In 10 years, you’ll still be 10 years older. Why not be 10 years older with a Mercedes-Benz? Now is a good time to start saving up for that car. This is one of the underlying themes of this episode-How to Become Your Ideal Self. Okay, so not everyone is a car aficionado and a Mercedes-Benz owner in his dreams, and it could instead be your very own home garden for that matter. Maybe you want to be a more charming, personable, businessman, or a quirky and creative bakery owner.
Point is-where do you see yourself in your dreams? What are you going to see when you’re successful? In this episode, we’re going to walk through an effective exercise to get you started toward developing your ideal self. We have a five-step version written out below:
Step 1: You want to take a 10,000 foot view of yourself-looking at your strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and dreams. This is who you are right now. Be honest about one area of your life that you need to improve on.
Step 2: Imagine what is the most ideal version of yourself. Are you really fit and healthy, or are you successful in a particular profession? How do you dress, speak, and what are the things you own?
Step 3: Keep your ideal version within the realm of possibility. Additionally, eliminate any false barriers to success. Some barriers are real, and some are not. If you’re five foot five, you may not be playing in the NBA anytime soon, but if you can’t start that new business because “it would be a lot of work,” that’s a false barrier. Of course it’s going to take work!
Step 4: Identify a concrete step you can take to get better. Don’t say that “you have to be a nicer person.” What does nice mean? Unless you can say “I need to be a nicer person, and I can get started by complimenting people more.”
Step 5: Realize that this is a work in progress, and you won’t metamorphose overnight. What’s important is that you start now, and make gradual progress. Just like in football, the goal of the offense is to score touchdowns, but you don’t see offensive coordinators calling Hail Mary plays on every down and throwing bombs down the field. Not at all.
Instead, they slowly pick up yards, and reach milestones toward their goal. 1st down and 10: A run play for 4 yards.
They even encounter failure and literal setbacks. 2nd down and 6: Quarterback is sacked for -2 yards.
And the offense slowly but surely moves the chains into the endzone. Just like how you work toward your goal, it won’t come (rarely will) in one fell swoop. But you consistently work towards it. Does your ideal self drive around a Mercedes like we were talking about earlier? Set up a car fund. Go to Mint.com, or set up a checking account, and save for that car! Create forward momentum to start saving, and build from there, just like how football teams move toward the touchdown.
I’m looking forward to hearing some of your touchdown stories. Stay tuned, and stay awesome!
