4 Steps to Living the Life You Want

Do you wish you could hit the reset button on your life? Maybe you’re in a job you hate, or just wish you had more time for the things that matter to you and knew how to say no to those that didn’t. These steps will get you headed in the right direction, and you can get started today.

Look at your Current Life

The first step to making a change is looking at where you are now. Grab a notebook and write down everything about your life. Include things like your job, your relationships, where you live, anything you can think of that impacts how you currently feel. Don’t be critical, anything and everything counts. Only when you take inventory of where you are can you see where you may want to make changes for the future.

Brainstorm

Now that you’ve looked at where you are, you have to work on what your ideal life would look like. Decide what quality of life looks like for you. This includes all aspects of your life, focusing on your values and life goals. If you want to be more family-oriented, or work for yourself, what would that look like?

Next, you must decide what success looks like to you. This is not the success that society broadcasts, or the success you think you need. Start defining your success by writing down what a perfect day looks like to you. Be sure to include where you spend your time and with whom you spend it. Don’t restrict yourself to what you feel is attainable, just write down everything you’d want in a perfect day.

Now that you know what your perfect day looks, think about your environment, and where you spend that day. This is your ideal space; the sky’s the limit. Think about things that would provide you peace and would allow you to breathe, not just the biggest house or best car. Focus on how you feel while in this environment, not just what it looks like.

Focus

Focusing on your feelings is the key to defining your success and lifestyle. You want to get rid of those not-so- good feelings and bring in more good ones, so take inventory of how you feel lately. Write down any words that come to mind in a list. After you finish your list, review it and write down how you want to feel. Once completed, write down activities and situations that make you feel those wants already. This helps you find your purpose. Those things that don’t feel like work that you enjoy provide direction for your life.

Blueprint

Time to start visualizing. You’ve probably heard of a vision board before. While a great practice, we need to take it a step further and create a plan so you can actually live that new life. What you want to end up with is “Smart Success,” a recreated life based on your own definition of what you want. Nothing will happen on its own. You must plan to make ideas a reality.

Build your Fortress

Before you create a plan, you’re going to need to create a mental fortress. This is your decision to change how you live, understanding that it’s a necessity. Once you decide to do it you need to set up boundaries to protect yourself and stay focused on why you feel this change in necessary. Only once you have those things clear and in place can you start forming a plan of action.

Okay, now that you’ve brainstormed your ideal life, you need to take those ideas and specifically list what in your current life needs to change in order for you to live that ideal life. Write down all the things that need to happen in order to get to your personal utopia. What things need to be changed or removed from your life? Don’t worry about how to make those things happen right now, just focus on what needs to be changed.

After you’ve finished your list of things that need to be changed, decide what items can be delegated, or done by someone else. This can be tough, especially when you feel like you are the only one who can do them right. However, in order to make your ideal a reality, you gotta shake things up. If you aren’t ready to delegate and let some items go, then you aren’t ready for that new reality. Perhaps you feel you can’t afford to pay someone to do a job you’re already doing? But, chances are, you probably can’t afford to keep things status quo either.

The next step here once you’ve decided what to delegate and where, is needing to tackle those big items that you either need to get into, or get out of. What I mean is you probably have a big change you’d like to make either by getting into something new or getting out of something old. Now is the time to focus on the how portion that we ignored earlier. This is called reverse engineering. Say you want to leave your job to work from home, now is the time to break it down and find steps and a timeline to accomplishing your goal. It will take time, but nothing is impossible when you have a plan. Break it down and start with one step at a time, and make sure to have a timeline for each item in order to hold you accountable.

Execute

This is the fun part, where you take action after all that preparation. This is where all the questions are answered after all that brainstorming and planning. Once you’ve outlined your steps, you can act on them.

Part of acing your new plans involves the people you include in your life. This can be difficult, but you need to take inventory of those around you and see how they behave and live. We only play to the level we’re surrounded by, so if your crowd isn’t uplifting and inspiring, it’s time to get a new one.

Once your plan is in action, think in terms of seasons. Crops grow and harvest during different seasons. View projects as seasons and decide what needs the majority of your focus. Concentrating on one item means something else moves to the back burner. We only grow when we rest, not when we stress. Prioritize your items and remember it’s okay to focus on one thing, and rest on another.

Helpful Resources:

Chalene’s Courageous Confidence Club: www.courageousconfidenceclub.com

This program gives you the tools you need to build confidence in every area of your life. You are supported by a group of people who are going through the program with you and are a sounding board for decisions and opportunities. This program will get you unstuck from your current situation and will teach you the steps needed to get your life in the direction you want!

~Chalene