When it comes to time, people either run early or they run late.

You either are over-committed, or not stopping your prior activity soon enough. For the next seven days your task is to be early for everything. Bring something to read or work on, but be at least five minutes early for every single appointment and commitment. See how you feel at the end of the week.

People are either assertive, aggressive or passive-aggressive.

There is no such thing as passive-passive, so while you may think you are avoiding conflict, you are actually adding to it in an underhanded way. During the next seven days, choose at least three minor injustices that you would usually let ride and force yourself to bravely-but-gently address them. Push back verbally on the responsible party; no e-mails—just say it. See if the world comes to an end. If not, move on to bigger things.

Impatience costs you and you know it.

Take it from scientist Ernst Fehr, who said, “In experiments, animals often prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger rewards that are deferred—thus failing to maximize their total gain. Many people exhibit similar behavior.” Throughout the next seven days, select a coping behavior to use during impatient moments and commit to it. Choose yoga, deep breathing, singing, prayer, meditation—anything that helps you relax—do this quietly by yourself. Try it!

Be a better listener and discover a whole new world!

No really, concentrate on saying less for the next 7 days. Listen more, talk less, emote less. Just let other people talk for seven whole days. It’s fun! You will likely need to take notes or do something to distract yourself from your usual. Better yet, work on good questions you can ask to draw others out.

Make decisions on the BIG stuff to help your overall decision-making.

Right now you are probably overwhelmed because you are grouping ALL the decisions you are presented with into one giant, scary pile. You will feel much better, however, if you tackle a few big decisions right away. Those big “yes” or “no” decisions will likely either make the smaller ones seem irrelevant or become part of the new plan. Decide if you are renting or buying your next home or if you are going to get the MBA or not. You have seven days to go BIG or go home on at least one decision!

News Flash: You are not getting the whole story because of your resistant to change.

Believe it or not, the people in your life and work are most likely altering the truth to avoid conflict with you. They are either telling you less, sugar-coating it or simply not telling you things you might actually want to know. If you want the “whole enchilada” in life then you will have to be more open to change and work on making it less painful for those around you. In the next seven days, tell four people in your life that you are trying to be more accepting of change—then follow through on that statement. See what happens.