Are You Challenged in Creating the Life that you Truly Want?
One of the first things I ask my coaching clients to do is to create a vision for their future life. What would they love to be, do, or have, if there were no constraints in the way? I ask them to let their minds roam free, to use the full extent of their imagination; in some ways to go back to childhood when the imagination was such a rich and inspiring part of their daily thinking. I suggest they let their mind relax and have fun with the exercise and, on the face of it, the exercise seems easy enough, but for so many, it’s not.
It’s anything but easy. They don’t know where to start and maybe it doesn’t feel right to be asking for more when so many of them feel they are already doing well. It can be scary looking ahead to an unmapped future, especially when getting to this point has simply meant following the well-known route taken by so many others, namely, go to college, get a job, probably get married, have a couple of kids, climb the ladder over time, maybe move to the suburbs and so on – it’s a well-worn path taken by millions of people. The problem occurs when they’ve done all that and then I ask them, “What now? What’s next for you, at work and in your personal life? Where are you heading to?”
Your corporate goals can be fairly straightforward as most of the time they are a cascaded version of the overarching objectives of your company. You’ll likely also have some professional development aspirations around certain experiences, qualifications you want to gain, promotions you would love to achieve (although for some even that is a big grey space with little clarity). And yet, for 95% of my clients, the creation of a holistic vision for their future, one that combines both professional and personal aspirations, is a tough nut to crack. The imagination is so rusty that even getting those thought wheels turning can be a slow and challenging process. Finding the time to sit down and quietly think is a challenge in and of itself. Today’s world is characterized by “busyness” and people feeling overloaded and overwhelmed. Everything seems to be a priority and just staying on top of day-to-day activities can be exhausting. Little wonder then that actual “thinking time” is such a rare and precious commodity, but that’s where my clients have to start. They have to make time in their day to think, they have to start prioritizing themselves, even if it begins with only five minutes per day.
However, once those thoughts start coming, the momentum picks up and some amazing ideas start to come into the mind. I ask them to only focus on the ideas of what they would like to be, do, or have at this time and not to give any thinking time to how these ideas will turn into reality. That there is another challenge – we are so conditioned to dismiss ideas if we can’t see how we can execute them. “That’s ridiculous, that’s pie in the sky, that’s never going to happen” are some of the thoughts that people come up with when they start to imagine BIG goals and by doing so, by letting their habitual ways of thinking to control their life, they miss out on opportunities to experience a much more fulfilled life, a life that they really love.
So, yes, creating a vision for your life, a merging of your professional & personal goals, can be hard work but the benefits, once it’s created, can be enormous. Having something to aim for, after years of moving along on autopilot, re-energizes my clients. Instead of doing the same old, same old, things, they are moving towards an exciting future that they have consciously created. In my observations from working with a wide cross-section of clients I see self-belief and self-confidence increasing as a result of this exercise. I see greater degrees of satisfaction at work and at home, improved communication with spouses, family, and co-workers, a renewed sense of motivation, a deepening of determination to get what they truly want from life and a real sense of purpose for what they’re going after.
The scale of the ambition for each client is different but what is consistent for all is the realization that once they take conscious control of their life, both professionally and personally, and get off that “autopilot merry-go-round”, then anything is possible.
“There is nothing that belief and a burning desire cannot make real.”
It can be for you too if you know you want to make changes in your life. Make the decision to put your mind to work, work with an elite level coach to guide you and hold you accountable, and create the future you want for yourself and your family. As Napoleon Hill, the author of the multi-million bestseller, Think and Grow Rich, said, “There is nothing that belief and a burning desire cannot make real.”
If this has resonated with you and you would like to learn more, click this link to leave your contact details and I’ll get back to you so we can set up some time to talk about what you would really love to be, do, or have.