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In this meditation, you want to create visions of a positive future and connect with your higher self.
You do that by closing your eyes and imagining the future you want and a better version of yourself.
During the meditations, don’t just imagine a brighter future. Imagine yourself doing the work required to get the rewards and build the character you desire to have.
After that, come back to reality and be grateful for the opportunity and ability to work your vision.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 1
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If you already know your passion, great. Keep at it.
If you don’t, it’s okay. Passion is not something you hope to come to you. You have to try so many things before you find it. And when you’ll find it, you’ll know it.
So start exploring. Try new things. You can always stop doing something if you don’t like them.
Another thing about passion is that it’s okay to be multi-passionate (having multiple passions). Some of us have more than one passion simultaneously. Some of us become passionate about multiple things at different times in life. It’s all okay!
Do you. Be you.
A quick question to jumpstart your thinking: Would you still do what you’re doing if you could start over? If not, it’s time for more digging. ?
Good luck!
(Optional) Further reading: How To Find Your “True” Passion And Live A Life You Won’t Regret On Your Deathbed[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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Passion and purpose may overlap but they are two different things.
Passion is something you love to do or care a lot about.
Purpose is having a meaning for what you do (usually it’s in the form of service).
What problems do you want to solve or how do you want to be of service?
If your career path is aligned with your purpose, then think about how you can use your strengths and leverage your weaknesses to be of a greater value to the world.
You may also have a purpose for something that doesn’t require much skill or is not a vocation. (for example, charity, volunteering, etc.) In that case, just focus on service and feel the joy that comes with it.
Give more than you receive and you’ll be a happy man/woman.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 2
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Before we dive in, let’s look at the six core needs identified by Tony Robbins:
- Certainty
- Uncertainty or variety
- Significance
- Love and connection
- Growth
- Contribution
When you look at your motives behind what you do, ask yourself these questions to get clear on your motivation so you’ll be more connected to your purpose and willing to take action:
- What do you really love doing?
- What do you hate doing?
- What inspires you?
- Where do you see yourself in the next 5 and 10 years?
- What do you really want in life?
- What do you not want in life?
- What do you find personally rewarding?
- If you could wave a magic wand and a miracle happens, what would your life look like? (dig deeper by asking “what about X is so important to me?” and keep repeating until you come to a final conclusion)
If you take a notice, these questions start with ‘what’, not ‘why’.
The reason for that is ‘why’ leads to shallow rationalizations that only support or deny what you already believe while ‘what’ leads you towards specific new information which may help you identify patterns of behavior, your personality traits, etc.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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List down all the current and possible future obstacles that may come in your way of success.
Go crazy. Keep listing. Keep asking – ‘what else?’
The more you can list down the easier it will be for you to be prepared.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 3
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There are probably multiple ways to get the core of what you want. So list all the ways you can think of to meet those desires/needs.
It doesn’t matter if the options are big, small, hard, easy, probable or improbable. Just keep listing.
Once you have a long list, choose the ones that are the best fit right now. Keep all the other options saved and choose 1-3 ways to focus on.
Now you’re clear on what you want. You’re also clear on the path you will try at this time. The final questions to ask yourself are:
- What are the next steps?
- What can you do every day to move forward? (even if the actions are small)
- What can you do NOW? (yes, right now) – take a tiny step now.
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- What strengths can you leverage?
- What weakness should you overcome to reach your goals?
- What knowledge or resource do you need? How can you make the best use of them?
These questions will help you identify the things you can leverage or overcome. They will be unique to your own situation so make sure to use them as best as you can.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 4
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When most people get stuck, they quit, burnout or stay stuck for a long time. But you can be smart and get unstuck if know the common fallacies and ways to dodge them.
The following link captures different ways people get stuck and what to do about it: https://www.unstuck.com/free-app/
Go back to it whenever you feel stuck or use it if you’re stuck now.
Another thing you can think of is getting advice from your mentors. If you don’t have direct access to someone, you may think something like – what would X person do? Or you can find what others have done in the past to overcome a similar obstacle.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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We all have been there. You’re not alone!
Here’s what you can try next time in such a scenario:
When you’re feeling lazy to do a giant task, just play a trailer.
Here’s what I mean:
Get past the barrier of starting the task just by committing for 5 minutes (or so). It represents the trailer before you decide to watch a movie.
After 5 minutes, you’ll most likely continue doing the task and thank yourself for playing the trailer. ?
(Optional) Further reading: 7 Best Tactics To Stop Laziness And Procrastination From Ruining Your Life[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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Many times, we set big goals (especially on new years) only to get back to previous habits a few weeks (or even days) after.
So how do you tackle it?
Allow me to introduce to you the power of accountability.
Accountability is one of the best predictors of staying on track. Why? Because we don’t like to get ashamed in front of people! We like to stay committed and keep our words.
So use that to your advantage by telling people your short-term goals and ask them to follow up with you. Keep them updated on the progress and you can do the same for them. It’s a win-win.
Recruit a friend today!
(Optional) Further reading: The Anatomy Of Transformations — Renew Yourself For Better Life[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 5
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It’s an exercise called fear-setting (popularized by Tim Ferriss).
Here’s how you do it:
Take a sheet of paper and make three columns titled “Define”, “Prevent” and “Repair”.
In the first column, list out every fear you have that stops you from living the life you want. In the next column, write everything you can do to prevent the situation from happening. In the last column, write everything you can do to mitigate the damage if the worst-case scenario came true.
On the next page, switch sides and write everything good that can come out from taking the risk.
The last step is the most important step of the exercise. On the third page, determine the cost of inaction. How would your life look like in the next months or years if you didn’t take the action?
Consider every aspect such as emotional, physical and financial when you think about the cost of inaction.
This exercise is a powerful tool to start and stay on a track you set for yourself.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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For short-term, SMART goals is one of the best ways to set goals.
Here’s how it’s broken down:
S – specific, significant, stretching
M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T – time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable
I’ll admit – I used to set vague goals, and it didn’t get me too far. SMART goals help put things in perspective and make them easier to accomplish.
Every week or month, review the progress and set new SMART goals – starting today.
(Optional) Further reading: 7 Secrets To Know About Goals That Will Make You Successful[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 6
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Example of cue: You feel stressed.
Example of routine: You grab a sugary snack.
Example of reward: You feel good due to the pleasant taste of sugar to combat stress.
The way to form new habits or break the old ones is to make a new loop or break an old loop to form a new loop.
Going back to the same example: You feel stressed. You feel the urge to eat a sugary snack. But instead, you break the routine by already preparing healthy snacks in advanced and not keeping sugary snack nearby. If you make sure the healthy snack is something you still enjoy, you will also feel the reward. If you repeat this enough times, it will become a new habit loop and you won’t even have to think about it any longer.
When looking at your habits, ask yourself – is this constructive or destructive in the long run? Is it going to help or make things worse if you continue the habit?
Your task for today is to identify one habit loop you’d like to make or break and start working on it by identifying the three parts of the habit loop.
(Optional) Further reading: 21 Best Ways To Change Your Habits So You Can Stop Feeling Bad About Yourself[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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There are four ways you can finish the habit loop to make or break habits:
- A reward of getting something you want (example: buying something after saving money)
- A punishment of not getting something you want (example: not buying something because you didn’t save money)
- A reward of not getting something you don’t want (example: eating healthily to not get fat)
- A punishment of getting something you don’t want (example: getting sick or fat because of poor eating habits)
This is called Operant conditioning in psychology. I tried making it super simple to understand for you.
Think of how you can use any or all these four techniques to finish a habit loop to get the desired outcome (i.e. making or breaking habits).[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 7
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- Intrinsic motivation: Comes from within and feels personally rewarding
- Extrinsic motivation: Depends on external factors such as rewards and punishment
The more you operate from your intrinsic motivations, the more fulfilling your life will become.
Here are four elements for generating intrinsic motivation:
- Autonomy: Being self-directed
- Mastery: Getting better skills
- Purpose: Finding meaning
- Relatedness: Being connected with like-minded people
When you bring these four factors together, you can develop intrinsic motivation at anything you do.
Think about how you can bring autonomy, mastery, purpose, and relatedness to something you’ve been struggling to gather motivation for.
(Optional) Further reading: How To Fall In Love With The Daily Grind, Achieve Anything And Enjoy Each Day Of Your Life
(Optional) Further reading: How To Love Your Job Even When You Hate Your Job[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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Where B is behavior; M is motivation; A is ability; and T is trigger.
For easy tasks, you need little motivation or too many triggers (also known as cues).
But for hard tasks, you’d need more motivation and triggers to do them.
So how do you increase motivation?
For that, let’s look at another equation called Temporal motivation theory:
Motivation = Expectancy x Value / Impulsiveness x Delay
Where Motivation is the desire for a particular outcome; Expectancy is the is the probability of success; Value is the reward associated with the outcome; Impulsiveness is the individual’s sensitivity to delay; and Delay is the time to realization.
To increase motivation for a task, decrease your success threshold. Also, design your environment to avoid giving up to impulses and give yourself a sense of urgency.
For example, let’s say you want to start running. Instead of putting your shoes in the closet and hiding your workout clothes in the wardrobe, take them out beforehand and wear them as soon as the times comes to go running. Once you’re already dressed up, you probably won’t change your clothes and instead actually go for a run. Also, instead of setting a goal of running for half an hour, give yourself a goal of running for 5 minutes (remember the trailer technique from Mission 10). To add a cherry on top, give yourself urgency by setting consequences for not running based on what we learned in the last mission.
That’s a lot to take in. So let it sink in for a while. Here’s a super simple action step for you.
Remember I gave you the success threshold of meditating for just 1 minute. If you do it for 1 minute, you can tick the “done” checkbox and call it a day.
Use the same principle and apply to something you’ve been avoiding for so long. Set yourself up for success. You can always increase the success threshold as you get more advanced.
(Optional) Further reading: How To Set Yourself Up For Success Without Relying On Willpower[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
Day 8
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That step is the practice of doing postmortems. No, I’m not talking about the one done on dead bodies.
What I mean is to do a reflection after big events or a periodic time (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). During postmortem, you’d ask yourself questions like:
- What did I do right?
- What did I do wrong?
- What can I improve next time?
The point of this practice is to fail smarter. It’s about making every experience a learning experience. Even a “bad” experience is an opportunity to learn if you look for the lessons.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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It takes courage to answer this one.
Are you ready?
To get what you want, what are you willing to give up?
I know it sounds so easy but trust me, sacrifice is a universal truth of success.
You can have anything, but you can’t have everything all at once.
So know your priorities and choose to let go of the distractions. Many times, these “distractions” are very close to us. But, in order to get what you truly want, you must let go.
I promise you’ll get used to the change and be grateful for sacrifice down the line.
To summarize, I want you to do two things.
- Commit to something
- “Uncommit” to distractions
Day 9
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We left the space for Room 3 and 4 then. Today is the time to fill those rooms to finish defining our home.
In Room 3, write down the answer to the following:
- What legacy do you want to leave behind? What do you want people to say after you die?
In Room 4, write the following:
- What qualities and skills does the best version of you have?
That’s your home.
Keep it safe and keep visiting it often to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the important things in life.
So often, we get lost and feel disconnected from ourselves. That won’t happen if you keep your home protected.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
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Write your mission statement.
To help you with it, think about:
- What do you want to do with your life?
- How do you want to serve?
- Who do you want to become?
Your mission statement is basically a mix of everything we defined in one (or a few) sentence(s) that you can remember all throughout your life.[/text_block][/op_liveeditor_element]
