3 steps to meaningful change

Three key steps can describe all of the meaningful changes in my life - including weight loss, learning to code, releasing my first album, and running a business.

Step 1: Make a start

At fear of sounding obtuse, the first step to implementing any meaningful change is to take the first step.

In 2021, I was daydreaming about my future life (I'm often guilty of doing this). Part of the daydream was me standing in front of a crowd of people delivering a talk... I had thought about public speaking on and off for years, and I decided now was the time to start taking action!

My thought process went something like this:

• Speaking in front of people...
• Lecturing?
• What experience do lecturers need?
• Teaching / tutoring?
• If I was a tutor, what would I tutor in?
• Coding, maybe music too...

For me, the first step to make that image reality was to simply write down subjects I might tutor people in. Before I knew, it I'd made a start!

Someone else might have worked backwards in a different way (public speaking, coaching, pitch competitions, etc). The point is that I did this in the way that felt most natural to me.

Don't figure out the first step, decide it

One thing that took me a long time to learn is that it's better if I don't think about this in terms of needing to figure out what the first step is before I can start.

If I look at it that way, I have something I need to go and find out before I can even begin. There's a right answer that I need to find first. Already, I have something I can fail at!

Instead, I tell myself that it's not about figuring out the first step, it's about deciding the first step. I can make the first step as small as I want to. It could be 10 mins of unbridled "what if?" daydreaming time. Or saying my idea out loud to a colleague, partner, or even pet.

Most of my first steps are done while out on a walk, or on a drive, or on my commute. I try not to think about "setting aside time" to "start" my ideas. Instead, I'll just slot in these tiny baby steps around other things in my life. Before I know it, I've begun!

This way, I can build momentum with ideas, so when I come to dedicate serious time to it, it feels real enough to justify.

Step 2: Learn from others

That momentum only lasts so long though, and at some point I need some kind of external push to keep it going.

Back in 2023 I had the opportunity to go to North Carolina for a music training retreat. I deliberated for weeks, not sure if I could really justify the cost and time out of work. But I did it, and it changed my life.

I met dozens of other international music producers like me, many of which remain collaborators and friends today. The biggest thing I got out of it was seeing how others were following a similar path to me, watching how they navigated it, and cherry-picking parts of that for my own journey.

Bake in serendipity

So, for me, there comes a point where change is no longer internalised and completely self-directed. Once an idea has begun to develop and grow legs, it needs to be let loose on the world - and the world on it. I need to look outwards, see the world in the context of my new idea, and adapt and change it as a result.

This stage isn't about relying on others to give you the answers. It's not about copying what other people do. I don't even really think of formal training as part of this stage.

It's about community. Putting yourself and your ideas out there, among your peers, getting in the room with people who align with you and inspire you, and intentionally cultivating space for things to happen.

Step 3: Get support

Since school I remember being overweight. And as I got older, I got heavier, until I was at my heaviest in my early thirties. (Not a coincidence that this was right in the middle of my burnout!)

For a long time the me I saw when I closed my eyes wasn't the me I saw in the mirror. Like many, I'd tried so many ways to lose weight and get fit over the years - but it was tough going, and always two steps forward one step back.

In April 2025, after my agency came to an end, I suddenly had complete flexibility over my work day. I decided now was the time to invest in a Personal Trainer.

In my first session, I gave my PT a brief that he said he wasn't expecting: "I want you to make me love going to the gym."

From that point on I started going to the gym 3 days per week, with his support and motivation. I can happily say that 18 months later, I can count on one hand the number of weeks where I haven't kept this up!

And, as it happens, I have lost a bunch of weight and am now the lightest I've been as an adult!

It takes a village

I could have asked my PT to help me lose weight, or get visible abs. But I wanted more enduring transformation than that.

Get support from people who are invested in you, in it for the long haul, and willing to help you really transform into the version of you that you know you can be. Trainers, advisors, coaches, therapists.

This support isn't necessarily forever - I stopped seeing my PT after 12 months. This kind of support isn't a crutch, it's a helping hand that lifts you up to the next step so you can keep climbing on your own.

Three steps for change

This 3-step process is such a consistent pattern in my life beyond public speaking, making music or losing weight:

• Learning programming solo, reviewing other people's open source code, on-the-job training.
• Starting a business, meeting other entrepreneurs at events, and hiring business advisors.
• Life! Moving out and forging my own path, meeting new people and building relationships, and investing in a therapist.

Because this is such a consistent pattern in my life, I decided to build Big Echo's services around it!

1. Free resources to spark that first step.
2. Community events and meet-ups to inspire you.
3. Projects to give you ongoing support.