Go Bigger Than a Resolution To achieve your highest aspiration, first bring it into focus, then reverse engineer the steps you need to get there, all the way back to today. Do today's step, now. But remember to seal the deal.
By Kim Walsh Phillips •
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Let's be real. It is time.
It is time for something different. It is time once and for all to forget silly resolutions that are overreaching quick fixes for some surface issue. It is time once and for all to stop focusing your energy, time and passions on what the masses do. Time to stop rushing towards a short-term solution or change.
It is time to rise above the chaos of now and instead, to do something meaningful. Instead, it is time to crush our gigantic, very incredible and astonishing dreams for your future.
Because you can. But you can only get to your final destination if you know where you want to go. We all get that. But do we live that? Are we working towards our future every day?
Thought leader Tony Robbins says, "Most overestimate what they can do in a year, but they underestimate what they can do in a lifetime." The good news is, with focus, we can far surpass the goals we set for ourselves, no matter how outrageous they are.
More than New Year's resolutions.
As you set your intentions for 2018, don't just look at what you want to change or the resolutions you want to make. Set your overall destination for your future based on smaller goals to accomplish this year in order to make your very real big dream come true.
I go through a dream process every year. It has allowed me to be a better boss. A better mom. A better wife. It allowed me to become a best-selling author multiple times and to lose 50 pounds. I took my marketing firm from bankruptcy to a multi-million-dollar agency, while taking more time off from work to spend with my family.
Related: How Smart Entrepreneurs Find Time For Their Families
All just by focusing on the big dream goal? Yes, every day. But the process isn't magic. It is focused on outcomes first and then the steps we need to take in order to make that outcome happen.
It is time: Start here.
Here's the process: Go to a quiet place that you find inspiring to do this exercise. It may be your favorite comfy chair, a mountain hike or the water's edge. Plan on at least 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet to complete all steps.
Set the dream:
Picturing ten years from now, what do you want your life to look like?
- Where are you living?
- Who is living with you?
- What does an ideal day look like?
- What do you look like physically?
- What is your family make up?
- How much money are you bringing in each month to support your lifestyle?
Amplify Your Strengths:
- Of all of the things you do right now as part of your job, what do you enjoy doing most?
- What do others come to you for advice for?
- What are you best at?
Uncover what matters:
What is your why? Why do you do what you do?
Bring it all together:
Focus on your why, on your financial goals, and on what you are most passionate about. Ask: What do you want to accomplish in your career ten years from now?
With that in hand, reverse engineer steps to get from that future back to today:
- What do you need to have done five years from now to make your ten-year goal possible?
- What do you need to have done one year from now to make your five-year goal possible?
- What do you need to have done during the first quarter of 2018 to make this one-year goal possible?
- What do you need to have done this January to make your quarterly goal possible?
- What do you need to have done this week to accomplish your monthly goal?
- What do you need to do today to make this week's goal possible?
Seal the deal with yourself.
When you've completed those steps and created that map, deepen your journey's meaning by walking yourself through this visualization process. I like to play music to create a more dimensional experience, but that's totally up to you. If you take the music route, try "Devi Prayer," found on Spotify or iTunes.
Related: 12 Ways That Music Makes You More Productive At Work
Close your eyes. It is ten years from now, and you've accomplished your ten-year dream. Picture yourself right in the center of your dream realized. Stand firm in this spot and feel where you are. What do you hear? What do you see? What do you smell? Don't watch yourself there ... be there. Look out through your own eyes. See what is around you as though you are there. Right now.
Imagine that you are slowly starting to turn around. Take a step and turn to the right. You can now see all that you love most. The people who mean the most to you are there smiling at you and sharing their love for you. They are filled to the brim with love, thankful for you and your love for them. You can feel their love for you coming strongly towards you.
You take another step and see all of the lives you have blessed these last ten years. These are the people you have served who have brought you to this moment. From the customers you helped, to the employees you employed, to the vendors you supported, to the charities you have given to -- they are cheering for you, holding up signs with "Thank you!" and applauding. They are jumping up and down with gratitude and thanksgiving for all you have done for them. Feel your body fill with joy at their joy. Feel your fingers tingle with gratitude.
Turn once more and see your Creator showing you a speed reel of all that you accomplished the last ten years. Your Creator pulls you into a big, deep hug and tells you, "Well done." You are filled with accomplishment, pride, love, and thanksgiving for the now. For all that your life has become.
You then turn back one more time and feel everything around you. From where you dream of being, to who you dream being there. You can feel all of the joy and love. From the end of your toes, to every fiber on your head. You are filled with gratitude, joy and love.
Related: 20 Wise Insights on Gratitude to Spark a Positive Mindset
Now, take it one more step.
And then -- this is important, and a step you won't want to do, but you have to: Picture everything being taken away.
Hear the cheers of gratitude change to yells of hate. Watch those who you love crying for all that wasn't. See the place that you dreamed of, being pulled away from you like a rubber band. Picture darkness, emptiness and nothingness. Picture sadness. Feel that sadness searing your skin.
But then there is a pinprick of light in the darkness. A small glimmer of hope. You walk towards it. It is your Creator. Your Creator looks to you with sadness and asks, "Why?"
Why didn't you, when you could have? Feel that disappointment. Feel the regret. Feel the failure. Let it flush your skin. Feel the weight up on your shoulders; so heavy it is hard to sit up straight. Sit there for a minute beneath that weight.
But then, imagine your Creator looking into your eyes and asking you sincerely and with love: "Do you want another chance? Do you want a chance to fulfill your vision? Another chance to serve those you were meant to serve and feel the love and gratitude of those lives you have touched?"
Do you take that second chance? Open your eyes and write down what you elect to do.
You get to decide. Choose!
You were made to thrive. You weren't made to have your time wasted, your money wasted, or your future wasted. You were meant to flourish and prosper. Meant to love and be loved. You have a future dream that is yearning for you to get there. You get to decide what to do today. You know now that it will impact what happens tomorrow. You can choose what happens next.
What will you do today?
