In the previous episode, we discussed two major emotions that can hold you back from living out your ideal lifestyle.
Now that you’re prepared for what is to come, we need to discuss the most important question you will encounter along the journey to lifestyle freedom.
What is important to me?!
It’s both extremely simple and extremely complicated. We all seem to know some of the things that are important to us such as maintaining our fitness and cultivating meaningful relationships.
However, very few of us have actually explored some of the most basic human needs and figured out the type of actions we need to take in order to thrive in those aspects of life.
Today, this is what we’ll be discovering together.
Discovering Your Ideal Lifestyle:
Imagine that you’ve woken up one day with the ability to do absolutely whatever you wanted. You have no monetary restrictions, all of your friends and family are ready to join you in your adventures at a moment’s notice, and you are able to travel anywhere with ease.
What would you do?
It’s a difficult question to answer. You may not be able to answer that question because you have never considered lifestyle freedom a possibility before.
Since we were born, we have been surrounded by societal trends such as 40-hour workweeks, flawless bodies that require extensive gym visits, and family lives that are more stressful than fulfilling.
Here’s the truth: It doesn’t have to be this way!
In life, you are your own boss. You control what you do, how you go about it, when you do it, where you do it, and who you do it with.
You may be thinking, Natalie, I do have monetary restrictions and other things holding me back from living my ideal lifestyle!
I understand you completely.
While you may not be able to sit down right now, map out the rest of your life, and make it happen by snapping your fingers, you do have the opportunity to make the choice to start moving into a place of freedom.
Make that choice right here and right now. Take the leap with me and begin your journey to a life of freedom by figuring out what it is that you truly want.
Step 1: Dream, Dream, Dream
Remember the question I asked you earlier about your ideal day? I want you to answer it right now. Most importantly, I need you to answer it as specifically as you possibly can.
For example, this is how I envision my perfect day:
“I wake up in the morning with no alarm and no phone next to my bed and I wake up naturally. I turn to my lover Mr. Josh and I give him lots of kisses, hugs and cuddles.
And then little Kayla, who is not so little anymore comes around my side of the bed in for a cuddle, who just snuffles her nose into my hand and I just lovefeel so much love for my white German Shepherd puppy.
I throw open the curtains and right outside our windows this gorgeous creamy white rose which is just in full bloom right now.
It’s the first thing that I see in the morning with the sunlight coming up and all the trees and the gorgeous greenery in our garden, and looking over to the hills in the distance.
It’s a pretty spectacular way to start the morning and given that it’s spring here right now, the sun is already shining on me. So when I’m on my yoga mat I’m getting heated up by the warmth of the sun.
I typically do about 30 minutes of yoga with Adriene. I recently did a Facebook live about her and I think she is fabulous. She has a free Youtube channel and I just love her yoga.
She’s funny, she’s joyous, she’s grateful and she doesn’t take life too seriously and it’s just a pleasure to do yoga with her.
Then I will roll into anywhere from a 10-30 minute meditation. I’m working my way up into doing more of that and by this stage and really like Joe Dispenza’s work.
Otherwise I will walk to our barn with Josh to do a boxing or crossfit workout in our gym and put on some great motivational music. The sun streams in through the roller doors and the fresh air is magic.
Then I have a lovely hot shower which I am so grateful for.
I go through to the kitchen and typically make breakfast with Josh and make a green smoothie with something really awesome from my garden like kale or spinach that I grabbed after my workout, and then frozen strawberries, blueberries, banana and coconut water .
I also will have visited our five chickens to pick up the fresh eggs so that we can make a delicious omelette, scrambled eggs or poached eggs with avocado and smoked salmon or bacon because breakfast is my favorite meal of the day!
And then and only then, do I actually head over to my laptop and I either set up in the lounge or in the study or out in the coworking barn.
I start working in my most important action of the day which I have typically written up the night before or in that moment into our Project Life (working name) spreadsheet.
We always try and balance this out across the week between the 8 sort of areas of life that are really important.
And that my friend is just the start of my Perfect Day and I am living it right now which is pretty fantastic.
I want you to be able to describe the type of room that you are waking up in. I want you to be able to describe the food that you are eating throughout the day. I need you to be able to envision the exact temperature on the thermostat of the home you are living in.
Why am I asking you to be able to state the exact temperature of your house? While it may not seem important, specificity is key to designing your ideal lifestyle.
In fact, one study conducted by Gary Latham and Edwin Locke found that 90 percent of people who set challenging, specific goals were able to actually meet them rather than those who had simple goals with no direction.
No matter how silly it may seem, think about every possible angle of your perfect day and write it down. You may not need every detail but you will be better prepared for the next step.
Step 2: Determine What Matters Most
Now that you have a better idea of what you would like to be doing with your time, take a look at your list and go through the 5 W’s:
Who- Who was it that you wanted to spend your time with? Did you list your spouse during your perfect day vision? Did some of your old friends crop up while you were daydreaming? Review your notes and come up with a list of the people who appeared most.
What- What were you doing during your ideal day? Were you working from home rather than in an office? Were you working out in your own yoga studio? These actions will help you to identify some of the major areas that you want to focus on in the future.
When- When were you the most active? On the other hand, when were you experiencing the most relaxation? You may find out that you are currently working when you want to be relaxing and relaxing when you are most energetic.
Where- Did you travel? What type of house were you in? What did nature outside of your living area look like? As the saying goes, “if you don’t like where you are, move. You are not a tree.” You may not be happy with where you are currently living and this daydream session will tell you exactly that.
Why- Why are you doing the things that you are doing? If this is your perfect day, you must care about the actions you are taking. Evaluate each action you have written down and ask yourself whether or not you care about the thing you are doing, if it adds value to your life, and if it helps you get towards where you want to be.
Make sure that you have done this thoroughly. Each category helps you to better determine what you will be working towards once you’ve decided to live a life of freedom.
Step 3: Come Up With a Rough Life Sketch
Take what you’ve collected over the past few steps and compile it into a rough plan.
For example, let’s pretend that I’ve come up with my own life vision where I am living in France, running my own clothing business during the day from my large, well-lit apartment, and spending the majority of my time with my friends during the night.
Although this a brief example, I’ve identified who I want to spend my time with, where I want to be, when I want to be doing things, and what I am doing with my time. Why am I doing this?
Clearly, I’ve crafted this plan because I truly want to live in France, I love the idea of running a clothing business from home, and I want to be spending my time with friends who care about me.
This is by no means a list that will help you to reach said goals and lead a free life. Instead, this is the foundation upon which you will build your ideal life.
In episode 3, we will be discussing how to categorize and task out these goals in order to assure complete domination over your ideal lifestyle.
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