How do you want your life to be? In 10 years? 5 years? 1 year? 6 months?

Most people know what they don’t want – I don’t want to work in a dead-end job, I don’t want to be broke etc.

However on being asked what they do actually want, other than perhaps a generic ‘win the lottery or live abroad’ sentiment, they often don’t know specifics and this is because people rarely spend time considering what it is they actually want to achieve. In fact, it could be argued that many people spend more time planning their holidays or birthday parties than they do planning their life.

So, with this in mind, if you would like to know more precisely what you want from life so you can then take steps to make them happen, what’s stopping you putting some time aside to do just that?

If you had no limitations nor barriers, what would you like to do? This is your chance to let rip. Go for it. At this stage, we don’t have to be remotely practical or realistic. That can come later.

Consider absolutely anything that you want to or have always wanted to do. There maybe naysayers who say that this is ridiculous and that you have to be practical and I agree. Just not yet. Let’s give our dreams a moment to shine first. We will be practical later and we need to be because without that dose of reality, many hopes and dreams will remain unrealised.

Think about the things you have always wanted to do – speak a language, get a new job, start a business, write a book or move to a new country, though note they don’t have to be ‘big’ things, just things that you have always wanted to do. Maybe you want to have a day off from work to do some gardening, cook a recipe you’ve always been meaning to try out or just sit down and have the time to read your favourite book.

Write a list. Write down everything you have thought about. Maybe it’s a couple or maybe 20 things. Just get it down.

Now go through your list and consider each and every item on it for a moment. So many people shoot down their own and others’ ideas for a thousand so-called practical reasons, so aim to give each ‘dream’ a moment to breathe.

Even for just a moment, give yourself the permission to believe that your dreams could be possible and achievable.

Visualise each one. What can you see? Smell? Hear? Where are you? Who are you with? What are you actually doing? Enjoy the moment.

Once you have taken the time to do that, now think about this – what are the 3 most important things on your list that you really want to achieve? Which 3 resonate with you having been through this exercise?

After having clarified that, what one thing (however small) could you do today to move you forward to making each of these three things happen?

None of the above may be an ‘easy’ thing to do, but what of value is?

(This post was inspired one of my readers who recently asked ‘It’s all well and good being positive and achieving what you want? But how do I know what I want? It’s so difficult to know.’ I hope I’ve answered your question)