Make Your Dream Life Happen Now
One exercise I often ask my clients to do is to make a “Life List” (also known as a “Bucket List.”)
If you’re not familiar, a Life List is a list of anywhere from 20 to 100 (or more!) dreams you have for your life. You can list places you’d like to travel (“visit all 50 states”), skills you’d like to develop (“Learn Dutch”), life events (“get married”), or more “frivolous” challenges (“eat every flavor of Girl Scout cookies”). Yes, those are all examples from my own list.
There are no rules for Life Lists. (There are no rules for life, either).
Usually, my clients have some resistance to this activity. “What does a Life List have to do with figuring out my career?” they ask.
The answer is “Everything.”
My clients come to me because they are feeling stuck or unfulfilled in their careers. Usually, they have a bit of what one client called “optimistic uncertainty.” They know they want to move on, they can see limitless opportunities, but they’re not sure what should be next, or even how to begin figuring it out.
You are more than your job. That’s not to say that what you do for work isn’t important (I wouldn’t be in this business if I thought that), but rather, it’s critical to take a holistic view of your life, and your dreams, not just your job, need to be a part of that.
Note that I’m talking about a list of life dreams, and not a list of life goals. This is not about creating SMART goals and reverse-engineering these dreams one-by-one. You could do that, and you’d probably be pleasantly surprised at how feasible those dreams might actually be. (Example: Try every flavor of Girl Scout cookies Step 1: Find a local Girl Scout. Step 2: Buy one of everything. Step 3: Gorge)
Rather than creating the ultimate Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Timely cookie fest, I’m asking you to start imagining what the life of your dreams actually involves. What are the places you’d go or the stuff you’d buy or the things you’d do if time and money (and other people thinking you’re silly) weren’t a consideration? What is on your running list of things that make you stop and think “I would love to do that someday.”
And then I want you to ask yourself a different question: Why not now?
Those things on your Life List--why are those someday goals and not right-now goals? What’s stopping you from making that stuff happen? Is it money? Time? Security? Permission from someone else that your goal is “worth” pursuing?
I want to help you to create a life that incorporates these dreams alongside a career that leverages your strengths, skills, and interests.
It is possible to build a life you don’t need a vacation from. Doing the things on your Life List and having a career you’re proud of do not need to be mutually exclusive.
Take another look at your Life List and ask yourself whether you can get started on any of these items right now. What would have to change for you to be able to take action? What is the smallest possible first step you could take to get started?
Try it--you’ll be amazed at what you come up with.
Check out my free resource with tips and prompts to help you create your own Life List (plus what to do once you’ve made it!)