked what would help me accomplish my goals faster, positivity or negativity. Then find a coach and a community. Hiring my first coach and joining my first communities changed my life.
Do this today
- Create the space. Give yourself one hour to sit, reflect and ask, "What is it that I would really love in my life?"
- Pick one step. Choose one of the seven areas and take one small action on it before the day ends.
Listen to the episode
7 Steps To Transformation
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Read the full transcript
Hey, it's Rob. What I'm about to share has the opportunity to change your life. How do I know? Because it comes straight from my formula for how I transformed my life. It also comes straight from my Design Your Best Self personal growth program. I encourage you to listen to this and ask yourself if you would want more of this in your life, more freedom, more clarity, more peace, more being happier with what you're doing and who you're doing it with in all areas of your life.
Over the last 12 years of entrepreneurship, I've transformed myself from an ad sales party bro to a high performing leader that loves every day. So how did I do it? There are seven areas that I focused on that I'm going to share with you right now.
Number one, vision. Getting clear on where I'm going and what I'm creating. And for this, I built out a purpose statement. I wrote down my one year vision, my five year vision. And then I also created a practice around visualization. So often we hear about people who have vision boards. Boom. I created my own version of that.
Number two, mindset. Designing my thoughts in a way that serve me and help me get more of what I want in my life. So this is creating a growth mindset, a positive mindset, really working on my self-awareness, my self-accountability. And then as I learned studying improv and comedy writing, having a yes and mindset where I'm building up on others ideas all the time.
Number three, being. Creating the story I tell myself of who I am every day. This is my truth. The most powerful version of me. And this thing here is the single most important thing I've ever learned in my entire life. Because it is our ability to design and control the story that we tell ourselves and speak it out loud every single day. Feel into it and visualize it. It's called creating your being.
Number four, action. Doing more of what I love effortlessly and in flow. I design my non-negotiables, the things that I do every single day without fail. I reframed having a to-do list and turned it into a get-to-do list. And I also adopted a micro-actions mindset where you focus on small actions repeatedly.
Number five, autonomy. Designing the rules for how I live my life. Steer my own ship and consistently perform. One of the areas here is living on autopilot versus default. So much of the world just shows up and goes with the flow every single day. As opposed to saying, hey, how can I design an autopilot for myself where I'm performing at the highest level? Creating a standard for myself that I can do every single day like an autopilot.
I also designed consistency in how I show up because consistency is one of the keys to greatness. And on top of that, accountability. Boom. Being able to steer your own ship is very much about your ability to be accountable for yourself.
Number six, routines. Routines. Designing my best self by consistently doing actions that serve me. From the morning to the evening to fitness to reading. And this was a game changer of all game changers because I came from a life in which I had zero routines. And I've designed a life where I'm built on routines because now I know how to create the results for myself. AKA the best version of myself every single day by doing more of the things that serve me.
And number seven, relationship to time. Creating a lens of the world where I have more than enough time to get everything done. And once again, this is another game changer because for the majority of the world, time is something that we don't have enough of. We're lacking. Oh, I'll get to it someday. Oh, I wish I had more time. Not me.
I'm designing how I can create a relationship with time where I can have more of it. Where I'm dancing with time. Where time is a blessing. And on top of that, I'm also designing how to create flow in my days every single day. Where I just lose track of time because I love what I'm doing so much.
Each one of these areas stacked on top of each other like building a house. Allowing me to create a holistic life where all of my buckets are filled. While the inner work I did to get to this point was deep, the execution of any one part was simple. Because with intention, anything is possible.
So once again, I'll do a quick recap for you of the seven areas that helped me become a high-performing leader that loves every day. Number one, vision. Number two, mindset. Number three, being. Number four, action. Number five, autonomy. Number six, routines. And number seven, relationship to time. And I wanted to share this because I know what it's like to feel like you have more potential inside of you. I lived that way for so long.
Transcript cleaned up for reading.