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
Credits
Gardner, Sarah and Albee, Dave, "Study focuses on strategies for achieving goals, resolutions" (2015). Press Releases. 266.