Perhaps one of the largest pitfalls even the most well-meaning of us can fall into, is the obsession with planning and ambition met with a lack of follow-through. How often do we tell ourselves we will achieve something, work hard and take the plunge, commit ourselves to some kind of path to greatness, and end up 6 months later having made no progress at all?
Here’s the thing; there’s no magical answer. There is no instant potion of motivation you can drink, there is no pill like in that Limitless movie (though I often wish there was). And while your personal mindset, discipline and own unique circumstantial obstacles may clamour your path to success, what you absolutely can do is mitigate those limitations and give yourself the best possible chance to turn your dreams into reality. It’s an act of optimisation, if you will.
Following on from last week’s Life Audit (click here to check it out), you’ll probably be feeling a little clearer about where you’re at right now and where you want to be. We briefly touched on that dastardly part in the middle - you know, the whole thing of actually “getting there”, connecting the present to the desired future - but it’s time to develop on that.
This certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all method, so feel free to customise it to your own experience. Whether your goal is to become a world champion in your chosen field, or maybe just to cut down on some minor bad habits, it’s not about how ‘big’ or ‘small’ your goal may objectively seem. Rather, it’s proportional to your own personal story and what’s meaningful to you. This doesn’t have to be anybody’s business but your own - make yourself proud, this is something you can do purely for you.
This Re-Program workbook will give you a comprehensive and meaningful framework within which to plan the next 6 months of your life. It will give you the tools to take one of your goals and create an action plan to achieve it. We’ve all heard the advice “break down your goals into smaller goals”, and this is a tangible iteration of that tactic.
Break your goal down into 6 distinct objectives, one for each month. Your job for each month is to focus on that one objective alone - it can be easy to get lost in the bigger picture of your ambitions, so this will help you lock in some tunnel vision on one step at a time. From there, you'll define a weekly task for yourself in order to achieve that objective (yes, breaking it down even further), allowing yourself to check in every week to keep you disciplined and on track - playing on the strategy of 'habit building'.
Be forgiving; part of being human means that perfect consistency will be near impossible, which is why you can allow yourself a mid-month check in to review your activity. There is also a section at the end of each month to give yourself an opportunity to reflect before you move forward, which is crucial to ensure you're honestly assessing your progress and growing meaningfully.
Remember to keep this workbook somewhere you'll be able to easily reference it!
x E
