Techniques to help you figure out how to make a big life change

Life Kit

NPR

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Kids & Family, Education, Business

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you been thinking about going back to school, starting your own business or moving to a new country? How do you know it's time to make the leap? Or a good idea? In this episode, journalist Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong, who's no stranger to big changes herself, shares exercises to help you make these life-changing decisions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from NPR sponsor, How to Be a Better Human, a podcast from TED.
0:05.0	Even if you're a self-help skeptic, you'll find inspiration to improve your life from fascinating
0:10.2	in-depth conversations with TED speakers. Find how to be a better human wherever you listen.
0:16.6	You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.
0:21.2	Hey, everybody, it's Mariel.
0:23.7	I had this idea when I was a kid, this fantasy, really, that one day everyone I knew,
0:29.5	my family, my friends, we would all live together in one giant mansion and we'd just
0:34.9	hang out and play every day, forever. We'd be happy and nothing would ever have to
0:40.7	change. Sweet, I know, but misguided for so many reasons. One of them is that change is constant,
0:49.9	right? Nothing stays the same throughout our lives. We get together and we break up. We get a job, then we leave it. We move to a new city, then move again. Make friends, lose friends, make more friends. We grow up. Our kids grow up. That idea scared the crap out of me for a long time. But lately, it feels like a blessing. That change is
1:13.3	always possible and is inevitable, really, because that means we have so many opportunities to try
1:20.6	new things and to start over. Art Markman is a psychology professor at the University of Texas at
1:27.0	Austin, and he's the author of the book Smart Change.
1:30.1	And he says we can create these moments of change whenever we want.
1:34.7	And something I've been trying for years is to create a new holiday, which is the day that you truly commit to how you're going to be different in the next year,
1:47.3	where you've done the planning and you've made the changes to your environment.
1:49.9	And I've decided it should be March 4th, because we're going to march forth into the new year.
1:55.3	I've been flogging that thing for years.
1:57.6	It hasn't caught on yet, but you never know.
2:00.1	So have you been thinking about a big change? Going back to school, starting your own business,
2:05.0	moving cities or countries, having a baby, devoting yourself to a new skill or hobby?
2:10.4	On this episode of Life Kit, how to get started. If you want to make a shift in your life,
	...

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