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1. Have a vision.You can't achieve something if you don't know what it is! Maybe you want to start thinking more positively. The vision will give you something to focus on and writing it down will help you stay on track.
2. Give yourself permission to be different... from how you've been in the past, and from what you think is expected of you. Answer the call from within to connect to what's true for you.
3. Begin where you are, with what you have. When you start a workout, a trainer will tell you, "If you can't touch your toes, reach for your knees. If you can't reach your knees, go for your hips." So do what you can. And then...
4. Push. When your mind says, "No!" you say, "Yes." (No, you can't think positively about that plane delay? Yes—two hours to yourself!—yes, you can.)
5. Lighten up your enlightenment. Transformation doesn't have to be deep, dark and mysterious. If you screw up, fine—laugh at yourself, learn and move on.
Iyanla Vanzant is the host of OWN's Iyanla: Fix My Life and the author of Peace from Broken Pieces.
From the August 2013 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
