Personal transformation seems like such a big deal. 

We hear the words, and the first thing we think about is a series of long and drawn-out instructions tackling every area of our lives. It's no wonder people shy away from the idea without giving it a try.

The truth is quite different.

Personal transformation can reshape you completely. In fact, it should …over time. Believe it or not, trying to do it all at once is a surefire way to crash and burn. 

In this article, you’re going to find a list of small changes you can make to help carry you to the next stage of your personal transformation. These are grouped by category so you can find what you need quickly and easily. 

Health

Transform Your Hydration Level

We're all more dehydrated than we think. 75% of Americans have a chronic problem with dehydration. Keep a water bottle handy at all times for the best results.

Transform Your Walks

Park a long way from the door. Run short errands on foot. Get up and move around every chance you get for the extra exercise.

Transform Your Before Bed Routine

An alarm that goes off half an hour before you want to go to bed will signal you when it's time to begin your bedtime routine. No more binge-watching your favourite show all night!

Transform Your Pantry

Eating right is a matter of convenience. If you continually shop for good foods, you'll find good snacks when you're hungry. By the same logic, drop the junk food off the shopping list entirely. 

Transform Your Time at Your Desk

Sitting all the time is bad for your health on so many levels. Getting up to move around a little and fully stretch out your muscles feels good and keeps you from staying in one place for too long. Make a habit of doing this once every hour.

Transform Your Exercise

It's hard to get yourself to exercise, especially when you're always going it alone. To keep your workouts fun, grab a partner to exercise with. Make a point to do something physical, which also involves engaging with each other, such as tennis or frisbee. Do this at least once a week.

Work

Transform Your Work Connections

If your coworkers eat out at lunch, make a point to eat with them. If they sit in the break room with things from home, pack your lunch in the morning and make a point to join in. Mealtime is a great way to bond with the people you spend the day with and even allow some light networking.

Transform Who You Work With

We all have people we'd like to work with, either in a new job or maybe as a new client. Make a practice of reaching out every single day to someone new. Sure, people will probably say no, but all it takes is for the right person to say yes to transform your life completely.

Transform Your Response Time

How long do you sit on emails before you answer them? If you get in the habit of responding to messages quickly, you will keep them from piling up. But the bigger benefit comes from how other people will perceive you. Nothing impresses like a quick response.

Transform Your Workspace

It’s hard to build your productivity when you’re scrambling to find what you need or are working in constant clutter. A few minutes of cleanup each day will give you a better workday tomorrow.

Transform Your Availability

There's a couple of good habits you can build here. The first is to practice saying 'no' more often. Save your 'yes' for things that feed your passion or move you toward your goals. Or try telling the other person you'll check your calendar. This gives you time to ask yourself if this is something you want/need to do.

Parenting

Transform Your Reading

There's been so much said already about how important it is to read to small children. By taking the time to read books to your children every single night, you will transform their love of literature into a love of learning. You will also transform their bedtime routine into a relaxing time to connect with your child regularly. Bonus tip: every child, no matter how old, loves to hear a great story. It is a habit that can easily carry into their teen years.

Transform Your Conversations

Even small children love to know they are being listened to. Sit down and have a conversation with your child daily. Ask them about their day. Ask them about the things they think about. Then be sure to sit back and listen to what they have to say.

Transform Your Play

We all want to do cool things with our children. But time and finances don't always allow us to create great spectacular experiences of a lifetime. The good news is, you don't need them. Having fun is all about the time spent together being silly, exploring, being creative, and just having fun. These are the experiences your child will remember their entire lives.

Relationships

Transform How You Keep in Touch

If your personal transformation involves getting more social interaction, consider this: Putting a thumbs up on a pic or a few words on a post isn’t exactly keeping your friendships alive. If you want to have closer relationships with the people you know, you’re going to need to put the time in. A call or lunch out goes a long way to reconnecting. 

Transform Your Time Together

Transforming your romantic relationship is fairly easy. After all, you already enjoy each other’s company. At the same time, one of the biggest problems couples have is finding uninterrupted time to be together - just the two of you. By making a regular date night, you’re telling your partner you find them so important you can't wait to be with them. To optimize the night, make rules about phone use and conversational topics. In other words, no talking about the kids all night, nor should you be checking your phone constantly at dinner. It is a night about the two of you, no one else.

Transform Your Vision

How do you see the future with your partner? Long conversations where you discuss your dreams with each other are important to any relationship. Encourage each other in reaching your goals and look for ways to help them on their journey. Take time to build a vision of your future as a couple.

Transform Your Assumptions

The biggest conflicts we have in any relationship come from misunderstandings. Rather than fly off the handle, make a habit of asking for clarification. 

Transform Your Boundaries

Toxic relationships will derail any personal transformation. With this in mind, find a way to remove people who only bring you down from your life. Distance yourself from people who leave you sad, frustrated, or discouraged. If you can't end these relationships outright, at the very least, put a limit on how much time you spend with them.

Personal

Transform Your Attitude

An attitude of thankfulness will help you appreciate what you have and the people who have reached out to you. To cultivate this attitude, every night, make a list of five things you're grateful for. If your list includes people, consider ways to say thank you, maybe with a call or a short note on social media.

Transform How You Think About Yourself

It’s hard to build yourself up in the transformation process if you can’t accept when someone says something nice about you. Learn how to genuinely take pleasure in compliments by believing every nice word which is spoken.

Transform Your Passion

Nothing hurts us more than stifling the things we’re passionate about. Make a habit of indulging in something which gives you genuine pleasure regularly. Add your favourite hobbies or activities to your calendar to make sure you don't start shortchanging yourself on this time.

Transform Your Banking Habits

How often do you check on your bank account balances? Do you have a budget? Making a habit of working on your finances will make a huge difference over time. There are a lot of apps for tracking your money. Some banks even have pretty good programs to see where your spending goes. It should be pretty easy to find something which works for you.

Transform Your Mind

Read things. Learn constantly. As you undergo your transformation, you’re going to find all kinds of opportunities for improvement. Don’t be afraid to take a class, find a mentor, or even go back to school. Do what you need to give yourself the skills to succeed as you continue to move forward.

Conclusion

Remember, the changes that last the longest are applied in small stages. Make sure there is enough time between the introduction of each new piece to fully form a new habit.

So, while you want to transform every area of your life, you want to do it in a way that makes sense. Take your time on areas that have past triggers to weed out or complex emotions to sort through. 

On the rest? A handful of new behaviours are just the thing to give you some serious momentum as you undergo your personal transformation.