4/28/2018 Strategies for Making Real Changes in Your Life

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Home » Spirituality » Personal Growth

Today @ Apr 28 / 13 Iyar 5778
Strategies for Making Real
Changes in Your Life
Design your personalized Spiritual
Fitbit.
Quote Photo

by Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

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I thought about his question and it struck me as compelling. We know

what we need to do in life, so why not just do it? Why involve outside
“shtick”? Isn’t it just a distraction?

#What gets measured, gets managed.

And then I remembered an excellent quote from the great

management expert Peter Drucker: “What gets measured gets
managed.”

“The value of wearing a Fitbit,” I told my friend, “is that it holds me

accountable to achieve my commitment and forces me to confront the
reality of falling short, rather than at the end of each day bluffing or
fooling myself about what had in fact transpired that day.”

Spiritual Growth

Across the world from Professor Peter Drucker lived another

management expert, only he specialized in personal management.
Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Hy”d, also known as the Piaseczno
Rebbe, was a Chassidic Rebbe in Poland who served as the Rabbi of
the Warsaw Ghetto and, after surviving the uprising, was later shot
dead by the Nazis in the Trawniki labor camp. Among his many
talents, he had incredible insight into human psychology.

In his spiritual diary called Tzav V’Ziruz he writes the following entry
(#15):

If you have been able to draw up personal rules for your spiritual
growth, consider this a success. But if you have not, then either you
have not devoted your life to personal growth or you are blind to your
own failures and successes.

Upcoming Holiday
Because the spiritual seeker who channels his efforts to his inner
world will inevitably be faced with difficulty and distraction – not only
external ones like supporting his family but also in his inner world such
as indolence, negative tendencies, destructive character traits, and so
forth – and because the spiritual seeker is constantly involved in this
Make the Omer Count
inner battle, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, he will by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
inevitably come to conclusions: which strategies work for him and Instead of counting "down" toward
the big day, we count "up" from one
which ones bring out his weakness. to 50. Why?

Daily Omer Meditation

So someone who cannot draw such conclusions is not engaged in the
by Rabbi Simon Jacobson
battle – he neither wins nor loses. Or else he is unaware of both his A practical guide to becoming great
in 49 days.
inner weaknesses and strong points. (Translation from Yehoshua
Starret) ABC's of the Omer
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
Essentially, the Piaseczno Rebbe says that when it comes to our The significance, customs and
mechanics of counting the Omer.
character, our personal growth and becoming the best version of
ourselves – what gets measured, gets managed. One cannot claim to
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care about growing spiritually and fail to devise a plan or a strategy,
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4/28/2018 Strategies for Making Real Changes in Your Life

set goals, and, most importantly, identify how progress will be Shabbat Candlelighting Times
measured. Jewish Calendar
Western Wall Tunnel Tour
Get a Study Partner
It is one thing to say you want to work on having greater patience and
being slower to anger and another to articulate a plan for how. Does
the plan answer questions such as: What triggers your anger? Why do
you lose patience? How will you learn to react differently? How will
you measure and track if you are improving in this area?

The difference between a desire to grow being just lip service and
empty words versus the beginning of real change is designing our
personalized Spiritual Fitbit – a Spiritbit.

Here are a few things to consider when programming your

Spiritbit:

Limit – Identify one or two areas you want to work on at a time.

Taking on too much at one time makes it overwhelming and
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intimidating, making it almost impossible to make real progress.
Be Real – Be realistic in setting the goals. Don’t pledge to make Freedom of Speech
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Accountability – Involve a family member, friend, or confidant in See More
holding you accountable for doing what you say you are going to
do. Choose someone trustworthy, kind, and who is more Suggest an article topic:
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interested in helping you grow than in catching you fail.
Schedule – Most businesses and companies have employee
reviews. A good review seeks to validate and accentuate the
positive while identifying and isolating areas that need Characters: 0 (Max: 1000)

improvement. Without scheduled reviews, it is unlikely time Your Email Address

would be taken to reflect and to plan. Put in your schedule

designated times to review your progress. Related Articles:

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your year. SH ARE S Everything in the world has the capacity to serve a
higher purpose, even mice.

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4/28/2018 Strategies for Making Real Changes in Your Life

But it won’t happen if you don’t design a Spiritbit, a mechanism to be

honest and to track results. This Rosh Hashanah, wear your Spiritbit
and finally become the best version of yourself.

September 17, 2016

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4/28/2018 Strategies for Making Real Changes in Your Life

About the Author

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg More by this Author >

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is the rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue.

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