OKAY! We’ve spent the past 6 or so weeks on the blog looking at what success means for you, and getting all of those big picture “one day” ideas out of your head and onto paper. Now it’s time to decide which ideas you want to pursue. 

I want you to look at the list of ideas and consider the following: 

• Are there any links between some of the things that you’ve written? 

• Are there things that you’re particularly good at that link into the things that you’re passionate about?

Now I want you to have a think about the things that have been stepping in your way and preventing you from pursuing these ideas, because I doubt there are a lot of things on this list that are brand new to you. (It’s highly unlikely you have never once before thought about hang gliding, and suddenly you found that hang gliding is on your big ideas list!)

So what’s been stopping you? 

• Has there been something already that makes you go, “I can’t do that.” What is it?

• How much of these road blocks are based in reality and how much of these things are based in your mind? 

The things that we sometimes say to ourselves about what we can and cannot do (those little voices in our heads), are often things that we would NEVER in a million years say to anybody else. In fact, we’d be hurt and offended if we heard someone saying these things to somebody we were close to! So why is it okay to say these things to ourselves? HINT: It’s not!

The excuses these voices in our head make are actually ridiculous. And the reason I say “ridiculous” is because they are rarely grounded in reality. So, revisit that list of road blocks and ask yourself that question again: Is this road block based in reality? Or is it all in my mind?

Now, if it is based in reality, what steps would you need to take to begin overcoming it? 

At this point you’re probably wondering: “But how do I know if this idea is even worth pursuing? 

I want to talk to you about what Glennon Doyle calls “the knowing”. The knowing for her is that feeling, that sense, that things aren’t quite right. You know the sense I’m talking about. That feeling that it’s not quite what you want. Perhaps you meet someone, perhaps you’re in a particular situation, you’re in a particular place and you get that feeling. Glennon calls that, “the knowing”. 

I want you to listen to your knowing when you’re looking at your brainstorm list. Your knowing will help you determine the things you should gravitate towards, or away from, and the things that are right for you.

Now, it’s time to make your plan!

1. Pick something on your brainstorming list and transfer it to a new page.

2. Write down on that piece of paper the thing you’ve chosen and stick it right in the middle and put a big circle around it, and then write all the way around that word all of the things that you can think of that you would need to do, or that would need to happen, to get you from where you are now to being able to achieve whatever that thing is that you’ve selected. Make them not just practical things like, “I would need to go to the bank”, but things like, “I would need to have a discussion with my partner about what my dream is”, “I would need to sit down with my accountant and work out our finances”. 

3. Once you have that brainstorm all around and you have all of those things listed out, I encourage you to go through and put numbers on them, because some of these things will need to happen before others. What’s the first thing that needs to happen? What’s the easiest thing that you can find on your list to tick off? 

4. Once everything is numbered, grab another piece of paper, write number one at the top, two, three, four, and all the way down, and put these items into order. 

5. Once you’ve listed everything out, take the top five things. Have a think about how much time you think it would take you to do whatever it is on the list, and then put a date next to it. So number one on your list could be, go to the bank. And is that feasible to happen today? Or do you know that you’re not going to have time to do that until next Monday? And in that case, that’s the date that you put on it.

Not only do I want you to put the dates next to the top five things that you want to do, but I then want you to take your calendar, or your diary, or your phone, or wherever you keep your reminders and your list of what you’re doing each day, and stick a calendar reminder in there to be able to make that first step; to be able to take that first leap towards getting to achieve what you’re doing. 

Because we’re all about progress rather than perfection.

If you’re going to wait until you have the perfect house or the perfect dog or the perfect family, or the perfect anything… then you will never get started.

Let’s just do it. Let’s get some progress, let’s get some momentum and let’s get you stepping towards building the lifestyle that you love!

And if there’s any way that I can be of assistance, please make sure you shout out. I want to help you  build the lifestyle that you love and redefine your own version of success. I hope I can be your cheerleader and be in your corner to help you achieve that!