So here’s the thing, if you don’t set yourself up for success by building out the daily habits to achieve your live worth living, then you aren’t going to achieve it!
In our last Elevate Livin’ Life newsletter we had you do some activities to determine what sets your soul on fire. Now let’s discuss how to prioritize your ACTIONS and TIME to make sure you achieve them.
- Focus on one of your big goals you set for yourself and if you haven’t done so, decide when you want to achieve this (be realistic but push yourself).
- Now work backwards from that big goal to figure out what you need to do to achieve it.
- Where do you need to be in one year to achieve this goal? 6 months? 1 month? 1 week? 1 day? And most importantly what do you need to do RIGHT NOW to achieve it?
Example of this:
In 2011 my husband was finishing his clinicals for physical therapy school and we had a 12 week assignment in a small mountain town in New Hampshire. We had learned about a hiking checklist called the NH 48 (48 peaks over 4000 feet) and thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we did this? Is it even possible to do this in 12 weeks?! It felt like a big, uncomfortable, and scary goal. We liked hiking and had done it occasionally throughout life but we weren’t hardcore hikers by any means. But we went for it and oh my gosh, it’s still one of my most favorite summers ever!
So here is a quick version of how we played out setting our life up for this goal-
- Big Scary Goal: Hike NH 48 in 12 weeks.
- First step for us: QUICK research on how long each hike was and making a list of said hikes with estimate time frame. I say quick so I didn’t get lost in the rabbit hole and never took action NOR did I want to dig too deep and realize how uncomfortable it was going to get at times.
- Next step: Timeblock our life
- We took out our calendar of the next 12 weeks and penciled in prior engagements (social and professional). Then we got to work time blocking when we’ll do those hikes. Short ones after work, long ones on weekends, and even a few two-a day hikes. We also time blocked out the time we’d need to do further research on each hike for that week, preparing the food and supplies we’d need for those hikes, etc.
- It took us 11 weeks and 1 day to do it! Photo above is us on our last peak. -weren’t we babies?!
So, take your big goal and think backwards to what you need to achieve it so that tomorrow you know the first step you need to take. If you want to run a marathon in a year, perhaps tomorrow’s first step is downloading a running program or hiring a coach (I know a good one if that’s the case!).
Things to keep in mind when you are building out your new life on how to achieve these goals:
- Time block is Key!!!
- You must first figure out how much time you need to achieve your goals and once you know that, start time blocking it into your calendar.
- When you say yes to one thing you’ll be saying no to another. So make sure you know what you’ll be saying no to and that you’re okay with it. When we hiked the NH 48 we had to say no to friend invites to do other fun things. We knew we wanted to achieve this goal and talked about what we’d have to give up and said we were okay with it. So when the time came, although it was hard and sad, we were prepared to say “no thanks, we’re unable to at this time”.
- Protect your goals! Others don’t know them, and/or might not care as much and try to pull you away from what matters to you at that moment.
- If you erase, you must replace. Life happens and stuff comes up so it’s good to be flexible when needed but always make sure you reschedule the activities that will lead you to your goals! Don’t just cancel them all together.
- There will always be things left unfinished. Laundry can be folded tomorrow but you can’t always make up your workout.
- Read The One Thing by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan for more amazing tips on this!
- Willpower is a Battery!!
- The more mental decisions you make and/or the more times you test your willpower, the more you drain it.
- Some decisions you can’t avoid but some you can. Lay out your outfit you want to wear each day the night before so you tax your willpower less first thing in the morning.
- Don’t allow yourself to make important decisions later in the day when your willpower is more taxed.
- What’s for dinner? Decide the night before so when you’re tired you don’t default to the easy option of drive through that you’ll regret later.
- Another Great Book: The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
- The more mental decisions you make and/or the more times you test your willpower, the more you drain it.
- Be growth minded!
- Your past history will not dictate your success if you set the right habits in place and believe you can achieve this. You can change (if you really want too)!
- Keep on Reading: Mindset by Carol Dweck
- Set yourself up for success.
- It’s not only about the time you’ll need to achieve tasks, but what food will you need or what gear? Plan ahead so you can’t use excuses that you didn’t have the right equipment to achieve your goal!
- Make a decision for who you are ahead of unfortunate circumstances. It’s easy to go for a run when it’s sunny and nice out. But when it’s raining and your willpower is low it’s much harder to still do it. Make a decision BEFORE bad weather on if you are a person that is determined to achieve your goal so much that you will run in the rain? If you aren’t, that’s fine, but then you must be okay with not achieving your goal.
- Create buy-in with those around you. You may need to let your family, friends, and/or work know of your goals as sometimes you’ll need their help, you’ll need to say no to them, and/or you’ll need them to just hold you accountable!
- Speaking of that, it’s great to have a coach or accountability partner.
- The Time is NOW and No Regrets
- A close friend of mine talks about how her dad worked so hard all his life and kept saving his money, big trips, adventures, etc. for retirement. Then he passed away before he retired and never got to go for them. Stop saying “someday” and do it now!
- Live your life so you don’t say “I wish I had…” instead you say “I’m so glad I did”. Yes it will take more work, energy, time but you won’t regret it!
- Remember this will get hard
- There will be times when you want to throw in the towel but stick with it and hopefully you set your life up with the previous recommendations so when those times come it will be easier (not easy) to stick with it.
- Truth be told, a productive, fulfilling life can be exhausting. But it can also be exhilarating and amazing too!
- I highly recommend reading: Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.
- As the Chinese said:
- “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now”.
There are so many amazing resources out there to help you build our your best life and lots of additional ideas. I just hope the points I shared help start you in the right direction to you building a life you won’t regret and one you’ll be stoked to look back on!
Favorite Livin’ Life Activity This Month: Fall Biking with Good Friends
Favorite Livin’ Life Activity This Month: Fall Mountain Biking with Good Friends
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