How do you win in life? Whatever it is, you will undoubtedly be much closer once you achieve life goals, live according to your values, and feel content.
The thing is, though, you can’t count on just luck to get you there. I’ve yet to meet someone who achieved their life goals without planning and effort.
If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.
My archnemesis in life is complacency.
Personal fulfillment and growth are vital factors giving our lives meaning. Don’t you feel giddy looking back and seeing how far along you’ve come?
The thing is, you and I are a creature of habit. Our brain does not like change.
Complacency is driven by multiple factors, such as the fear of failure, lack of motivation, and not understanding the consequence of inaction. It prevents us from moving forward and getting to the next level in life.
Everyone wants to believe in overnight success, but the gut-wrenching truth is that it takes persistence. In the word of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “All overnight success takes about 10 years.”
So, how do you keep your eye on the prize for 10 years?
I have found the best way to do that is by creating a life strategy.
What is a Life Strategy?
Simply put, strategy is about making an informed decision on a path while increasing your chances for new opportunities.
Even the best strategists, chess players, military leaders, and CEOs don’t know what will happen. Instead, they pick a direction that makes sense while keeping doors open for alternative or emerging opportunities.
So, don’t think you can win in life by etching a plan in stone. In the words of Mike Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Years ago, while working on product strategy for a tech startup, I questioned why most people play a part in fulfilling their employer’s strategy but never do it for themselves.
I got fascinated by pursuing life like a startup. Adopting a strategic lifestyle has made a massive impact on me! It helped me live more purposefully and get on track to achieve life goals.
Over the years, I kept fiddling with my approach, experimenting with different ways. I call my method the Mindframe Life Strategy.
The Mindframe Life Strategy
Mindframe Life Strategy guides and helps you organize efforts and resources to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
First, it gives you a hand to set a life vision that is important to you now and in the future.
Second, it helps you pick a strategic path that keeps you motivated. It makes progress visible and gamifies your life, connecting your daily actions with your life goals.
Finally, it helps you plant guardrails you can lean on when you lose your footing, which you will many times.
Put together, the Mindframe Life Strategy is a simple fill-in-the-blanks statement.
I want to ___ (life goal)
so ___ (motive)
and I think I’ll get there if I ___ (milestone)
which can be measured by ___ (metric)
and driven by ___ (automation, habit, or principle)
Let me walk you through this piece by piece.
Setting Life Goal
Achieving life goals is a lot like climbing a mile-long ladder. Raising one knee above the other, you are getting closer to the top each time you take a step.
It takes a lot of effort, and while every step is essential, not all are exciting. So it’s easy to give up somewhere along the way.
That’s why it is crucial for you to stay excited! I feel amazed and impatient when I write down my life goals. I look at them and say, “Wow, I can’t wait to get there.”
There are a few secrets to making life goals the driving force they can be.
First, make the life goal an end goal. This means the goal should get you what you ultimately want rather than be a stepping stone to another goal. So, for example, set a life goal to “feel financially secure” rather than “save $10,000.”
Second, life goals should be Big. Aim high since falling short is better than playing it too safe. Setting an ambitious goal motivates you to become creative with getting there.
However, don’t let your life goal become abstract and lose meaning. Instead, try to set a goal that feels scary but one that is still clear in what you are trying to achieve.
I find it’s best to set life goals at least 3-5 years into the future, but don’t stop there. I think it’s great to think much longer term, but the challenge is that our minds limit us and prevent thinking big enough decades into the future.
Feeling unsure what your life goals are? Don’t sweat it too much; you can always revise them later. A simple way to get started is to look at the things you do today and ask yourself how you could spend more time doing those things. Or, think about what a successful life looks like to you.
If big lofty goals make you feel insecure, that’s ok. Don’t feel you need to know all the steps to get there. Remember how I said don’t etch it in stone? We’ll get to setting shorter-term milestones later.
I highly recommend writing down your life goal, penciling it in makes it feel real and helps you commit to it.
Remember, the life goal is yours and yours only. There is no right or wrong here.
Setting The Motive
Your life goal has to be truly meaningful and align with your values for you to stick with it.
Many of us pursue goals that aren’t our own. The expectations our society, family, and friends set can make you blind. In the words of the late psychiatrist Carl Jung, “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” Pursuing goals that never were your own is a stressful path.
So, ensure your life goals ring right to you, and you don’t feel conflicted about them. If you feel friction with the goal, then chances are they are not aligned with your values. This will lead to your goal eventually dying by a thousand cuts.
That’s why it is vital to consider and write down your motive. It sets the tone for your goal.
Here are a couple other examples just to give you an idea of the variety of goals and motives you might set:
I want to live an engaged lifestyle, so I don't feel I missed my life.
I want to stay healthy, so I can retire exploring the world.
I want to be financially secure, so I will feel less stressed.
I want to become less dependent on my employer, so I will be in control over how I spend my time.
I want to be married and have a family, so I feel secure and grounded.
I want to help a million children escape poverty, so I know I have made a difference.
I want to become more confident, so I can advance my career.
I want to stop depending on others, so I feel more secure.
Notice how the last one is an anti-goal? Sometimes it might be easier to set a goal around what you want to stop doing. Try out what feels more natural to you.
Setting Milestones
The problem with life goals is that they take a long time to come true. If you are not seeing progress, it is easy to lose motivation, and it’s hard to start again.
It’s much easier to achieve life goals if you break them down into more bite-sized, measurable milestones. They make working towards a life goal more fun and motivating.
Think about your milestone as a mini-goal 3-12 months into the future. Because it is a shorter-term goal, make them very specific and focused on the next best thing you can do to advance your goal.
For example, if your life goal is to stop depending on others financially, you might set milestones such as decreasing your debt or changing to a higher-paying career in the next 12 months.
Setting Metrics
A metric is a number you measure to track progress. Setting a numeric target makes progress more visible and motivating.
Let’s say your milestone is to get a more stable career. What do you need to do that you can measure to get there? How about “interview with 50 companies” or “get 3 certifications in a marketable skill” in the next 12 months.
The easier and more automated you can make tracking your progress, the better. Thankfully, today tracking metrics is easier than ever before! With the introduction of activity trackers, smart devices, and apps, most aspects of our lives are easy to track.
I have listed over 100 ideas for metrics in my posts How to Set Health Goals: Ultimate Guide and How To Set Money Goals: Ultimate Guide. I’ve collected them to make it easier for you to create milestones that you can measure from the comfort of your home.
Often the best way to start is by measuring your starting point (the “baseline”) and then setting a milestone to improve it by some percent. Then, think about what shortcuts exist to hit that number quickly to see if there’s a way to cheat.
Finally, you might find that there isn’t one metric that captures the milestone. That’s fine; I commonly set multiple metrics for a single milestone.
Automations, Habits, and Principles
Most of your awake time goes to living your busy life, working, sitting in traffic, cooking dinner, and so on. In fact, most of us only have 2-3 hours of free time per day, so we need to make it count.
Try to weave your goals into your busy life. The secret is to automate, form habits, and live by principles.
Think of these as guardrails that are there to catch your fall.
Automation is the easiest way to meet your goal because it removes you from decision-making. So, for example, have your employer automatically deposit a portion of your paycheck to your savings account if you are trying to save money.
Habits are automated behaviors that are etched in our brain’s neural network. We all have good and bad habits, but we can influence them by suppressing unwanted ones and creating new ones.
Forming habits takes a couple of months on average (but varies wildly). Habit-forming takes effort, but eventually, your brain will form new connections and automatically lead you to do the right thing.
An example of a habit is to make yourself exercise every second day. After a while, you will likely want to do that, rain or shine.
Principles help you guide your actions according to your values. For example, you might have a principle to always be honest or fair.
Think about your milestone and consider what prevents you from reaching it today or what you could do more. Can automation, habits, or principles make your decision-making easier?
Now, Go Achieve Life Goals!
Since you made it this far, I know you have it in you to achieve your life goals and pursue your best life!
Putting everything together, here’s an example of what your Mindframe Life Strategy might look like:
I want to stop depending on others
so I feel more secure
and I think I'll get there if I get a more stable career
which can be measured by getting 3 certifications
and driven by studying 1 hour each day before work
I generally set 3-4 of these for myself and track my progress toward the objectives on the first day of every month. That day is always exciting; I can’t wait to see how I did!
It may be helpful to track your life goals in a spreadsheet, but pen and paper will work too.
I genuinely hope you will try the Mindframe Life Strategy. If you give it your best effort, you achieve your life goals.
I would love to hear from you as you try the Mindframe Life Strategy. Let me know your success stories or any challenges that come your way! Reach out to me via the About page.