1.) Start today.
Small goals are the foundation for bringing your dreams to life. A great way to get started is to get yourself a notebook or a journal.
Choose one that inspires you to write, because you like it and it feels good in your hands.Taking steps (even little ones) toward the future you want is powerful. Getting the journal or notebook is a strong signal to yourself that you are serious and ready to take personal responsibility for creating the life you want.
2.) Ask yourself great questions:
- “Who am I and who do I want to be?”
- “Who else do I want in my life?”
- “How will I want to spend my time and energy in the future?”
Write your answers down. Discuss them with people you respect and trust. Decide in advance if you just want a person who will simply listen (for now) or if you want feedback from them.
3.) Look at your life now and imagine how you want it to be
...in the near future and the more distant future.
The lifestyle you want will change over time, and may change more than once.Not all lifestyle changes are necessarily in the direction of bigger and grander.
4.) Take stock of your strengths and skills, deficiencies and weaknesses.
(Be truthful and kind to yourself.)
Then figure out what to leave behind that will no longer serve you well, what to bring forward that will continue to support you, and what new things you need to start learning and experiencing, to create the life and the future you want.
Some of your strengths will keep serving you. Some of what you’re good at now may not serve you well in your 50s, 60s, and 70s. To get a clearer understanding of both your strengths and weaknesses,
consider asking someone you respect and trust, to get an additional, perspective.
5.) Let go of who and what no longer works for you, with gratitude.
Let yourself grieve, but don’t get stuck there. This creates space for the new skills, mindsets, and people that will help you have a great life and a great future.
6.) Start making your strong and weak networks bigger.
Keep growing them to avoid being isolated and alone later in your life.
As we get older, some of the people in our strong networks will move away, become ill, die, or lose their connection to us. Weak networks are usually the main source of new people who will become part of your strong network of relationships.
Don’t end up isolated and alone as you get older. Keep meeting new people who can replenish both your strong and weak social connection networks. Make sure your parents know about this.
7.) Ask questions about yourself, your current life, and your possible future.
Then discuss your discoveries with people you admire and trust.
What seems exciting and maybe a little scary to you might be very scary for someone who deeply depends on you (like a spouse, partner, or parent). Be careful to reassure the other person that you’re in the midst of a thoughtful process, not an out of control, lifestyle demolition.
8.) Don’t expect your life to go completely according to plan.
Look back across your life. Did you measure success more by the plan “working out” or more by your ability to be flexible when things didn’t go the way you thought they would?
9.) Think about the eight key components of your life:
1. health (mind/body/spirit)
2. finances
3. community, family, and friends
4. living environment
5. continuing education
personal growth and development
7. employment, retirement, and combinations in between
8. recreation, leisure, and service
In each of these key areas of your life, what is one of your goals? What do you need to do to make this goal a reality? When will you get started?
10.) Spend time with people who inspire you and support your personal growth and development.
Life is too short to be swamped by other people’s self-perpetuated dramas.
