It is time to stop dreaming about things and start doing something about it. Do you get the feeling that you are not really living the life that you actually want to. If you find yourself living more in daydreams wishing your everyday situation away and wishing that you were leading that life you have always wanted to.
Mundane routines just seem to get in the way. There isn’t time to get anything done.
Don’t worry you are not alone. There are so many people who are in the exact same situation. Some people make the decision to go for it and set their goals and work towards it and others prefer to live in the day dream. There are so many reasons that make people think they are stuck and can’t improve their lives. They seem to be their own worst enemy.
What if there are some simple steps you can do to shake up things and start to live the life you want to.
STEP ONE: Stop and take a moment for yourself
Stop and take a deep slow breath in, hold it for a few seconds and breathe slowly out. Ground yourself and slow things down. Repeat the step a few times and feel the calm wash over you.
STEP TWO: Forgive yourself right now
We all live in different situations and different stages of our lives. No one knows exactly how you may be struggling sometimes to get through your day.
Others can’t judge you and how you are. You may have some illness that no one knows about or you have not talked about and you don’t want it to be the focus of your life even though it is leaving you in constant pain and having no energy.
Whatever the situation, be kind to yourself right now. It is probably something that can’t be fixed right now and focusing on it won’t improve it right now.
Forgive yourself, you are not lazy and there could be so many people relying on you to be strong for them and you may feel your priorities are with them. There are so many reasons why you have not started on your journey and it is up to you to forgive yourself what has happened up to now and commit to your own journey and make the promise to respect yourself.
Repeat step 1 if you have to.
STEP THREE: Focus on what you want to achieve
Has there been that one goal or dream that you would like to achieve? It doesn’t mean that it has to be a huge dream like climbing Everest or becoming a best selling author and making millions and there is nothing wrong with having either or even both dreams or ambitious ones like this. Who is to say you can’t do it?
Your goal or dream is exactly that and it is the thing that has grabbed your attention for a while.
Whatever it is, name it and own it. If you want to or need to, you can daydream or brainstorm how you can achieve that goal and start to break down the steps you need to take to achieve that.
STEP FOUR: Add in some easy and fun tasks to motivate you to continue
Who says you can’t have fun on your journey.
This depends on the goal you are aiming for. However, self care is also important.
Add in a weekly bath time to destress and relax your body and soul in the process. Enjoy the warmth of the water and the soaking of the body. Add in some epsom salt or bath bombs, add scented candles safely place in the bathroom. Play an audiobook or some music.
Allow yourself to unwind.
Head to your favourite bakery and get the pastry that you crave and only rarely enjoy.
Whatever inspires you to do something for yourself that brings you peace or joy add it in and savour it. Set some out as a reward for getting some of the awkward or dreaded tasks done.
STEP FIVE: Look over your list
Note the most important one you need to do to start your journey.
Is it something you can do tomorrow? Then that is perfect, if it happens to be something that you need to do during the working week Monday to Friday eg contacting a business/organisation or getting details or information then make that task a Monday morning one.
Is there another task you could start tomorrow no matter what the day? Then put that first for your situation.
This is not a fixed in stone set of rules that has to be followed. You are allowed to adapt it to your life and your situation and each person’s goal is different.
If your goal is to become healthier and you want to build the habit of walking 10,000 steps a day then that is wonderful.
You could start any day of the week but if the next day is gale force winds and rain pivot and put on an audio book or podcast or even tv show and start walking on the spot. Put on your favourite tunes, start your playlist and dance. Dance like nobody’s watching. Just start moving. Include your kids and have your own dance party. You don’t have to punish yourself by starting your journey in horrible conditions and build a hate towards it. Pivot!
STEP SIX: Sleep on it
Yes that is right. Once you have your plan written out and you can visually see the list of steps stop and smile.
Repeat step one again and take some deep cleansing breaths.
Now get a good night’s sleep and know that you can start the day more focused and energised that you have the plan in place for you.
You could even try and set your alarm 15 minutes earlier and see if those extra few minutes in the morning with a clear mind make you start the day more relaxed. Time to enjoy the first hot cup of tea or coffee for the day sometimes makes the difference in how the whole day progresses.
STEP SEVEN: Do that one important task in the morning and get it done
That gives you the motivation and self confidence boost to make you smile and tick off the dreaded task and frees up the day to focus on other things.
Don’t let it hang over you the whole day and in the end you have achieved nothing or spent the day procrastinating not even doing daily chores.
Of course in the real world just because you start that task does not mean you have it completed. If you need to get information to fill out a form, contacting the one place may not give you the information you need and you will have to do multiple calls or contact different departments and the one task can lead to several days of mind blowing frustrating delays.
Remember step 1 again.
Just focus on the fact that you have started on that task and are making ongoing progress and keep yourself accountable to follow through You prioritised this task and means it needs to be followed through
Maybe your goal is to get a health check and make the dreaded appointment or finding out where and how it can be done. Appointments may be months later. The win is you made the appointment and now you can focus on maybe researching information or questions you can ask at that appointment. Mark it in your calendar as important and book time off work if you have to. Keep this a priority in your life.
Don’t get bogged down in not being able to tick off things straight away, the important thing is you started it and now you follow through.
STEP EIGHT: Make sure you allow yourself time to focus on your goal
Life has a way of filling our days without even trying so it seems. It is easier today to get lost in things and distractions are everywhere. Trying to get some extra time seems impossible.
We all have responsibilities and commitments that we honour each and every day and they remain a priority.
Could it be as simple as setting time limits on things?
Are you spending/losing a lot of time on social media? Do you have to know all the tiny things strangers make important? Does that improve your life? Cold turkey is hard to do but how about setting eg half an hour a day to check up all accounts.
If you have bills and accounts or taxes to do and you seem to procrastinate and lose time looking at the amount of paperwork and dreading doing it. How about setting yourself an hour a day or week to sort it out and get things ready and organised for when you need to process them. Baby steps along the way.
By setting time limits you are not ignoring or forgetting you are allocating your valuable time to the things and allowing yourself the extra time on other things such as reaching for your own goals.
The saying work expands to fill time if we don’t allocate time to it. Read the post here for tips
STEP NINE: Check your goals daily
At the end of the day take a moment to look over your list and assess how things are going.
Are they working out or do you need to adjust some steps, add some in or remove some.
It is your life and your goals and you can always adjust and adapt them. Maybe you have broadened your goal and have more steps to make. It is all possible. Move around the tasks if you have to or even spice things up. Add in another treat to motivate yourself to get the dreaded one done. Don’t compare your life to others, you don’t know the journey that are making or have made. Your goals are your own and you decide them what is important to you
Looking for motivation on how to stop comparing yourself to others read the post here.
Stop dreaming and start doing
Always remember step 1 is the easiest. The hardest part is starting and then just keep going and keep the momentum going
Praise yourself for all that you have achieved so far no matter how big or small the steps have been. It’s all about the progress you make. Stop procrastination in its tracks.
You deserve it and you owe it to yourself. Start respecting yourself and be the person you have always wanted to be, happy.
Don’t forget to treat yourself along the way and remember step one is easy. Take some deep cleansing breaths in and slowly out again.
If you enjoy writing and want to start a journal to motivate and inspire you and are looking for some prompts then check out these posts.
