Dream up your ideal life – then work out the steps to get there

“You must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.”

– Mary Oliver

Written in Meiringen, Switzerland

This one really does work. I wrote a page or so about my ideal day back in March, before I quit my job, and shared it with my boyfriend. “Is it really realistic to want to earn that in your current job?”, he asked. It wasn’t, but it got in my head. Three months later, I was earning that.

It’s easy to sleepwalk through life, just running from one thing to the next. 

That’s how we’re raised: you go to school where you focus on getting to university.

At university, you’re thinking about work, then when you have a job you’re focused on the promotion, and then retirement. 

And that’s life.

Where do you really want to be? What’s your road ahead? Are you on that, or the one handed to you?

Dream up where you want to be and take the reins in making it happen. Plot your own course.

Get to it: Write down your ideal day in the present tense and share the specifics of what makes your life so incredible. Turn up the dial for awesomeness.

Don’t hold back and write down something you think is more attainable because you’re sensible. Dream the biggest dream you can and write it down. Throw caution out the window. Imagine you can have anything you want. Picture that you’re already there.

Tell me:

Where do you wake up? Who’s with you and how you are you feeling? What do you do first thing in the morning?

As the day progresses, where do you find purpose? How do you earn your money? How much are you earning, and how much is in your bank account? Do you give to charity? How do you make the world a better place?

What are you like as a person? How do you feel? What are your values? What do others say about you?

What do you look like? What are you wearing? What’s your diet like? And your body?

What do you do for fun? How do you spend your free time? What do you do instead of browsing mindlessly on social media?

When do you go to sleep? How are you feeling as you put your head on the pillow?

Get inside this vision for your life and believe it’s possible

Once you’re clear on what your ideal day really looks like, you need to get it at the forefront of your mind.

Write it down and stick it to the bathroom mirror. Put it on your fridge. Make a Pinterest board of what it will look like and make it so freaking awesome you want to look at it all the time.

Admire it, think about it, and inhabit it before you get there. By getting so familiar with it in your mind, you’ll start pulling aspects of it towards you. You’ll behave like the person you want to be, develop their habits, and attract the things they have.

Your beliefs dictate what you think you’re capable of and what you ask for. Get clear on what you want and you’ll know what to ask for. And in the words of Henry Ford, whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.

Exercise

Write down your ideal day in the present tense and share the specifics of what makes your life so incredible. Display it somewhere visible and keep it at the front of your mind.