7 Steps To Start Designing Your Dream Life

Can I be totally honest with you? When I was in my twenties I wasted time with busy-work. It was a bad habit that I didn't realize I had.

Fast forward to my thirties my mindset changed when I realized how wrapped up I was in “doing” activities in my professional and personal life. 

Listen. Once I admitted that I desired to thrive instead of getting by day to day, things changed in my life. Focusing on these 3 things helped me get clear about what I wanted to do in the future: 

• learn from my mistakes
• make progress
• live my dream life in small steps achieved every single day 

It all boils down to this. The most important lesson I learned was I wanted to live authentically by designing my own life. Without a doubt, I made a lot of mistakes before I started to make my dreams a reality. And that's totally normal.

Don't worry. This is an easy to follow guide to use in your own lifestyle design. I think these steps will get you started quickly and save you time in approaching living as your best self.

#1 Compare goals versus actions

Reflect on your lifestyle and compare it to the desires in your heart. Not the ones in the head but your true heart’s desires. When I did this step it was blatantly clear I needed to make big changes to match my big dreams.

#2 Acknowledge your weaknesses

So, my goals didn't align with my actions. As hard as it was I acknowledged what I wasn't doing well. Rather then dwell on the negative I admitted it and moved onto to what I was doing right. Focusing on strengths and simply owning those strengths was a significant shift.

#3 Visualize the future you

I thought about the person I wanted to become and visualized the work I needed to do in order to be her. Even going so far as to visualize how my actions or feel the emotions of accomplishing my goals.

#4 Write it down

When I wrote down one thing I wanted to change in my life it made the possibility seem real. In time I did the thing. Little did I know back then that research supported the habit of writing out goals. The study from the Dominican University in California, led by Dr. Gail Matthews, established that you're 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.

#5 Take small actions

Making a  list of steps necessary to complete my goal was the first step of many.
If I had fixated on all the steps, or wondered how I could ever manage to complete I would have been scared and probably never tried in the first place. Do one, small action at a time.

#6 Keep the goal top of mind

See it, breathe it, live it. In my case I taped the list to my bathroom mirror and got obsessed over it. When I saw it every day it reinforced my actions. 

#7 Tap into your flow state

I’ve made adjustments along the way but I’m always trying to reach my flow state once a day. That fluid place between body, mind, focus and happiness.

 Getting into the zone looks like this for me:

• Go beyond my comfort zone
• Try new concepts
• Learn from my failures
• Dream

• Plan bigger

Conclusion

Once I believed that I could live my dream lifestyle then I knew I'd make it happen. When I took the leap of faith, in myself, I discovered answers and solutions were present as if they'd been in front of my me the entire time. All I had to do was get started.

Basically, the action of believing in myself started a chain reaction of smaller steps toward accomplishing my goals. So use these action tips to start designing your dream life, mapping goals and making them happen. If I can do it, you can too.

Xoxo,
Nicole  

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