Change your life trajectory in 6 months
It’s obvious where most people are headed in life.
A simple observation of the “masses” shows the trajectory of most people’s lives.
No goal in life = no purpose.
No purpose = no desire to improve.
No desire to improve = no projects.
No projects = no action.
A lot of people are bobbing along in life carrying out the plan that someone else has chosen for them.
But changing your life for the better might be more achievable than you think.
(And if you’re here reading this, you’re on the right track)
4 simple steps to change your life:
- Consume consciously
- Develop a vision
- Create a goal
- Act accordingly
In order to change your life, you have to change your mindset.
In order to change your mindset, you need to change what you allow into your mind.
The easiest way to do this is by regulating your social media consumption.
It’s likely that these things influence your mind more than you realize — and therefore influence your thoughts and actions.
You must think differently in order to act differently.
“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis
To remove yourself from the masses you need to consume consciously.
Now, what does this mean?
Think of any and everything you consume:
- Social media content you read, watch, or listen to
- TV you watch
- Books you read
- And even conversations you have
Limiting what things you consume in each of these categories will change your life. And it might happen quicker than you think.
1) Consume Consciously
In November of 2023, my wife and I moved across country.
During this major life change – I wanted an opportunity to embrace it fully and maximize the benefits. With this, I decided to delete social media apps off my phone.
I didn’t delete them entirely.
I didn’t deactivate my accounts.
I simply deleted the apps on my phone.
(And could still check them on my laptop if I wanted to)
This changed everything.
I developed tremendous clarity for what I should be doing and who I should be helping. That same month, I began creating videos for my YouTube channel.
The “life direction” that I had been seeking for years finally began to reveal itself.
The cure to my brain fog was a clear vision, and an actionable project to propel me towards that goal.
2) Develop a Vision
When limiting your social media consumption, you win back copious amounts of time and energy.
This time and energy can now be focused on crafting your future vision.
The jarring effects of social media no longer have a grip on you, and you’re free to spend that energy in an entirely new place.
To develop clarity, you must remove all distractions.
It’s impossible to see the road ahead when you’re driving through the fog.
Life’s distractions are the fog.
Recognize what these distractions are in your life, and remove (or limit) them ruthlessly.
When the fog has cleared, the road ahead finally reveals itself.
This allows you to “dream big” and visualize two important things:
- What your ideal life looks like
- How you want to serve & impact others
You must determine (exactly) what you want in life in order to work each day to get there.
This is what determines your ability to focus.
“You can’t score without a goal.” And I’d argue that you can’t stay focused for more than 30 minutes without one either.
You need a project that aligns with your vision. Something that provides you with something to work on each day.
By the way – I talk about this process more in depth, and provide journal prompts and action items in my free course, the Content Clarity Crash Course.
3) Create a Project
With your vision clear, you can finally see the destination ahead.
To better depict the roadtrip analogy:
Your vehicle’s current location (your life currently)
↓
The road ahead (the project you can work on each day to make progress towards your goal)
↓
The destination (your ideal life & vision for impacting others)
With your vision clear, you can now create an actionable goal.
The best way to create a goal (that won’t be abandoned in 2 weeks) is to create a project around that goal.
A goal without a project is a wish.
You need a realistic way of achieving that goal. And projects are the mediator to bridge the gap between your current position and your vision for the future.
Once you have a vision for what you want your life to look life, it’s now possible to create a goal that aligns with that vision.
Projects are goals in organized form.
These projects will change with time. Consider these goals the “levels” that you must conquer in order to gain experience in life’s video game.
Learning about the thing isn’t enough. You need a project that allows you to encounter real problems and get tangible results.
4) Act Accordingly
With a clear vision and an actionable goal – it’s now a matter of acting in alignment with those goals.
It’s much easier to develop habits and maintain consistency in your actions when you have clarity for what you want to achieve – and a strong desire to see it come to fruition.
When you’ve established a goal to work towards, you will begin noticing things that allow you make progress towards that goal. Your mind begins to hunt for solutions to the problem you’re facing.
Without this goal, your mind will not notice things that would help you achieve that goal.
And unfortunately, the mind tends towards chaos and comfort. If we aren’t consistently reminding ourselves of our vision for the future, we will fall into the “comfortable, safe routine” that slopes towards complacency.
However, with a clear goal, our mind (conscious + subconscious) has a clear lens to filter life through.
We are constantly seeking progress towards this goal through:
- conversations
- media
- movies
- books
- lectures
- observations
A goal with an actionable way of achieving it (a project) gives us purpose and meaning in daily life.
Conclusion
You need a goal.
And you need a project to make progress towards that goal.
This is how you find meaning and purpose in your life.
These two things create clarity for the road ahead.
These two things provide intrinsic motivation to get out of bed and work towards something that is actually meaningful to you.
It’s difficult for you to get out of bed in the morning because you’re working as a character in someone else’s story.
Use these steps to become the main character in your story, and take responsibility for your ideal vision for the future.
–Eric Pfohl