With everything going on in the world, if we don’t take charge of our own lives, nothing we want is ever going to manifest. Yes, we know that might be a bit hard now, but that’s all the more reason we have to be intentional about it. We have made a list of 8 critical things to think about while setting your goals. Just take it one day at a time and with every step you are a bit closer to living your best life.

1. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

Being able to admit to yourself that you’re not where you want to be in life is the first and most crucial step to implementing change. A lot of us live in denial because it’s easier than shedding light on your imperfections. Not everyone can say to themselves: “I’ve screwed up” “I’m not making enough effort” or “I’ve failed at this”.

Once you can take the courage, to be honest with yourself, that’s when the ball will start rolling in the right direction.

2. STOP WITH THE EXCUSES

We all love playing the blame-game: Coming up with excuses, blaming people or our circumstances, waiting for someone or something to change before we take action, postponing to another day and so on.

Any form of delaying the action that doesn’t require us to face the uncomfortable right now – we love doing it! It gives us temporary relief from the problem. It makes us feel better when our defense mechanisms are taking over and dealing with the discomfort.

3. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Being honest with yourself and stop giving excuses can only happen once you take responsibility for yourself. This is usually the break-through moment and for some the most challenging part.

But change can only happen when a person takes full ownership of her life. That’s when you really can begin to take action and see life transform.

4. TAKING ACTION

When you’ve reached this step, that’s when the fun begins. You’ll be able to see small things manifesting slowly but surely, usually because you get the ball in motion.

I recommend taking your big goal and breaking it down into small “bite-size pieces”. One big goal should now be multiple miniature goals that are easy to “digest”.

Like this, you will not feel overwhelmed. Instead, you will have a detailed overview of exactly what steps you need to take in what direction to reach your goal.

5. FACE YOUR FEARS

When we begin to take action, we might also face some uncomfortable moments. Growth is never a moment of pleasure. It’s usually filled with discomfort, stress, anxiety and other emotions. But the rewards are fantastic, and the light at the end of the tunnel is where you want to be.

So, you will have to accept that you must embrace this discomfort and face your fears if you want your big payout to happen. There is just no other way around it than just doing it.

6. LET GO OF YOUR OLD SELF

To get your new life going for you, you’ll need to shed your old skin to grow a new one. For this reason, you must let go of anything that no longer is serving you. That includes people, nay-sayers, who you were yesterday, what you did yesterday, your past, your old belief system and so on.

Now is the time to become that person you always aspired to be. Now is the time to create the life you always wanted to live.

Remember one important thing. Letting go of your old belief system might be one of the biggest favours you can do to yourself.

Don’t believe everything that goes on in your head.

Your thoughts are not facts. Neither are your doubts.

7. FUEL YOUR WILLPOWER EVERY SINGLE DAY

While you work simultaneously with your big goal, you also have to work with your willpower. Willpower is not a free product that we have within us, ready to serve us whenever we need it.

No, willpower is something we need to re-create daily. Like a fuel tank, we need to re-fill when we want to get into our car and drive towards our dreams.

Make sure you have a system set up for you so that you can efficiently fill up your tank daily.

One way to do it is to ask yourself every single day “WHY” you’re doing what you’re doing. And “HOW MUCH” you want the results you are after. Use your lust and desire for change to fill up your tank daily.

8. TRAIN YOUR DISCIPLINE

You’re not where you want to be in life because you don’t have enough discipline to execute the action steps you need to take for your goals to happen.

Train up your discipline because you will need it together with your willpower to take you down towards your goal.

For most of us, our “discipline” muscle is fragile. But it’s fixable if you start using it and start training it to make it more durable. The more things you accomplish thanks to willpower and discipline, the stronger your discipline will become.

Use working out as your way of practicing discipline. The more you manage to hit the gym, the more disciplined you will get, helping create your dream life.

HOMEWORK

Get a journal

Write down what your dream life looks like.

Once done, ask yourself what you need to change to get this life.

Write down these changes on a new page in a list format.

Go to a new page and start writing down the first change from your list. Break this change into “bite-sized” action steps.

Do it all over again for the next change and so on.

In the end, summarize everything with daily action steps that include the “bite-sized” pieces you just broke down.