You want to learn and grow and become better in the new year, right?

Well, if you're serious about it, let me share 4 questions and their respective keys that you'll need to incorporate as part of your transformation. Let me first set the stage.

ACTIONS

Every morning, you wake up. You get out of bed and do your morning routine. You do the things you do in the morning and that bleeds into the afternoon. You do the evening things. You get ready for bed and you go back to sleep. A typical day.

A typical day is made of a string of actions. You have them. I have them. Every person alive on the planet has them. When you think of it, our existence is simply a pile of actions.

To learn, grow, and become better you will have to go to the level of actions. Your personal growth won't happen on its own. It will require your active participation. Here are the 4 questions and keys that come into play:

WHAT DO I NEED TO STOP DOING?

Your learning and growth will mean you will need to stop some actions. The harmful ones are obvious. But it's the actions that have worked for you in the past that are the hardest to stop. The old saying is, "What got you where you are today will not be where you want to go tomorrow."

THE KEY is to make them hard to do. Self impose barriers and constraints so you don't slip into old habits.

WHAT DO I NEED TO START DOING?

Your learning and growth will mean that you have to start doing some actions you're not used to taking. You may be uncomfortable doing them. They may seem awkward, putting you at risk of failure or ridicule.

THE KEY is to make these new actions easy to do. Set up whatever tricks you need to make the new habits a part of your life.

WHAT DO I NEED TO KEEP DOING?

Your learning and growth won't impact everything you do. Some actions will remain the same. For example, you'll still need a morning routine. You'll still need sleep.

THE KEY is to separate these from the other three groups of actions so you preserve their continued healthy contribution to your growth.

WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?

Your learning and growth will mean that some actions will need to continue but take on a different form. For example, if you read a couple pages a day and your transformation requires more reading, you'll need to step up your game.

THE KEY is to carve out the time for your mental, physical, and emotional energy to do things a little differently.

Here's the deal. Only the courageous commit to change and follow through. I believe you are courageous. How can I say that? I believe everyone is designed to be courageous. Some people just choose to live a default life and not invest in changing and growing. You can tell if someone is like that when they say things like, "It is what it is" in a defeated tone.

AN INVITATION TO YOU

James Clear, author or Atomic Habits, has laid out a brilliant way for us to start good habits and stop bad habits.

It will be the first book we cover in the Serving Strong Book Club on January 7 at 12:00 pm EST. Because we are just starting the Club, we'll continue our study of Atomic Habits in February as well.

If you're interested in joining in the 45-minute conversation,

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

It's free.