Create An Extraordinary Year (Part 3)

Happy New Year! Wishing you an extraordinarily fun and healthy year.  
 

In my last two blogs, I discussed a couple steps you can take to create an extraordinary year for yourself (or whatever adjective inspires you - an amazing, joyful, healthy or adventurous year, etc.)
 

The first step is noticing how your saboteur thoughts might be blocking you from pursuing your dreams. When you shine the light on them, own them and question them, you weaken their hold on you and open up the space to pursue them. 
 

The second step is taking the time to visualize your dream in detail, so you can feel the fun and excitement of it NOW instead of later. It will increase your chances of sticking to your commitment and following through. 
 

Today, I want to discuss the third step - planning the details and taking your first tiny step. There are so many ways to plan, from creating a super detailed plan to outlining a general blueprint. 
 

There is no right or wrong way to do this. Just what works for YOU. So choose an approach that resonates with you and experiment.


If you come up against mental resistance, ask yourself how you can simplify your planning process and deconstruct your actions into tiny digestible steps. If that doesn’t work, call me! I can help you. 
 

Here are three simple steps I like to take:

1. Brainstorm: Take out a piece of paper and brainstorm all the things you think you need to do in order to realize this dream or goal. You aren’t wedded to any of them, you’re just brainstorming.
   
   If you prefer going digital, consider the extremely simple organizing tool called Workflowy. Grab a cup of tea, put on some music and just do your best. You don’t need to know every step now. That will unfold with time. All you really need to figure out is the next small step to take.

2. Prioritize: Take a look at your list and prioritize it in terms of what would be the most impactful actions you can take towards realizing your goal. For now, identify which ones would go into the short, medium and long term to-do buckets.

3. Take One Small Action: Look at your short-term bucket and pick one task you can accomplish this week and make room for it on your calendar. If that is 15 minutes or 60 minutes, both are equally great. Don’t judge yourself.
   
   
   If everything feels overwhelming on this list, take one task you’d like to accomplish and break it down into TINY steps. Let go of the attitude of “go big or go home!” That’s debilitating for most people and motivation is a fickle friend. What gets the job done over the long haul is the attitude of “easy does it” and “one step at a time.”

The most important factor in ensuring that you’ll follow through is keeping it SIMPLE and EASY. 
 

If you’d like help on any of this or taking it to the next level, email me. I’d love to work with you. 

#goalsetting #beintentional #extraordinarylife