Ms. New Boots my life out loud

After my post last week about my goal to become a life coach, I was emailed by the lovely Jessie May, and lucky for me – she offered to do a guest post! Enjoy!

We all have a vision for the life we aspire to lead. Sure, maybe at 20 or 30 something we’re confused as heck about some of the details, such as what career we want to pursue or where we want to set up shop and start a family, but we do have an idea of what kind of person we want to be and the general feeling we want to experience through life – which for most of us is happiness, right? My question to you is: are you taking the steps in your life now, to build the vision you hold for your life in the future? Even if you’re not sure exactly what you want, are your actions today making you the type of person you want to be tomorrow?  Are your actions bringing you towards, the level of happiness you want to achieve?

For example, if your vision is to be healthy, energetic, and physically fit, are you taking the steps now to create this vision? Or are you grabbing unhealthy food on the go, putting off exercise until tomorrow, and not getting enough sleep?  Likewise, if your vision is to have a close-knit circle of friends, are you taking the steps to bring this vision to fruition?  Or are you waiting for people to contact you, instead of reaching out and being proactive about cultivating friendships?

Sometimes our big picture dreams get brushed under the carpet because it’s so easy to get swooped up in the craziness of everyday life. There are so many things pressing to be done that sometimes we get buried under our never ending to-do lists, or stuck working at a job we hate just to pay our next bill. The scary thing is that sometimes we get stuck there forever. Not a place I want to be, and I’m sure not a place you want to be either!

If you’re not walking your talk, what will you start doing today that will get you into action? No matter how busy our lives are, if they’re not busy with things that will lead us to our big picture vision, there comes a point where we simply have to stop and prioritize. What is your happiness worth to you? Seriously.  It’s time to prioritize.

Follow these five steps to start walking your talk, and taking action today on the life you want to be living tomorrow.

1. Get out a big piece of paper.

2. On the paper, write down the different categories of your life.  Leave space under each to write some action items later. The following categories are aspects of most people’s lives, but feel free to add your own or eliminate from the list if you need to: personal growth, fun and recreation, physical environment, significant other/romance, money, friends, family, career, and health.

3. Once you have listed the different categories of your life, under each category, write five action items—actions which, if you were doing, you’d be walking your talk. For example, say my first category is “Health.” If I were walking my talk, here are the five health related things I would be incorporating into my life to bring me to the level of health I desire: exercise six days a week, attend a yoga class once a week, eat balanced meals everyday with allowance for sweets on the weekends, get a massage once a month, and eliminate dairy from my diet.

4. Once you have gone through each category of your life and listed your five action items for walking your talk, get out your calendar. Start scheduling your action items into your calendar. If this feels too overwhelming at first, try starting with only one category, and add the action items from one new category every week. If you have actions on your list that are hard to schedule, like my “eliminating dairy from my diet,” above, try creating a spreadsheet and checking off everyday that you successfully complete that action item.

5. Celebrate! Don’t forget to celebrate your achievements and acknowledge yourself for putting in the effort to create the life you want to live. After all, a great life doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by design!

Now go forth, all of you powerful, amazing, vision driven people, and start creating the lives of your dreams! Don’t forget to come back here and let us know how it’s going!

Jessie May is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, specializing in helping women in their 20s and 30s bust through their quarterlife crisis. Having experienced her own quarterlife crisis, Jessie May understands how confusing this time of life can be, and how paralyzing all our options can become.  She helps her clients find clarity in the chaos and make inspired choices that align with their most authentic self. You can read more from Jessie May, or schedule a free “Conquer Your Crisis” coaching session, at her blog http://blossomingbrilliance.com. You can also follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/CoachJessieMay and find her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/coachjessiemay.