How to See the Future: Learn to Make Your Dreams Come True

You can either have a life designed for you or design your own life.

Live accidentally, accept whatever comes, or live intentionally and create your own world.

Wait and see what the future holds, or create the future you envision.

If you're reading this, I assume you want to choose, not be chosen for.

As promised, today we'll cover the second part of what we discussed last week.

Now that you know:

• where you're standing

• a new way to see failure

• the importance of crafting an identity

we can get into the good stuff: Life Design.

For me, life design is a 3-step process. And ever since I use this system, reaching my goals has become a deeply embedded part of my life and identity. This makes it extremely easy to work towards my goals. And today, I'm sharing that process with you.

I want to warn you: my process is long. It takes time, effort, and energy. But it's the most important mental exercise I do every year. You don't have to do everything I do. Take what resonates and run with that. But I don't think you'll regret trying it out this year and seeing what happens.

Now, let's get into it!

Vision Creation

When I was in high school, we were required to build a "life project" to graduate.

I hated every second of it. I had no idea what I wanted in ten years, or five. And it made me really nervous to try to think about that. Everybody was expected to know what we'd be working on, if we'd have a family, etcetera. There was a lot of pressure put on these decisions. And worse: we'd be graded on it.

This is the perfect example of how NOT to create a vision for a fulfilling life.

I've learned to do it differently. More playfully, more freely. Letting myself dream, knowing no one except for me has to see it.

I write what I'm sure I want to experience and have, and I write what I think I might want for the areas I'm not entirely sure about. I don't get too attached to those second ones, or try to find the right answer.

I make sure it's flexible and fun. And since I do it like this, it serves a purpose.

A vision is something to aspire to, something to work towards. Kind of like The Mountain mentioned in the last newsletter. To create a solid vision:

• Imagine it's a long time from now, maybe 20 years from now. You're looking back on an amazing life. You did everything you wanted to and achieved all your dreams. What does that amazing life look like?

• Let your imagination go wild. Dream freely. And then, capture it on paper. If you don't, it's all for nothing.

• Once you have that clear, start narrowing it down. You imagined your life 20 years from now, now think closer.

  • If that's where you'd want to be 20 years from now, where would you be 10 years from now?

  • If that's where you want to be in 10, where would you be in 5?

  • if that's where you want to be in 5, where would you be in 3?

  • if that's where you want to be in 3, where would you be in 1?

  • if that's where you want to be in 1, where would you be in 6 months?

  • if that's where you want to be in 6 months, where would you be in 3 months?

  • if that's where you want to be in 3 months, where would you be in 1 month?

What we're doing here is reverse-engineering the life of your dreams.

The end goal stays the same: that 20-year vision you thought up at the start. Your dream life.

Then, just find all the important milestones in between. These eventually distill into the actions you need to take every day, week, and month. But before that, let's get to the second step.

Category Design

This is another way in which we'll split your vision for mental clarity, and one that becomes crucial for long-term success, in my opinion.

When you wrote that big vision in step one, there are probably different areas of your life you imagined: health, romance, finances, work, etcetera. Now, we'll identify what these life categories are for us.

Most people have 8-12 categories that cover both their personal and professional life. You may have less or more than that. I personally have more because I'm a very intense person. But 8-12 is a good reference for most people.

Make a list of the areas of your life you want to focus on. I'll share some of mine, in case they serve as inspiration for you:

PERSONAL:

• Physical Health

• Mental Clarity

• Emotional Health

• Self-Education

• Dance

• Home and Space Management

• Family

• Social Life

• Relationship

• Personal Finances

PROFESSIONAL:

• Content Creation

• Copywriting

• Marketing and Sales

• Time and Project Management

• Opportunity Seeking

• Writing

• Mentoring and Coaching

Yours will not be the same as mine, categories are extremely personal.

Sure, most of us are probably wanting to include health, but maybe you're not going to have dance be one of yours. Create your list and remember it's meant to be flexible, expandable, and fun.

Now, we get to the really fun part.

Also, probably the most time-consuming one. But this one is, for me, the one where my dreams start seeming possible. Where I can start visualizing the future, and it starts to become real.

For each category, write:

• Ultimate Vision: In that ideal, 20-year-from-now version of your life, what does this part of your life look like? (ex., I want to have high amounts of energy always, and be astonished by my body's capabilities as I age. I want to feel flexible, strong, and free. I want to care for myself through love.)

• Purpose: why is this area of your life important to you? Why do you want this to be your life? What would you gain by reaching that vision? (ex., I want to keep feeling young, I want to live a long life, I want to be able to play with my kids when I have them without feeling short of breath, and I want my body to be an aid and not an obstacle in my dreams)

• Three to Thrive: within the category, what are the three things you most need to focus on to succeed? (ex., fueling my body through good nutrition, recovering my body through sleep, improving my body through movement)

• Resources: what do you already have, that might aid you in reaching your vision? here, you may include books, courses, people, places, online resources, etc. (ex., Dancer Strong Program, my new nutrition plan, youtube, my Smart Watch, equipment in my house, my knowledge from years of dance training.)

• 1-year goal: imagine you're a year from now, and you've had the best year of your life yet. What did this area of your life look like? That's your goal. (ex., I know how to truly nurture and care for my body, and my relationship with food and exercise is great and consistent while not falling into obsession)

• 3-month goal: what can you do in the next 3 months to get 25% closer to the goals above? (ex., make time to exercise at least 3 times a week, follow a fulfilling nutrition plan at least 80% of the time, and develop a walking habit)

As you can see, the last step already gives us some clarity on actionable things to do. You will have actions to take, habits to build, etcetera.

Now, you do this for every category on your list.

In the end, you'll have a crystal clear vision for your future: for the next three months, for the next year, and where you ultimately want to get.

This is your map. This is a map you've created for yourself, that only applies to you, and that aims at a destination you and only you could experience.

Quarter planning

Now, this is the third step in my life design process and the one that turns all my dreams into clear actions. Without this, everything else is just imagination.

I know I'd said I'd talk about all three steps here, but if I do, this newsletter will be almost 2,000 words long. And I'm trying to stick to around 1500 for now. So, I'll keep it for next week.

And as a bonus, I'll share how I plan my weeks and days so all of this gets done seamlessly.

Then, I trust you'll be set to create the life of your dreams (it sounds cheesy, I know. But we all want it, don't we?)

So for now...

Cross these off your checklist:

• Write a 20, 10, 5, 3, and 1-year vision for your life.

• Then, distill it into what you want life to be like 6 and 3 months from now.

• Define the different categories of your life you want to focus on

• Take the time to craft each one using the guide above

• Get excited about your potential!

I hope the rest of your week feels like clicking with a new friend instantly, like knowing you have someone to lean on, like your dreams are actually coming true.

As always, see you next Wednesday!

-Vale, The Friendly Artist.