First 30 Days: The Book

Excerpt: Introduction

How This Book Works

Within The First 30 Days you’ll find nine principles that will guide you through any life change. These principles will help you understand what’s holding you back and will demonstrate how to take action and move forward. However, The First 30 Days is not a regimented thirty-day action plan that lets you sit back and tells you what to do. It’s not a twelve-step approach, either. If any of these did exist, I know one thing for sure: they would change! The First 30 Days is about a different way of looking at change; it’s about the creation of a new mind-set. Think of it as the ladder you use to climb out of a dark hole or as directions to the light at the end of the tunnel. The First 30 Days will guide you toward the positive in every change and will inspire you to love your life even more.

Each chapter of the book opens with a principle about change. We will discuss this principle in detail while introducing you to people who have gone through real-life changes. Each chapter also features action points to help you integrate the change principles into your own life. Moving through change requires action, and this is a place to start.

Finally, each chapter ends with the three most important things to remember—concepts that will help you today and going forward as you begin approaching life with a new foundation and understanding of change.

As you journey through The First 30 Days, remember that you are unique and so is the way you move through change. As I always say: you can take the bus, the plane, the train, or a surfboard to get to where you’re going. It’s not my job to choose for you; only you will know what’s right. Parts of the book will feel like they have neon lights above them, the things that really hit home, and others won’t resonate as strongly. Some principles may seem obvious, but before you skip over them, ask yourself if you have really integrated them into your life. And sometimes I’ll ask you to stretch or even “change” your mind, beliefs, and view of the world.