To clean up your act

[tománo]

Hey guys, this is my first post here actually but I'm in need of a bit of help.

Is there a spanish idiom equivalent to cleaning up your act? Like uh, here's a sentence. "Once I realized I wanted to become a doctor, I decided to clean up my act." This would really help with my essay, and sorry if someone has already made a topic about this. I looked around a bit but failed to find anything. THANKS

[Tomisimo]

Hi tománo, and welcome

A good option for "to clean up your act" would be reformarse or maybe: (com)portarse bien, actuar bien, tomar la vida en serio etc.

Once I realized I wanted to become a doctor, I decided to clean up my act.
Una vez que me di cuenta que quería ser doctor, decidí reformarme.
Cuando me di cuenta que quería ser doctor, decidí empezar a portarme bien.

[sosia]

reformarse is good
other option "decidí cambiar de vida" (for good or for bad must be in the context)

for bad
Un mafioso:"una vez que vi que mi trabajo en un bacnco no servía para nada, decidí cambiar de vida"

for good
"Yo no estudiaba mucho.Cuando me di cuenta que quería ser doctor, decidí cambiar de vida"
saludos

[Elaina]

Bueno, tambien se podría decir que...

<Sentaste cabeza>

Cuando me dí cuenta que queria ser doctor, senté cabeza!

Elaina

[tománo]

thanks a lot everyone

[sosia]

Yes "senté la cabeza" it's a good option
saludos

[Naranja]

Para sosia:
Soy de México y aqui decimos "sentar cabeza"
A mi se me hizo chistoso leer "senté la cabeza"
Pero me gustaria saber de qué pais eres, probablemente en tu país mi frase se les haria un poco rara no cres?

[sosia]

I'm from Spain.
Welcome Naranja