I recently fleshed out an answer to this question, as an assignment for a class on Positive Psychology. If you’ve never taken the extra step to briefly write out what you truly want, take this “low risk” right now—and sense the emotional and motivational pay-off from the get-go.
My “best possible life” is working completely for myself and having full flexibility in my geographic location at any given time. In addition, I would like to maintain a home in my current city of Franklin, Tenn., as part of this life, as well as a future home by the ocean, and enjoy quality time with family and friends at both locations.
A key aspect of the exercise is determining when this best possible life will come to fruition. I decided that my deadline should be Feb. 17, 2018, which happens to be my 50th birthday (gulp). In order to execute such an ambitious deadline, I have detailed specific goals in my core work of executive coaching and authoring self-published e-books. These goals pertain to year-by-year growth in coaching clients and book sales, but I’ll spare you the lofty numbers I hope to reach. Strategies to reach these goals include specific types of product development, networking and lots of social media.
The first step, then, is daring to jot down the life you want. The second is to state when you want to actually taste this life, and the final, crucial work is detailing how you will get what you want.
Embrace this exercise today…unless you’ve already arrived at your best possible life. And in that case, share your secrets for success!