How Do You Live Your Best Life?
You like the sound of living your best life, but maybe you don’t know how?
A great start is to set some goals, as this will ensure that you get the absolute best out of life.
Do you set goals for yourself? What are your goals for the next year? How about 3 years from now? 5 years? 10 years? What are your aspirations in all areas of your life?
Goal setting is the first step towards success, as this is when you switch from a passive state to being really involved in life. Goals with specific measures and deadlines ensure that you are maximising your experience on Earth. If you have already discovered your life purpose, then your goals will help you to get the best out of your purpose.
Something most of us seem to forget is that we can’t control time. We make excuses like ‘it’s not the right time’ or ‘I don’t have time’, but you see the thing is, time will pass in your life faster than you think. In a year’s time, you’ll be one year older. In 5 years, you’ll be 5 years’ older. Imagine if you set your sights now, right now, on the life you want to create – what wonder and amazement you could experience!
“Your entire life can really change in a year…you gotta love yourself enough to know you deserve more, be brave enough to demand more, and be disciplined enough to actually work for more.”
There’s an old saying that ‘the world is your oyster’. There are billions of things you can do, experiences you can have, and people you can encounter. There are endless possibilities of what you can accomplish. What do you want to achieve? What do you want to see, do, and experience in your life? What if you could do whatever you want? Set your goals, make them happen, and watch as you create your best life ever.
Highly accomplished athletes and businesspeople all agree that goal-setting leads to success. And it’s something that I’ve put into practice myself to achieve an accomplished, corporate career, and now as a business owner, in my personal achievements too. I put a lot of what I’ve accomplished down to the goals I’ve set, committed to and consistently acted on.
“You need a plan to build a house. To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal.”
Live Your Best Life & Be The Best You Can Be
Goals ensure that you get the best out of life. Goals help you to achieve your highest potential.
Without goals, you’re likely to default to a routine of activities that keeps you feeling safe and comfortable each day. But this familiarity is the nemesis of growth. It prevents you from growing. It denies you from tapping into your infinite potential.
By setting goals, you set targets to strive toward. These targets make you venture into new places and new situations that put you into growth mode. They make you stretch beyond your normal self and reach new heights.
For example, setting a time limit for your run lets you know if you should be running faster. Or setting a weight loss target helps you know if your actions have been effective in losing weight. Or setting a career goal ensures that you are not settling for anything less than what you desire.
3 Reasons Why it’s Important to Set Goals
1. Take Control of Your Life
Many people today are sleepwalking through life. Even though they work hard, they don’t feel like they are getting what they want because they don’t have a direction of where they want to go or what they want to achieve. Students often graduate unsure of what to do with their life. Adults work for years and when they reach their 30s/40s, are shocked because they don’t know what to do next.
When you stop to set goals and think about what you want, you break out of autopilot and start living a life of your own conscious creation. Instead of letting others tell you what to do, you proactively take charge and think about what you want for yourself.
2. Maximise Your Results
Top performers, world-class athletes, and successful people all set goals. Michael Phelps (competitive swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time), Richard Branson (business magnate), and Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors) all set goals. When you set goals, you have a vision to work towards and you’re pushing yourself to get the best results, rather than resting on your laurels and waiting for things to happen.
Know that all things are created twice: first in the mind, then in the physical world. The mental creation happens when you set your goals. The physical creation happens when you work on your goal and bring it to life. Without the mental creation, the physical creation can’t happen. When you set goals, you kick off the very first step to make your dreams happen, after which the next steps will follow through.
3. Be Laser Focussed
Goals give you focus. While a life purpose gives you a general direction, your goals give you laser focus on exactly what to spend your time and energy on.
Let’s say you set a goal to create a bakery business. Even though you have no idea how to make it happen, the very act of setting a goal gives you a focal point. As you brainstorm ideas, you realise that you can start by studying the local pastry market and bakery brands to understand the cakes that people like. Then, you can take baking classes to master your skills. At the same time, you can test recipes and let your friends taste your creations before selling them.
Think of your energy as the input and the results as the output. When you have a goal, you create a focal point where your energy can be channelled to create maximum reward. When you set goals, you are aiming for the moon. Your goals propel you to take more action than you would have otherwise taken.
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
How do you write goals?
Start by asking yourself “What are my goals for the upcoming year, 3 years, 5 years, or even 10 years?”
You can of course use the time-honoured SMART formula; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound. Diving into the five “W” questions: What, Why, Who, Where, Which, I much prefer an approach of using a well-formed outcome in goal-setting to get greater results with my coaching clients.
However, for the purposes of sharing insight, here are my Golden Nuggets and Top Tips to help you get started on writing your goals to achieve a happier and fulfilled life.
Golden Nuggets
Write Goals that align with your values
There’s little motivation for success if your goals don’t connect to your values. Of course, to make this work you need to know exactly what your values are. I recommend looking at areas of your life as detailed in the ‘Pura Vida Your Life Compass – The Navigation Tool For The Modern World’. Some examples are: Creative = fun and artistic expression; Physical = abundance; Spiritual = open mindfulness; Social = relationships; Worldly Nourishment = helping others. And consider how you are living out your values in each of those areas. Gaining this perspective will give you some ideas about what you might like to change or improve.
Top Tip
Consider: How do you spend your time and energy? What are you passionate about? What do you need to do more of? What should you cut back on? What is missing?
Take time to process your thoughts and feelings and consider any feedback you’ve been given. List 5 things you would like to change or do differently. Write them down as possible goals.
Think Big
I dare you to think bigger, to act bigger and to be bigger than you ever thought possible. The one major factor that separates the most successful people from the rest begins with a single thought. This single thought, if cultivated, grows over time into the empowering habit of thinking big and that eventually takes over a person’s psychology, and propels them towards the achievement of their goals and objectives. Think from the perspective of having no limitations and no fears.
Top Tip
A vision board is a great tool to turn your goals into a visual reminder and helps to keep you motivated. And it can be a fun way to illustrate your aspirations too.
Plan for Success
Write a plan – this is vital in making the goal a reality. Without a plan, your goal has little chance of success. Write an overall summary of the goal, including details such as timing, cost and location to make it authentic. More importantly, decide where to begin, and then make a detailed step-by-step plan of the major tasks needed to achieve the goal. If in doubt, work backward in stages from the final result – this really works for me. Make deadlines if you like but keep them realistic to avoid disappointment.
Top Tip
Stick to your goal but stay flexible; this can be a challenge, as unexpected events can distract you and lead to procrastination. To help you maintain your motivation, report back to others on your progress and adjust the plan as you go along to be flexible.
If you have found this useful, then please share this with anyone you know who would also benefit to help them along their journey in life.
Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next week for ‘Pura Vida Your Life Happenings’ for insight, inspiration and more golden nuggets to help you live a happier and fulfilled life.
Pura Vida Your Life – it all starts with you 🧡💙💛
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Pura Vida!