Do you have a big dream you want to bring to life? Do you find it challenging to turn your goals into reality?
We all have hopes and dreams for our lives, no matter how far off on the horizon those dreams appear. It feels good to create goals and dreams. It doesn’t matter if our goals relate to our health, happiness, relationships, career, or level of adventure. When we allow ourselves to create an exciting vision for our future, our sense of enthusiasm and joy feels childlike and free.
When we step out of that joyful space and into our everyday life, we often forget to bring that sense of hope and excitement with us. Our elevated appetite for life is essential – it helps draw in new experiences that match the same feeling we had when we created our initial goal.
Staying on track with our goals is about what’s happening right now, not what might happen off in the distance. To be on track means to be in step with, or in tune with, or in the now. It’s all about presence.
A new adventure and journey unfolds because we put our sights on what feels exciting and possible. The thrill isn’t meant to be saved for the end; it’s meant to be enjoyed by us each step of the way. Our adventure gets to happen because of our goal, and our initial goal eventually gets met because of our adventure. It’s a partnership.
So many of us miss the whole point of having dreams and goals in the first place. Our dreams can help us open up to the magic and joy available to us each day. When we stay on track with our goals, our everyday moments are injected with passion and love for life.
Here are 5 practices I regularly use to stay on track with my goals. These practices help me remember it’s always better to get to where I’m going when I love exactly where I’m at right now.
1. Stay Open and Receptive
The best way to stay on track with your goals, is to maintain a level of passion for life. The easiest way to keep your passion and fire going, is to ease up on the big picture of your goal. Instead of worrying about how you’ll ever achieve your goal, be open and receptive to life right now.
Think of the excitement you felt as you were creating your goal or dream. Give yourself a gift by feeling some of that excitement every day. Open yourself up to receive the joy in all moments, not just the shiny ones.
We can get caught up in believing that life is hard and happiness is only for some people. But that’s simply not true. Life is a gift and when we are open and receptive to viewing life as a gift, we feel better. When we feel good, it’s easier to maintain momentum. Let go of the big overwhelming picture of reaching your goals. Instead, put your focus on seeing what is amazing about life right now.
2. Use Your Feelings as a Guide
When we understand how valuable our feelings are, we will stop questioning ourselves at every turn. Your dreams and goals are your own and how you reach them is by your own design.
You can reach your goals while being blindly caught up in worry, doubt, discouragement and fear. You can also reach your goals while using your feelings to guide you. When we trust our feelings, we trust in ourselves. How we feel is supposed to be the most important part of the journey.
We can use our feelings to course-correct and get back on track. We can use our feelings to enjoy the day and journey as best as we can. It all comes down to understanding we are in partnership with life. How we feel right now helps us see how on track or off track we truly are.
3. Dance with Your Dreams
Enthusiasm is contagious. So is pessimism. The choice is yours. When we dance with life before us, our energy and attitude bring more of the same. When we push against life and make everything harder than it needs to be, we end up exhausted and overwhelmed.
I’m not saying reaching our dreams is always going to be easy, but for the love of all things, what is the point in making life harder than it needs to be? You don’t get extra points for reaching your goals the super hard, painful, and lonely route. You just get there feeling more weathered, worn and sad. Remember, the journey and adventure is the win. How we journey and adventure is the badge we end up with in the end.
When we make the most of what is before us, we move with life. It’s easier to stay on track with our goals when we know what brings us joy and we stick to that as best as we can. Dancing with life is way more fun than pushing against life. Dance, dance, dance.
4. Get Used to Saying No
Why is it easier to say yes to others and no to ourselves? It could be for a number of reasons. I don’t know the answer, but I do know it’s something worth shifting. Staying on track with our goals, means we can’t be everything to everyone. It’s challenging to enjoy life when we are over-committed and we give more energy out than we allow back in.
Get crystal clear on what your definition of success and happiness includes. Who are your people? What does a successful day look like to you? What gets in your way? How does it feel when you aren’t sticking to your plan? How does it feel when you are true to yourself and your personal definition of success?
Healthy boundaries require saying no more than we say yes. There is no sense venturing through life carrying the load of others at the expense of our own happiness. Saying no doesn’t mean we stop being in service to others, or we don’t lend a helping hand. Saying no is really about saying yes to ourselves first. It’s about being accountable for our own personal happiness and staying on track with our goals.
When we say yes to ourselves first, we open ourselves up to say yes to the people and experiences that mean the most to us. When we say yes, we simplify life and it becomes much easier to allow joy into each day.
5. Tiny Steps Every Day
When we spend too much time focused on reaching our end goal or dream, we can get stuck in overwhelm. The bigger the dream, the more self-doubt and worry we can allow in. Feeling overwhelmed and stuck often prevents us from making any steps forward.
It’s always in our best interest to focus on making tiny steps each day that are in line with our dream. Small steps forward from a place of presence is exactly how we stay on track with our goals.
We get to choose whether or not we make each day our adventure. We can choose to say yes please to our adventure with small steps every day. When say yes to each day, we are on track to loving the life of our dreams.
How will you stay on your track and love your life today?
❤ Emily
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