You just need to believe it

KEEP ON

TRYING

Life coach Pete Cohen says that the first 10 times we try to do something new, it’s unbearable. Then it becomes uncomfortable. If we keep doing it, we become unstoppable. This is what we need to remind ourselves: it’s hard to do new things, but it’s not

impossible.

Andrea’s new book draws on her training to become a life coach. It includes a 10-day challenge to help you live a happy, confident life. Here’s a taster…

GETTING STARTED

Andrea explains the four things you need to have…

1. A JOURNAL I’m a huge believer in journalling: writing down our thoughts and feelings in order to understand them. I think there’s a link between the words that pour out of our brain and onto the page and the structure we then start putting together to change our thought patterns, habits and behaviour. In each chapter, under the heading Journal Time, you’ll find questions to ask yourself and content designed to help you get to know yourself and your life better.

2. A FRIEND Choose someone to go on this journey with you. Knowing that there’s someone who will champion you when you make a breakthrough, and cheer you on when you don’t feel like doing the work, will be a big help.

3. A COMMITMENT TO DOING WHAT’S ASKED OF YOU OVER THE NEXT 10 DAYS No one else can do this challenge for you, and that’s great news because it means that only you will have the breakthrough when, after 10 days, you’re fired up, brave, and ready to go out and get exactly what you want.

4. THE ‘YOU JUST NEED TO BELIEVE IT’ PLAYLIST Music has the power to change our mood, to give us energy when we lack it, and to calm us down when we feel overwhelmed. This free playlist (on Spotify) has music to lift your mood and inspire you and will get you charged up!

CHANGE YOUR HABITS

Day 3 of the challenge looks at your habits (good and bad!) and how changing some of the less-positive ones can be a catapult into a happier way of living. Andrea suggests this simple task:

‘Try spending 15 minutes a day learning something new. You might insist that you don’t have a second spare to think straight, let alone learn something new, but you do: 15 minutes is literally 1% of your day.’ She suggests listening to an interesting podcast or trying the Headway app, that condenses non-fiction books into 15-minute summaries.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Here’s another exercise recommended by Andrea…

‘Think about a time in your life – either something you’re living through right now or problems you foresee in the future because of the changes you’re making – and counterbalance your fear triggers with words of courage and reassurance.’ Try this:

✢ REPLACE ‘You’re pathetic.’ WITH ‘I’m trying my best’ ✢ REPLACE ‘Why are you even bothering’ WITH ‘I’m worth spending time on’

✢ REPLACE ‘It’s going to fail’ WITH ‘I’m going to learn something along the way’ ✢ REPLACE ‘You’re making a fool of yourself’ WITH ‘I’m prepared to – it’s how I grow’ ✢ REPLACE ‘You’re an embarrassment’ WITH ‘I’m unique’ ✢ REPLACE ‘What if no one likes it?’ WITH ‘I’ll keep trying until I succeed’

‘In your journal, write down your thoughts about these phrases. How will it feel to replace the negative, fearful, and unhelpful phrases with positive ones?

Doing this every day will normalise these thoughts, so that when fear growls (which it will always do), you’ll be ready for it with words that remind you of just how incredible and courageous you really are.’