Everybody has dreams and aspirations for the type of life they want to achieve. Pause for a second and think about what your ideal life looks like.
See yourself living your ideal life, see the images, the places you are visiting, the people you are with and the experiences you have… this is a powerful exercise, let the ideas flow.
I regularly have the opportunity to spend time with hundreds of people that are working toward changing the world. It’s a truly inspirational experience…
These are everyday people, like you and me, with dreams to help others experience a better life by sharing their particular skill. There are all types of interests including social media, business, fashion, education, pet training, music or any other niche that you can think of…
No matter what the interest, all of these people have one overarching vision. To help hundreds of thousands of people have a better experience with the skill they have to share… effectively to help and provide value to others.
Identify Your Aspirations
So my questions for you today are, what are your aspirations? How do you want to change the world? What is the skill that you have that you could share with the world?
Aspirations are what makes the world go round… they can be a driving force in your life.
And the achievement of your aspirations will make you feel on top of the world, and likely push you to even bigger goals, a more expansive impact and to change the world, one step at a time.
I’ve written here before that there are many reasons why you think you can’t do it, and then explained exactly why you can…
I believe that every one of us has the opportunity to do great things. Therefore, it’s just a case of spending the time to identify what it is that you want and how you are going to make it happen that separates the successful from everybody else.
6 Techniques to Identify Your Aspirations
Let’s look at 6 techniques you can use to find your inspiration and define your aspirations to bring them to life.
1. Be clear about your aspirations
I suggest you find a quiet space where you can be on your own. Give yourself the time to just reflect and visualise what your aspirations look like…
Write them down.
Some thoughts could be quite large, others might be small, don’t judge and don’t self-filter, let all the ideas flow and get them on paper for now.
These aspirations are what is going to propel you forward in life.
Once you have written for at least 30 minutes, more if you can, start to review your list and see if there are any common themes.
Group the common ideas together and create a list of what you see as your most important aspirations…
This is your starting point.
2. Consciously take steps toward your aspirations each day
One of the single most important lessons that I have learned when it comes to achieving your dreams, goals and aspirations, is that there is one common theme that successful people have…
It is the single-minded focus on achieving the outcome, which requires ACTION. I’ve written about this many times, including here.
You need to do everything possible to make progress toward achievement of your aspirations every single day…
It doesn’t have to be massive action every day, just make sure you do something to build momentum.
Momentum is the energy that will produce results over the long term. So ask yourself every day, ‘what can I do today to get closer to my goal?’ Asking yourself this question will lead to what is called ‘inspired action’. These are things that your subconscious delivers to you, knowing what it is that you want to achieve.
A lot of people get caught up with writing lists of things to do and tend to come up with things that keep them busy. But, by asking what it is that will get you closer to your goal, you are channelling inspired actions. These are the things that will move the needle, so to speak.
3. Visualise yourself fulfilling your aspirations
Spend some time visualising yourself achieving your aspirations. What will it be like for you?
By seeing yourself achieving your aspirations you trigger positive energy in your brain that begins a process to make the thing that you are thinking about reality.
Your brain begins to provide you with guidance and direction to create the things you need to make progress.
Have you ever noticed that when you decide you like a certain car, particularly when you are in the market to buy a car, that you suddenly notice that particular car everywhere you go… this is your reticular activating system (RAS).
Your brain gives you what you need. You can use your RAS to help you achieve your aspirations.
By visualising yourself having or doing what you want, you activate the RAS to deliver it to you. Without getting all woo-woo, this is where the magic happens. It’s powerful stuff.
4. Identify your short term and long term aspirations
When you wrote your aspirations on paper, provided you didn’t apply any filters as the thoughts came to you, there will have been both small and large aspirations.
It is important to have both…
There is evidence to suggest that if you can have small wins along the way, you are far more likely to stay focussed on achieving your larger aspirations.
How often do you see people with a big dream give up because of a setback on the journey?
I see it all the time.
One tool you can use to avoid this mistake is to have smaller goals that assist you to achieve your larger aspirations, which you celebrate along the way.
…another powerful technique where your brain supports you…
The positive reinforcement when you celebrate success results in the brain remembering the feeling and wanting it more often. So as you celebrate small wins, you become programmed to continue to achieve and seek that positive reinforcement.
It builds positive behaviours, which lead to positive results.
5. Progress comes from any action related to your aspirations
An extension of tip 4 from above, is that you can and should celebrate any action that moves you toward your aspirations.
Everybody knows the saying that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, and neither are your aspirations fulfilled in 24 hours.
But there are important steps along the way, recognise them and notice the positive effect they have on moving you forward…
Therefore, if your goal is to be financially free, which I hope that it is, then you may have one of your aspirations as being debt-free.
If you took steps today to reduce your debt, then you are moving a step closer. Celebrate this achievement, let your mind know that you have done some good.
6. Update your aspirations
Since having aspirations has a powerful impact on the life you lead, it is important to continually review and update them as you progress.
There is nothing wrong with removing something from your list if you decide it is no longer important to you, or it doesn’t progress you to your larger aspirations…
At the same time, you should be continually adding to your list as you make progress.
Situations will change, how you can achieve your tasks will constantly be updated with new technology and processes. Be open to these developments, they likely will make it easier for you in the long run.
Your aspirations when you are 20 will be different to when you are 60, so be open to update as you progress.
Conclusion
One thing I can assure you is that you will be happier and live a more fulfilled life if you take the time to define your aspirations and reach for them daily.
You deserve success, no matter how big or small…
In case you were wondering, one of my aspirations is to inspire 1,000,000 people to take control of their money and achieve financial freedom.
Are you going to be one of them?
Leave me a comment and let me know what your aspirations are below.