Episode 19 S3 - How To Make a Roadmap to Your Goals

When our goal is too broad or vague, it’s too difficult for our brains to get on board and make it happen. Our bodies don’t know what we want them to do. Making decisions that could get us closer to the goal becomes super difficult because we have no real sense of what succeeding at the goal looks like.

The first challenge is recognizing why you haven’t already changed.

The next challenge is figuring out how you can maintain whatever rewards you are currently getting from staying the same and converting it into a new action or way of being that gets you closer to your goal.

You can use your imagination to wonder about who you would be if you already had the thing you want to have, or already succeeded in completing the goal. Then, you notice the difference between how that future version of yourself does things and how you currently do them.

It’s so important to be specific about what you should be doing instead of what you already do. It isn’t even an option to change what you do until you know what the new action is.

You should also look out for the thoughts and motivations that you think you will feel when you change or are taking a different action. Most of the time, we don’t feel great about a new action while we are in the day-to-day grind. The rewarding feelings come way later, in hindsight and reflection. Or at least that is the case for me!

When making your roadmap, half of the battle is confronting our thoughts and feelings and knowing that it’s OK to have thoughts and feelings and choose consciously which way to go with our decisions. 

Knowing what it’s like to make a different choice makes choosing that choice way easier. You know what you are going to object to and what it will sound like or feel like, and you will set up in advance a way to make it easier for you to make the choice you’d prefer.

Try to make your steps small and simple, easy to track, and not too demanding of your energy or willpower. If you accumulate many small nearly effortless steps, you will get to your destination SO MUCH FASTER and more permanently than you will otherwise.