When you get to December 2017 and look back on your year what changed from December 2016?

If you are committed to living your best year ever start with the end in mind! We are creatures of habit, and it’s our habits that have created our life.

If we want to change our lives, we need to change our habits. BUT first we need to understand WIIFM, What’s In It For Me!

Back in my corporate days, I frequently challenged my team with the question WIIFM. Whenever we were designing a new program or instituting change at our venues, I asked the team to think of it like they were the customer, WIIFM! That little saying helped us envision the result and then decide if this was a good way to proceed.

Start living your best year ever by beginning with the end in mind and see the results that you desire.

Here is your chance to dream! It sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it?

A friend who travels the world and works with several different cultures and thousands of people mused that compared to other cultures, Americans, he felt had lost their ability to dream. At which point he asked me about my dreams.  I thought I would impress him by responding immediately.

He smiled and said “those aren’t dreams CJ. Those are goals, and it’s great that you have them but what are your dreams? Think back to when you were a kid. What did you dream about?”

It stopped me in my tracks. As I pondered his words, I realized he was right.

My childhood dreams and activities were filled with things girls didn’t normally do. Being a jet pilot in the service is common place now but 40 years ago was a stretch. I loved the TV show Star Trek. LT Uhura or Nurse Chapel were kind of cool but I had my sight set on the captain’s chair.

Again he asked If you were living your best year ever which dreams would you be living that you are not living now?

As I took my friend’s advice and looked back on my childhood dreams, I realized how much they shaped my adult life! My vision was too poor by the time I was in 5th grade, and Star Fleet wasn’t yet hiring. However, I pursued a career doing things that women didn’t normally do.

My career in sports is not considered revolutionary now, but 30 years ago I was one of a handful of female golf professionals in Wisconsin. In 2000, I received a promotion to Regional VP overseeing multiple courses for a large golf corporation, 16 years later very few women have broken the glass ceiling and reached this position.

While I wasn’t traveling from star to star or playing Top Gun on a daily basis, I was doing a little trail blazing. Funny thing was I never saw it that way. Perhaps, as my friend pointed out, it was because of those childhood dreams that making the decisions and sacrifices to get where I did were just second nature.

He asked me again? What were my dreams?

I stood there dumbfounded, yes I had lots of goals, they were SMART Goals, well thought out and updated every year but I was hard pressed to find a dream. He smiled and suggested that if I wanted more happiness, success, and abundance in my life, I should go to the place it starts, my dreams.

Living Your Best Year Ever-Find Your Dreams

1.   Get a tablet of paper and a pen.

2.  Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted for at least 15 minutes

3.  Think back to your childhood dreams and start writing them down. It doesn’t matter if it’s doable or not, that didn’t matter when we were kids, and it doesn’t matter now. Just get them on paper.

4.  After you have written down your childhood dreams, focus on your life now. What are your dreams today?

If you were like me it had been so long since I thought of my dreams, I wasn’t sure where to start. If you are actually living your best year ever, how about starting with your perfect day?

What time would you get up and go to bed?

Are you physically fit?

Would you meditate or spend time in prayer?

Who would you spend the day with, a spouse, friends, kids or grandkids or alone?

Would you still work? Would you volunteer for your favorite organization?

Now it’s time to measure your perfect day and every day. What’s different? Perhaps some of those are your dreams?

There is little doubt that most of us don’t dream about long commutes, a work schedule so full there is no time for family and friends or weighing over 250 pounds. Those weren’t my dreams, yet that’s right where I ended up. If I was going to start living my best year ever, it was going to start with my dreams.

The first time I sat down with the pen and paper, I realized that going to space was still a dream, but flying was no longer important. Health and fitness and friends and family were my adult dreams. My relationship with God needed attention because through him I achieved all things. Places to live and fun activities were at the forefront, like residing in Lake Tahoe and time to travel to play golf.

It didn’t dawn on me until I wrote the last paragraph how many of those dreams are no longer dreams but part of my daily life.

Without dreams, it’s like taking a road trip vacation without a destination. You are ready to go, the cars checked, the oil changed and it’s filled with gas. Go where? Somewhere warm or cold? What do you want to see and do? There’s a pretty big difference between driving to North Dakota or Florida. Goals without dreams are just that, so set your dreams free today.

Once you know your dreams, you can put a plan in place to help you achieve them and start living your best year ever!

As long as you are breathing it is never too late to pursue your dreams but don’t wait tomorrow is not a guarantee.

IF this was helpful, feel free to share!

 

 

 

 

CJ Johnson’s Fitness Transformation Blog
Train Smart · Live Bold · Age Well

Email: CJ@agewellwithcj.com
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