Well done. You have made it. It has been a tough year for many of us but we have pushed through.
Are you ready for 2021? What are you going to achieve this year?
Are you determined to make this year THE year where magic happens?
The sky is the limit
In case you haven’t noticed, anything could happen.
Just like you never imagined a whole year not travelling anywhere, you could achieve things you never imagined before.
How?
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” – Albert Einstein
Before you set goals, take a moment to think about who you want to be.
Be honest with yourself.
Imagine every obstacle being removed. Money, environment, childhood… nothing is stopping you from becoming that person you desperately want to become deep down in your heart.
To get to the details, answer these questions:
Who is he/she?
How is he/she like?
What is the lifestyle like?
What is the daily routine?
What sparks joy?
What are the non-negotiables in life?
How does it feel to be living like that?
Now you have a goal in mind. You have a version of your future self you want to become.
It doesn’t matter if you are far away from that stage. What matters is your imagination. If you dare not to dream, thinking it’s too “unrealistic”, well, then you are never going to get there. You won’t even set that as a goal since you don’t think it is possible.
But it is just a mindset problem.
Why would you settle for lesser things in life? You only live once.
What you want to do instead, is to define a goal from the future’s perspective.
If you set a goal based on your current circumstance, situation, environment and mindset, your goal can be quite limited.
You don’t see the possibilities ahead of you.
Imagination is important to tap into your full potential.
Want to be great in 2021? Have wild imagination about who you want to become and what you want to achieve.
Forget about the SMART goals
Imagination has no limits.
Therefore, your goal might sound quite unrealistic at the moment – there might be a huge gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
It is alright.
You might feel lost and frustrated about the gap, but it is okay.
It means you have clarity of who you want to become.
The point is, you should, in fact, be as unrealistic as you wish in setting goal, but be realistic in finding and designing the routines to get there.
You want to do great things, not to be mediocre.
You can achieve all your goals by working your routines.
Once the pathways are clear, the goal suddenly looks doable.
You have heard about SpaceX’s vision. While you might think Elon Musk is crazy enough to think about moving to Mars, he is establishing a realistic process to make his dream come true. He has his eyes set on the future. He set goals from the future’s perspective.
Many years ago people didn’t believe they could fly in an aircraft. Like many great transformation stories, some people always found a way to achieve what they wanted. Lose 50 pounds in 4 months? No problem. Relocate to another country next week? Easy. Speak 5 languages? Doable.
Nothing is unrealistic. Some does require extra effort (like going to Mars), but if you have a solid, promising process in place, and the right mindset, you will get there.
The promising routine
The secret to gaining clarity is to list out every detail.
When you craft your process, be really specific and realistic.
Say you want to lose 10kg. It might seem unrealistic now, but you know there are people who have done it. The easiest way is to Google their stories and decide on one routine to follow. Or you can consult your doctor or nutritionist to get exercise and meal plans tailor-made for you. Either way, now you have a plan.
Then you want to get to the details. If your deadline is in 5 months, first set the monthly goals. You might want to lose 2kg per month, which might mean that you need to lose 0.5kg per week.
Your weekly routine to lose 0.5kg might be to do cardio and weightlifting alternatively during Mondays to Saturdays. You will track your calories intake and maintain whatever level you found online.
You don’t want to stop there. To make sure you stick to the routine, you need to have more details. When are you going to run and lift dumbbells? A realistic routine would sound something like this: “I am going to run for 5km at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.” Do the same for what you eat. Figures usually indicate details. Your brain loves figures.
By setting a realistic routine and taking baby steps, suddenly “to lose 10kg” doesn’t seem unrealistic, does it?
Where magic happens
Imagination + Clarity = Foulproof goal-setting.
You can be unstoppable. You can achieve anything you want.
Start today.