Mentor Network: Taking control of your life in order to achieve your goals and aspirations –

“Live the Life of Your Dreams: Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others.”

― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

The greatest gift in this life that we can give ourselves is to manifest the dreams and aspirations that we have created in our minds and make that vision something real for us to experience every day. As someone who is very goal focused and action orientated, and who has attained most of the aspirations I’ve set, I believe in the value of creating a life of your own choosing and to do that you must take control and be in the driver’s seat of your life. 

The benefits of having a vision and goals to work towards is that it inspires us to move towards something that elicits feelings of accomplishment, achievement, empowerment, pride and ultimately fulfillment and alignment to live an authentic life.  Robert H. Schuller said “You Can Become the Person You Want To Be”. Most people fail, not because they lack talent, money, or opportunity; they fail because they never really planned to succeed”. You owe it to yourself to succeed in this life by living your vision. 

During this time, when COVID19 has disrupted our livelihoods, and created a new normal that we’re all still trying to figure out, we’re all invited to step outside our comfort zone, and create the life of our choosing. When you take action to determine how you want your life to unfold, you give yourself permission to stop asking for approval, validation and acceptance from others and you give yourself the freedom to live life on your own terms. There has never been a better time than now, despite the current circumstances, to take that dream and turn it into a vision and take inspired action to get you to attain those goals. 

I’d like to share my top tips for how you can create the life of your choosing by creating a personal vision statement that encompasses all the aspirations you want to achieve as well as the action required to get you there. This process is not meant to be easy – because if it was we all would be doing it. It is meant to get you out of your comfort zone and into your creative zone. 

Get out a pen and paper, put on some inspirational music and let’s get started. 

When you project forward to a few years from now, and look back at your life, what would’ve happened that would make you say, “These past few years have been the best and most fulfilling experience to date?”. Think about it – how often have you heard people who get to the end of their lives say things like, “I wish I had started that business”, or “I wish I did not listen to what people said, I would’ve been a world renowned baker” or “I wish I just decided to take action and climb Mount Kilimanjaro”.

Those people have a life of regret because they did not give themselves permission to live life from a place of true alignment and take action to what they wanted instead of what people wanted for them. Put yourself in this space, and answer the question, “What would’ve happened in my life to make it the most fulfilling experience to date?”. Write down all the experiences that come to mind in all areas of your life – socially, professionally, spiritually, etc.

Create a vision board. Now that you have all that written down, create a vision board that includes words, pictures, phrases, colours and other items that symbolise that life you envisioned. The vision board is meant to evoke a feeling of excitement, happiness, pride, and overall bliss at the thought of being able to make these things manifest. At this stage, the “how” of that vision is not relevant.

Next, ask yourself, “What is the vision statement that represents this life I want to create and the experiences I want to have?”. Now that you have the vision board, ask yourself what statement defines this life? Think about the things you enjoy doing, the lifestyle you will have, your health, your well-being – all the things that would be in alignment with this vision.

The most important note about this vision statement is to write it in the present tense as if you are already living this life. Remember, it’s about giving yourself permission to live a life of your choosing. And then place that vision statement on your vision board.

Now after creating the vision statement, ask yourself, “How will I feel, what will I see, what will people say about me and what will I be saying to myself, about myself while I’m living this vision”? Write down those answers that come to mind. This is a time to let go of the limitations you’ve placed on yourself.  The words that you write become the affirmations that allow you to embody that life. Place those words on the vision board you’ve created next to the personal vision statement.

Follow up this will by putting small goals in place that will help you achieve that vision and to do so, ask yourself, “What do I need to do today, to take me closer to that vision. Who do I need to be to achieve that vision, what do I need to learn, what skills do I need to develop and action do I want to take to take me closer and closer to this vision”. Be specific about your goal, include the measures that you will use to determine if you are meeting the goal, include the methods on how you will attain the goal, make the goal relevant to your vision and set a time-frame on when you will achieve the goal.

If you spend the time working on this, you will have complete control of your life and you would have truly given yourself the freedom to create a life of your choosing. 

As a Holistic Life and Career Coach. I help people uncover their magic by living a life of limitless potential while being aligned to their highest calling. By doing this, they uncover their magic, become unstuck and do what they love so they can live a truly authentic life. Because I am attaining the dreams and aspirations I’ve set for myself, I am able to help my clients do the same by having a clear vision, creating a personal vision statement, developing goals to achieve the vision and taking inspired action towards the life they want.

You can do the same. You already have everything you need, now it’s up to you to make that dream a reality.

Elin is an HR and Talent Project Specialist. She is a Life Coach who is trained in NLP, Reiki and Hypnotherapy. As a Coach she specialises in Career Coaching and Personal Transformation and facilitate change in her clients through the use of her toolkit and personal experience.