Visualize Your End Point

Have you ever started out on a trip and not gone to your trusty Garmin, or MapQuest or iPhone to figure out what turns to take? If you’re like me, you haven’t. We all love the magic of technology when it comes to actually getting to our destination and without getting (too!) lost. In order to get that accurate road map though, we need to know our final destination. We need to know the exact address of where we’re going. 


It’s the same exact way with our goals. We need the final destination in mind. And not any destination. We need the specific address – the very specific final goal. Do you want to live in a new house? Don’t just say you want to live in a new house. Say “I want to live in a new house with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a pond for my dog to swim in and a 5 acre yard for my son to run around in. I want that home to be in this specific neighborhood. I want this home to cost XYZ.” 


Do you have a weight loss goal? A fitness goal? A business dollar amount goal? A new partner goal? Anything and everything you want in the future can AND SHOULD be incredibly specific. 


For this exercise, we are going to do a free form writing exercise for 20 minutes. The goal is to not let your pen leave the page. Not once. Keep writing. Even if it feels like gibberish.  You can write longer if you want but if it feels like just forcing yourself to write each and every word, just give it 20 minutes for me.  I want you to answer one very specific question:


In 10 years, when my life is ideal and I have reached all of my goals, this is what my life looks like.


If you read my idealized future essay, it is incredibly specific. It details getting up in the morning, the sheets I have (yes, they’re high thread count), the state of my white hotel-like bathrobe (fluffy and soft!), my polished toenails in slippers, what I see when I leave the bedroom, who is waiting for me at the table (yes, it involves children – plural!), what we eat at breakfast, how the conversation goes, what the emotions are at breakfast (enthusiastic children, loving partner, healthy breakfast food) how I get to work, what car I am driving, where I drop the children off at school. 

It’s all the details plus the global stuff – how much we travel as a family, how often we see grandma and grandpa, how my business functions with and without me, how long my staff stay with my company etc… If you read it, it reads like the most perfect idealized life in the entire world. It is absolutely reaching for the stars and more. Much much more. And as kooky as it sounds, just dream with me for 20 minutes. Just do it so you can work on your final destination and get that end point for your personal road map clear.   

Ready. Set. Write!