I recently listened to Lewis Howes' latest podcast on The School of Greatness and was inspired! He goes in depth on how to create your vision for your perfect day and the importance of doing so in order to get what you want out of life. I think it will inspire you as well.
This podcast is perfect timing for me right now. I just enrolled in the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition 2 year program and am excited about what is possible for the future.
I can see this exercise being very useful not just for someone making a career change, but also for anyone looking to lose weight, get fit, get healthy, get happy, etc. If you are not completely satisfied with your life, this is perfect for you. If your focus is more on getting healthier, then write a bit more on how you are incorporating exercise, eating nutritiously, and adding fun and relaxation into your day. Include how great you feel and how good you look.
I highly recommend you listen to this podcast. If, at first, you aren't sure what your perfect day looks like, just start writing what you think you would like, as you do this you will probably gain some clarity on why you want. You can just go back and change it if something else pops in your mind.
To give you an example, here is mine:
My Perfect Day
Wake up early (feeling refreshed and grateful) while everyone else in the house is sleeping. Smell the aroma of the coffee brewing (pre-programmed from night before). Sit in a cozy chair and plan my day; with my creamy bulletproof coffee in hand, the fresh morning air seeping through from the window and the sun rising. Next take a walk while listening to an inspiring podcast. Come home snuggle my kids and have a nourishing breakfast with the family. Drop kids off at school/daycare. Come home, grab a green shake, sit in my home office that looks out over the water with the sun shining in and start creating content for website, programs, ebooks. Have lunch with my husband. Afternoon: go out and get groceries or grab a coffee with husband or a friend. Come home, prep healthy snacks and supper. Pick up kids. Play with kids. Have supper (that was prepped earlier) with everyone at the table talking about their day. Do something fun with the family including a walk as the sun starts to go down. Bedtime routine with kids. Lay with each kids and talk about all the good things that happened in their day. Quiet time with kids sleeping. Go to Bed.
The alternating days will be similar except for a couple things: In the morning I will see clients; providing information, inspiration and a game plan for each one. The afternoon I will sit in my sunny home office with a good cup of coffee and do research.
I can see this exercise being very useful not just for someone making a career change, but also for anyone looking to lose weight, get fit, get healthy, get happy, etc. If you are not completely satisfied with your life, this is perfect for you. If your focus is more on getting healthier, then write a bit more on how you are incorporating exercise, eating nutritiously, and adding fun and relaxation into your day. Include how great you feel and how good you look.
I highly recommend you listen to this podcast. If, at first, you aren't sure what your perfect day looks like, just start writing what you think you would like, as you do this you will probably gain some clarity on why you want. You can just go back and change it if something else pops in your mind.
To give you an example, here is mine:
My Perfect Day
Wake up early (feeling refreshed and grateful) while everyone else in the house is sleeping. Smell the aroma of the coffee brewing (pre-programmed from night before). Sit in a cozy chair and plan my day; with my creamy bulletproof coffee in hand, the fresh morning air seeping through from the window and the sun rising. Next take a walk while listening to an inspiring podcast. Come home snuggle my kids and have a nourishing breakfast with the family. Drop kids off at school/daycare. Come home, grab a green shake, sit in my home office that looks out over the water with the sun shining in and start creating content for website, programs, ebooks. Have lunch with my husband. Afternoon: go out and get groceries or grab a coffee with husband or a friend. Come home, prep healthy snacks and supper. Pick up kids. Play with kids. Have supper (that was prepped earlier) with everyone at the table talking about their day. Do something fun with the family including a walk as the sun starts to go down. Bedtime routine with kids. Lay with each kids and talk about all the good things that happened in their day. Quiet time with kids sleeping. Go to Bed.
The alternating days will be similar except for a couple things: In the morning I will see clients; providing information, inspiration and a game plan for each one. The afternoon I will sit in my sunny home office with a good cup of coffee and do research.
What does your perfect day look like? I would love to see it!
Create a Mind Map of your Goals
Doing a Mind Map is the next step. You will find that once you get going on this, the information will just flow. This format is nice because it is visual and you can easily add to it.
Next steps.....
HOW TO GOAL PLAN TO INCREASE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS
First off it's important to give yourself time to think and plan. I like to wake up early with a cup of coffee (or tea) with a clear and happy state of mind and start planning.
Start with your long term goals (possibly 20, 10, and/or 5 year goals) This is where you can dream big. What is it that you truly want out of life? What does your perfect day look like? You might not know at first. Just start writing things down. You will get more clear as you go. You might start with one vision, then come up with something different and that is just part of the process of figuring yourself out. You can do this in a variety of ways. A simple list, a dream board, or a "Mind Movie" (using iMovie or similar program). I will do another post on how to create a dream board and share some of mine with you. The Perfect Day exercise is another option that would be good to do at this point too. Here is my how-to post.
Once you have a clearer picture of your dream life/day you can start to narrow it down to smaller achievable goals. Break down your dream into 1 year attainable goals. Then break that down further into monthly goals. Ask yourself what are the first steps to take to point me in the right direction to get there. The most important thing here is to just start with something. If that means the only thing you change this month for a health goal is swapping out toast or cereal in the morning for a green smoothie, that is enough to point you in the right direction and get the momentum going to achieving your goal. Like most people at this time of year you say something like I want to lose 20 lbs or I want to get healthier. There is no urgency in this because you think I've got a whole year to do this...I can start tomorrow or I can start next week...or I can start after my vacation. Breaking it down to monthly goals creates that urgency and will result in more success.
Here are some ideas for a weight loss/ getting healthy goal broken down to monthly goals
This month I will commit to....
If you are like me, you have a big goal and you want to go all in right away (I have a bit of an all or nothing personality). You could still do that but I think it's helpful still to set out one or two goals that are non-negotiables. You may start to lose steam but make sure the one or two goals you set have to stick.
It might be helpful to finish one month and then plan your goals for next month or you can have that mapped out now and tweak as you go if needed. For example, January you succeeded in eating or drinking a healthy breakfast everyday and it has now become a habit so February could be setting a goal for healthy lunches filled with vegetables, protein, healthy fat and possibly small amount of carbs. For this example it would be helpful to list lunch ideas ahead of time.
Now...watch this amazingly powerful video and get started turning your dreams into reality.
HOW TO GOAL PLAN TO INCREASE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS
First off it's important to give yourself time to think and plan. I like to wake up early with a cup of coffee (or tea) with a clear and happy state of mind and start planning.
Start with your long term goals (possibly 20, 10, and/or 5 year goals) This is where you can dream big. What is it that you truly want out of life? What does your perfect day look like? You might not know at first. Just start writing things down. You will get more clear as you go. You might start with one vision, then come up with something different and that is just part of the process of figuring yourself out. You can do this in a variety of ways. A simple list, a dream board, or a "Mind Movie" (using iMovie or similar program). I will do another post on how to create a dream board and share some of mine with you. The Perfect Day exercise is another option that would be good to do at this point too. Here is my how-to post.
Once you have a clearer picture of your dream life/day you can start to narrow it down to smaller achievable goals. Break down your dream into 1 year attainable goals. Then break that down further into monthly goals. Ask yourself what are the first steps to take to point me in the right direction to get there. The most important thing here is to just start with something. If that means the only thing you change this month for a health goal is swapping out toast or cereal in the morning for a green smoothie, that is enough to point you in the right direction and get the momentum going to achieving your goal. Like most people at this time of year you say something like I want to lose 20 lbs or I want to get healthier. There is no urgency in this because you think I've got a whole year to do this...I can start tomorrow or I can start next week...or I can start after my vacation. Breaking it down to monthly goals creates that urgency and will result in more success.
Here are some ideas for a weight loss/ getting healthy goal broken down to monthly goals
This month I will commit to....
- swapping out my high carb breakfast for a healthier high protein/healthy fat breakfast (green smoothies, eggs and sautéed green, protein pancakes....)
- sweating everyday/ get your heart rate up everyday (15-20 minute HIIT workout from YouTube - my favourite way to exercise!, jumping rope, or squats, pushups, etc while watching tv...)
- drinking a large glass of water first thing in the morning (easy but effective)
- cutting out alcohol for a month
- swapping out unhealthy evening snack for healthier options (roasted chickpeas, apple with almond butter, macho bread, kale chips....)
- cutting out processed food
If you are like me, you have a big goal and you want to go all in right away (I have a bit of an all or nothing personality). You could still do that but I think it's helpful still to set out one or two goals that are non-negotiables. You may start to lose steam but make sure the one or two goals you set have to stick.
It might be helpful to finish one month and then plan your goals for next month or you can have that mapped out now and tweak as you go if needed. For example, January you succeeded in eating or drinking a healthy breakfast everyday and it has now become a habit so February could be setting a goal for healthy lunches filled with vegetables, protein, healthy fat and possibly small amount of carbs. For this example it would be helpful to list lunch ideas ahead of time.
Now...watch this amazingly powerful video and get started turning your dreams into reality.
This is your year! Make it count!
Teri