2025 and Beyond: Turning Dreams into Achievable Goals.
It’s 2025… A quarter of the 21st century is behind us—time flies. Ready to make the most of what lies ahead? Keep reading.
For many, including me, it's a time for reflection and new hopes. Everyone wants each upcoming year to be better than the previous one. This often leads to new year resolutions, which, unfortunately, often do not become a reality. So, how can you turn your hopes and dreams into reality? The obvious answer is setting goals. But before you start jotting them down in your beautiful new notebook with your favorite pen, I encourage you to dream about your desired reality far into the future. Yes, dream about your desired reality! Choose a bold period, say 10 years from now. Close your eyes and dream.
Take your time and be honest answering this questions:
Imagine what surrounds you.
Imagine the smells and sounds.
Imagine yourself in that environment.
Who are you in this reality?
How do you feel in those moments?
How do you move?
How do you feel in your own body?
What kind of people are around you?
What do you see in other people?
What excites you?
How do you take care of yourself?
what do you give to this world?
It may take some practice to really see and feel your vision, eventually you’'ll create it.
Writing Your Vision. It’s important to create a vision that inspires you, so you know you're building a cathedral, not just laying down blocks of stone. Once you're ready, grab your pen and paper. Write down your big vision. You can even create a vision board later if you wish.
First, write down your vision for life in 10 years. Now that you've envisioned your desired future, let’s translate those dreams into concrete, achievable goals. Think of important goals you'd like to set for this year to steer you towards your big vision. Consider your reality; plan between 4 and 10 big goals for the year. For example, if you’ve recently become a parent, even 4 goals might be a stretch.
Your goals should be ambitious enough to push you beyond your comfort zone but still realistic to accomplish. Otherwise, they will end up like most new year resolutions. Use the SMARTT approach to set your goals: Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Resonating, Thrilling, and Time-bound.
Once you have your goals, ask yourself these questions:
How do you feel about the goal?
How do you know it's your goal and not one imposed on you by someone else?
What makes this goal matter to me?
Which areas of my life will benefit from this goal? The more areas, the more impactful and meaningful the goal is.
In order to move through life, you need energy and resources to accomplish your goals:
What gives me energy? Where do I give my energy away? To whom? When? What can I do about it?
How will I find time to make this goal happen? What do I need to reach my goals? What kind of support do I need?
What will this goal cost me? Where do I hold back? What compromises and adjustments will I make in my life to make this happen?
Weekly and Monthly Plans. Now it’s time to break down your goals. Think about where you choose to focus in the first quarter, second quarter, etc. When each respective quarter comes, choose what to focus on each month. Break down your big goals into weekly and daily action steps.
Imagine that your big vision is a beautiful building. Your annual goals are the walls of that building, and your daily actions are the building blocks essential for the whole construction to be solid and stable. Life and external factors influence our day-to-day reality – think of them as precipitation in the area where your house of vision is built. Naturally, there will be leaves, stones, and sticks around your house at times, which you need to clean up. These are the day-to-day noises in our lives.
You don’t have to plan your weeks a year ahead. However, knowing what needs to be accomplished each quarter is important. When you plan your week and your day, always align your action steps with your monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. This helps to maintain focus and direction and prevents you from getting lost in the daily routine. Ideally, you should know your top annual goals by heart, so they serve as your compass.
When you plan your day, you should have 1-3 primary actions (your building blocks) referring to your big goals, and the rest can be small daily chores. Avoid planning too much each day; it's better to focus more on each specific goal at once rather than spreading yourself thin across multiple goals. Otherwise, you'll find yourself very busy all day but accomplishing nothing tangible.
Keep Your Focus. In our busy lives, it's easy to constantly shift our attention, pile up routine chores, and create multiple checklists without completing them. In order to progress towards a life where you feel fulfilled and accomplished, you need to make a choice to keep your attention on what matters to you—your long-term vision of your life. Where you decide to focus your attention, your energy flows to bring you results, it is your euro-plasticity! It's like driving a car: your arm movements will follow the direction of your gaze.
Last but not least, praise yourself every day. Give yourself time to connect with what energizes you.
Live your vision, and own it – it’s yours! Start today!