Did You Know You Can Design Your Life?

As I write this post, I think to myself, this has got to be my most powerful article to date with prescriptive guidance on the exact steps one needs to take to design their life right now - right here! So make sure you keep reading and follow the steps outlined in this edition with precision, and sincerity, and give your full devotion and attention to the exercises mentioned below to get clarity on your dreams, goals, and aspirations - and let me show you how easy it is to get everything you want.

Here is a phrase that I am repeating from my previous post. The promise of the future is an awesome force. We look back for experience but we have to look forward now for inspiration. And what gives us inspiration to get up in the morning and do our job, learn skills, and develop all that we can possibly be, is the promise of the future.

And it can be so powerful that it can overwhelm any adversary you might have, any difficulties you might have.

Now, this is a very special post, keep reading, we are going to design your life today!

Reasons make the difference in your appetite and zest for taking on the challenge, doing the job, and becoming successful. If you have enough reasons, you can do the most incredible things. You can get through the most difficult day. You can overcome the most unbelievable challenges if you have enough reasons.

I'm sure, you have enough intelligence. And enough good health. And you have, you know, all of those things working for you.

But here's what you must work on now, … to have enough reasons. Looking into the future, … developing reasons.

It's important to make sure that the greatest pull on your life is the pull of the future. Some people let the past pull them back. The past can be like gravity if you let it pull you back. Some people live in the past. They live in the darkness of the past. They live in the mistakes of the past.

They live in the discouragement of the past. They didn't make it, you know, and that affects them for the rest of their life, living in the past. So we don't want the past to pull us back, to live in the past.

The stronger the goal, the higher the purpose, the more powerful the objective, and the stronger this magnet pulls you in that direction.

Now not only do your goals and your objectives pull you in that direction, here's what they also do, they pull you through.

They pull you through all kinds of down days. They pull you through a difficult time. It'll pull you through some winter of your life. Some people get lost in the confusion of the day simply because their goal is not bright enough to pull them through.

Next, it's goals that drive us to take advantage of the spring. Why would the farmer put the plow in the ground in the spring if he couldn't see the vision of the harvest when the summer was finished? Is it possible to see the finished harvest? And the answer is yes. We do that simply by faith. Faith is the ability to see things that don't yet exist.

So here's what we want to do in our goal-setting session, is to start looking into the future of what you would like to accomplish, where you would like to go, and the person you would like to be, and see if you can't get a better picture of the finished objective. See yourself there. See yourself in possession of your goal attained.

For your dreams to greatly influence you, or the future to pull you, your future must be well planned. 

There are two ways to face the future. One is with apprehension. The other with anticipation.

Guess how many people face the future with apprehension? Why? They don't have it well designed. And without really thinking about it, they have probably bought someone else's view of how to live.

You will face the future with anticipation when you have planned a future you can get excited about. When you have designed your future results in advance.

In this way, the future will capture your imagination. It will exert an enormous influence on you. And to design your future, you must have goals. Well-defined goals are like a magnet.

They pull you in their direction. And the better you have defined them, the better you have described them, the harder you work on them, the stronger they pull. And they pull you through all kinds of difficulties too. Without goals, it is easy to let life deteriorate to the point where you're just making a living. It is not difficult to get trapped by economic necessity and settle for existence rather than substance. We all have a choice. We can either make a living or design a life.

Now let’s take some time to actually start designing the next 10 years of your life. We're going to start setting your goals.

Goal setting is one of the most important skills to develop if you want to design your future.

I'm going to give you enough homework, not only to keep you busy for the rest of your life but also to help you create the kind of life you may have always dreamed about living but never believed possible.

So let's get on with it. The sooner you exert the discipline, the sooner you will be enjoying the results.

Once the results start to come, believe me, you won't mind the hard work and discipline it's going to take. 

Now get a sheet of paper, and at the top of it, write the words "Long Range Goals".

I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to jot down the answers.

For those listening to the audio version, If you don't have paper and pen handy right now, follow along with me now anyway, just listening. Then later, listen again when you can write down your ideas or read this article in your inbox or on the web.

After I've asked the questions, which is the first part of this exercise, I want you to pause and work on your answers.

Now here's the first question: What five things have you already accomplished that you're proud of? Let's take some credit before we go to work on the future.

You've accomplished some things in the past. Let's give ourselves credit for that.

What five things have you already accomplished that you're proud of? Make a list of five things that you can think of that you've already accomplished that you're proud of.

Pause until you write down the answers to the first question, and then continue on…

Next question: What do you want in the next 10 years? I want you to make a list of at least 50 items.

Now this is not what you think you can get. This is what you want. If everything fell into place and you could have anything you wanted in the next 10 years, what would that list be?

Not something you think you can earn. Not something you think you can buy. Not something you think you can achieve, but something you must feel from within. It's about breaking free from limitations and realizing your true potential.

This is what would really do it for you, in the next 10 years. I want you to make this list.

And here's the deal now, I want you to put each item one under the other, not side by side, but one under the other. Just let your dreams come out, okay, run free here.

Not what you think you can get, but what you want. If everything fell into place and you could have whatever you wanted in the next 10 years, what would that be? Little things, major things, insignificant things, don't matter, just make the list.

To help you get started with your list, consider these questions:

• What do I want to do?

• What do I want to see?

• What do I want to be?

• What do I want to have, (money, relationships, spirituality)?

• Where do I want to go?

• Where do I want to live?

• And what would I like to share?

With these thought-provoking questions in mind, answer the basic question: What do I want within the next one to 10 years?

See how many things you can write down. At this point, don't take the time to describe in detail everything you want. This is the time for you to let your thoughts pour, to write fast, and to abbreviate.

Make the list as long as you possibly can. Try to write down at least 50 items.

50 things you want within the next one to 10 years. These are long-range goals. Spend about 12 to 15 minutes on this.

The key is to put everything on your list, take it out of your head, and put it on paper. You can dream about what you want, but when you start committing it to paper, it more formalizes information. Now starts to make a composite of an idea.

Ideas can turn into hotels. Ideas can turn into enterprises. Ideas can turn into a fabulous career, ideas create innovation. We need the information. We need the stimulation.

Parachute out of an airplane? Star in a movie? Start a new family? Learn to play a musical instrument? Try a new sport? What do you want for your children? That's a whole list in itself.

Education, places you want to take them, some changes you'd like to make, some habits you'd like to drop, some new ones you'd like to acquire.

You might make a list of the people you want to meet over the next 10 years.

Benevolence goals? maybe you've got a long list of projects you'd like to support. Now this is not what you think you can do. This is what you'd really like to do.

How about your investments? Properties, businesses, digital assets? Make a list of your health goals. Gotta have a good physical support system over the next 10 years.

How healthy do you want to be? Some goals for your career, your business, some productivity goals, a hobby you'd like to start, a new car? what classes would you like to teach? how would you like to be remembered?

Some of your goals should be personal development. The person you wish to become. Develop skills that make you attractive to the marketplace. Develop the temperament and the attitude that makes you attractive to the business world.

Because here's what's important, it's not what you get that makes you valuable, it's what you become that makes you valuable.

Okay, now we're going to do some things with this list. Here's the next exercise. I want you to look at each item on this list you've made.

And, I want you to answer this question: What kind of person must I become to achieve all I want?

Now we've got two things working. What you become helps you to achieve, and what you achieve helps you to become. And the more you become, the more you can achieve. And the more you achieve, the more you can become.

Who knows which affects the other the most? Your concept of the person you think you must become to achieve what you want.

It’s time for a little truth here. Maybe you need to become much wiser than you are at the moment. You need to become stronger. You need to have better health.

Maybe you need a little coaching. To really become the person you want to become, “I'm going to have to have some coaching”. Physical coaching, spiritual coaching, and developing skills coaching.

To be the influence you want to be, you have to build an incredible reputation.

You may find that some of your goals you thought at first glance were important are not important after all. 

Do some reflecting, refining, and revising.

The point is, right now, try to have approximately four one-year, three-year, five-year, and ten-year goals that you truly believe in, that inspire you, that you've sold yourself on.

When these goals and the reasons you want to obtain them are each clearly described in a brief paragraph, transfer this information to a journal or some type of notebook that you can carry with you easily and refer to often daily.

Set aside some time every week to review all of your goals, rearrange them, redo them, restructure them, and add to your goals.

Goal setting is not something you do just once. It's a continual process. Also, you must constantly check your progress toward your goals. You don't want to fall too far behind on, or worse, lose sight of your important goals.

Your long-range goals are as important as your short-range goals. Your goals for tomorrow, next week, next month, six months from now.

These are goals you can accomplish within the next 12 months, the immediate future. We call these goals confidence builders.

When you work hard, burn the midnight oil, and accomplish these little things, it builds your confidence to go for your long-range goals.

Write down in your journal all the little things you would like to have or accomplish in the next 12 months. How you set up this list is up to you.

Try breaking it down by week or by month. Set it up in whatever way works well for you. Part of the fun of having a list is being able to check off something as obtained or completed.

Every week, try to check off at least one thing on your list of short-term goals.

And when you are able to check off something major, something on your list of long-range goals, celebrate.

Make winning joyful. Congratulate yourself. It is very important to celebrate progress. 

Here's what that also means: Make losing painful. Put it on yourself. If you set something up, fooled around, didn't pull it off, put it on yourself.

And get around people who will help in this area. And, don't join an easy crowd. Go where the expectations are high, where the pressure to perform is high. It's how we grow.

Review what you've written at regular times and keep track of your progress toward these objectives. Above all, persevere. Goal setting is a very important first step, but goal achievement is a continuous, lifelong process.

That's what makes it so challenging. That's also why it's so extremely rewarding to finally attain your long-term goals.

Recent advances in neuroscience have shed light on the profound impact that goal-setting has on the brain. When we set a clear and specific goal, our brain works in remarkable ways to achieve it. Here's how:

Integrating this science with the art of goal-setting, as discussed in the article, provides a holistic approach. Not only do we understand the philosophical and strategic importance of setting goals, but we also appreciate the profound neurological changes that occur, propelling us toward our objectives.

Stay awesome

BigK