Skip to main content
Gillian McMichael

10 Personal Development Steps By Transformational Life Coach

30 Apr 2020

“ Gillian McMichael, a wellness coach & expert in transformational change, shares 10 steps to mapping out your journey to personal transformation. Learn more. ”

The universe is stripping us back, right back to our bare bones, to the fundamentals of who we really are. In these moments we are forced to face our reality, evaluate how we've been living our lives and more to the point, we are expected to learn from this experience. If we don't learn from this experience, then the lesson will be repeated until we do.

This is the time when we can choose to let go of our bad habits, the things that are not serving us well. We can focus on our well-being and start to cultivate a new awareness about the world, our families, friends and ourselves. We can reflect, we can learn and we can reconnect.

Many people yearn for personal transformation without knowing how to go about it, but the universe is giving us an opportunity to do that, just now. It is giving us a jump-start to make some major changes in our lives.

Transformational change is on its way, we've already started the journey, but even bigger changes will be thrust upon us. The life we once knew will not be the life we move into. We all have the opportunity to do something different, something even more meaningful with our lives if we choose to.

Now is the time to take the leap, to create the shifts in your life you want to make. To deepen your understanding of who you are and what you want. You may even be searching for your life's purpose. This shift will take place not only in your mind, you will feel it in your body and you will connect with it in your full consciousness.

Consciousness is the moving force behind all life changes, but it can’t help you until you offer it a direction. Having a desired destination is important as it helps us map out our journey.

I wanted to share my own road map with you. I want to prepared and ready for my transformational change and the next phase of my journey and I Invite you to do the same.

Step 1: Be Clear About Your Intention
To be supported in what you want, your intention has to be clear and focused. Don’t think, “I want my life to change.” Be specific and precise: “I want my job situation to improve,” for example, is a little more precise. But focus needs to be even sharper, such as “I want to be appreciated at work or at home.” Or “I want more responsibility and challenge.”

Step 2: Go Inside and Let Your Desire Ripen and Mature
In other words, meditate on your intention. With eyes closed, sitting quietly, get yourself centered. It may help to gently follow your breath for a minute or two. Visualise what you want to achieve. Don’t force the images and don’t fantasise. See the change you desire as clearly as you might see what your house looks like. Be realistic and calm as you see the new situation that you want to unfold.

Step 3: Feel Your Response to Your Intention
As you sit and mediate on your desired change, various feelings and sensations will come to the surface. Not all will be positive. You might feel resistance or discouragement or anxiety. By feeling the resistance inside yourself, you are getting closer to a realistic outcome that will be successful.

Step 4: Let Go of Your Intention
To achieve your life change, you will be making many small decisions in the coming days or weeks. You can’t predict what these will be. In fact, for most people, looking ahead leads to discouragement. They don’t see a clear path, and unknown obstacles are certain to crop up. To avoid this kind of self-defeatism, don’t try to predict the future or conquer the unknown. Let the path unfold, which means letting go.

Step 5: Deal With Your Resistance
This, too, is a place where many people falter. After seeing how much benefit they’d get from a life change, they find it too difficult to face their inner resistance. By resistance I mean the feelings that say “No” to your intention. These can be rooted in insecurity, past failure, inertia, doubt, anxiety - everyone has these resistances, including the people who successfully overcame them.

Step 6: Make a Plan to Overcome Obstacles
Sit down and rationally plan what you need to do and what is actually feasible. Find someone you can trust, whether it’s a confidant, spouse, mentor, or therapist. Pick someone who takes your life change as seriously as you do. Meet frequently, and share what’s happening emotionally, because your emotional landscape is bound to change as you undergo any major shift.

Step 7: Pursue Only What’s Feasible
With your ally or allies, make a list in three columns. In these columns you are going to assess what needs to change. Column 1 is about things you can start to fix. Column 2 contains the things you have to put up with—for now. Column 3 contains the things you have to walk away from. Take your time. Go back to your lists repeatedly, until you get a clear view of your situation. Only then should you act.

Step 8: Achieve Something Positive
Success breeds success. Start fixing the small things that you feel more confident about. Don’t tackle huge personal issues in your life. Chop away at them through action you can control. Ask for support from a friend a family member of even a coach.

Step 9: See the Project as an Inner Path
Even though you’re taking action, the real change will happen in your own awareness. Walk the path as an inner path; monitor what’s happening inside—a journal is a good idea here. By being self-aware, you give old habits and conditioning less of a chance to pull you backward. And if you do take a step back, note it, forgive yourself, and regroup. No matter what happens in the outside world, no one can take your inner path away from you.

Step 10: Connect with Higher Guidance
You need a connection with whatever makes you feel trusting and safe. Only with such a connection are major life changes achieved. For me, the path to the core of my being is through meditation, so I recommend it strongly. But it’s up to you to connect with your own core, the place where desires meet fulfillment.

Your mind, body, and spirit are designed for change. All you need is the self-confidence to know that you can choose any destination that matches your highest vision.

After that, the unfolding of success is a joint venture between you and the universe.