I had the audacity to write down what I want to achieve in the next five years. I thought I’d feel shy about it, ashamed even. Idon’t. I feel empowered. I know that word is overused in our society, but no other word describes it better. I feel like I am an eighteen year old, thinkin about her future. It’s different somehow. I’ve never written things down. It was always in my head. I’ve always made plans. I’ve never put any of them to paper. Now that I have, I feel there is some weight to it. I can hold myself accountable.
I started journaling a few weeks back. I haven’t done that for over a decade. I don’t remember why I stopped. I can honestly say, that it has been incredibly liberating to write down my day to day business, my thoughts, my familys routines. It feels like every night I free up my mind a bit. By writing things down, I can let them go. I can see, that I’ve processed them enough to close that line of thought. It’s become a habit of my new identity. I can see myself reading my journal ten years from now. I hope I’ll be happy about my journey.
Journaling also brought on writing down hopes, dreams and goals part. So I challenged myself to answer four questions honestly and to put it on paper. Not on some sheet, that I will throw away. I got myself a pretty little notebook. I’ve had it forever. It was gifted to me once. Now it has a purpose. I call it my Idea Book. Original, I know. Let’s get back to my questions:
- Where do you want to be in five years from now? (job, family, living situation etc.)
- What are you going to do about it starting today?
- What is hindering you and how can you overcome that hinderance? (what are your blockers?)
- What mindset do you have from now on and how do you describe it? ( You can never let go of it)
Nothing new, nothing fancy. Setting myself this goal is kind of like giving myself a deadline. I wrote five years. It’s not constrictive. It gives me time to learn the necessary skills. I will experience setbacks, but there is enough time to fix mistakes and solve problems.
Second question: I brainstormed. I put my goal in the middle and started writing down everything that came to me. Yes, all on paper. I highlighted the most sensible ideas. Again nonovelty here, but to me it was an eye opener again.
Third question: I don’t have to be vague here. I am an overthinker, overanalyzer, procrastinator, I-will-never-be-successful-at-this-sayer. My attitude is the biggest hurdle. Always has been. To overcome this, I’ve build a system: 1. I start first day in the morning, 10 minutes. Procrastinator doesn’t stand a chance. 2. I have only five minutes to think about one task or problem concerning my plan. Then I act. I’ve had a bit of help from my kids with it. ( I set the timer, when it goes off they sing a song. It makes all the difference) 3. I am allowed to look up two concepts or answers per task and choose one. I give myself up to one day, depending on how big the decision is. 4. I write down my achievements of the day in my diary.
Fourth question: This one is straight forward. I always thought I am too old to learn new things. This is completely false. I can decide what I learn, I can set a pace for it, I can do big things, little by little. I love that saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. It’s so true, yet I never appreciated it until now. I can change, I can do new things, I can be successful. I can grow. I won’t think problems are bad. I will treat them as puzzles I can learn to solve. I am positive.
That is my plan. I set my goal, I can see it far away, it looks like a mountain now, but I will get there step by step. It’s going to be a slow journey, a mindful one. I want to appreciate every ecperience I make on the way.
The first step is writing this blog. I don’t know if anyone is ever going to read it, but I wanted it for so long, I have to do it for the new me, who decided to tackle and overcome every fear of my old self and let her know : all is well.