Last summer was when I decided that I was going to live the life that I had always dreamed about. I also decided that I was going to do it my way… I wanted to be as lazy as possible, and spend as much time as possible on my hobbies. I’m not a very ambitious man. My only ambition is to have the time and means to do what I want to do instead of what the world thinks I should do.
I had a set of goals. This set was similar to the set of goals I had been trying to achieve for years. I wanted to play music. I wanted to have time to run. I wanted to find my “soul mate” and have a family. And I wanted to make a living doing something that I loved. I had been writing versions of these goals down for years, and each time I had failed to deliver. I hadn’t gotten close to any of these goals.
I thought I was doing everything right. I had written down the goals. I had carried them around with me. I planned out everything I had to do to get there. I did a 30, 60, and even a 90 day plan. I knew exactly what I had to do, but I still wasn’t doing it. I studies self help. I explored NLP, and even looked into hypnosis. I even learned some things about physiology. All to answer the question of why I wasn’t finding the motivation to go after what I desperately wanted.
Time for me to pause and talk about one of my pet peeves. It’s when an author presents a problem, but doesn’t give you a solution. Yes, I get it. Set goals. Find the motivation to act. Then you need to act. But HOW do I do all of that. Break it down. Give me a call to action. Or something. Not some vague suggestion and a pat on the head.
Last summer I finally found my answer. It was buried in Eban Pagen’s “Turn Your Talent Into Income” program. He said to write down what your life is going to be like 3 years from now. Walk yourself through a typical day. Talk about looking at your bank account and seeing how much you are making. Write about your journey to get there. Where are you living? Are you married? Single? What are you doing for work? For fun? Now write this out every morning and night for the next 30 days.
This exercise changed my life.
By day 20 I was so sick of my life 3 years from now I almost stopped looking forward to being rich, a famous dj, and married to a supermodel. Almost. I had also written about the things in my life that I wanted to have happen in the next 3 months:
Quitting my job at the bar – Check
Living the laptop lifestyle – Check for a few months
Making $100/day – Check. Currently I am making about that before taxes.
Everything I wrote about came true. It didn’t come true in the way that I had intended, but it was a start. Doing this exercise helped me focus all of my mental energy on my goals. After not doing it for a few months I’m back at it. If the last attempt had this kind of result, what is my life going to be like in the next 6 months after this attempt at changing my life around.
