The Guide To Achieving Your Dreams

You don’t need motivation, You need a plan.

Photo by Doran Erickson on Unsplash

Do you have goals you want to accomplish? Places you want to explore? Things you want to do?

Well, that’s your bucket list.

A bucket list is a set of hopes, dreams, and things you want to achieve before you die.

It might be impossible for anyone else to understand YOUR path to actualizing YOUR dreams. Heck, it might be impossible for you to see yourself reaching new heights right now.

But, with a mind shift, a little organization, and small daily actions, you WILL do just that!

The Mind Shift

The mind-shift truly started for me on Christmas Day 2020. I was with my girlfriend and her family having an op shop Christmas in Australia.

For my fellow Americans, an op shop is what they call a thrift store or second-hand store. Op is slang for opportunity. For an op shop Christmas, we are only allowed to give gifts found in a thrift store.

It is well-known around the family that I love to read. I think I spent so much of my youth not reading that I am like a kid in a candy store when I get around books now.

I received several books on Christmas Day, including one book that I was familiar with because it was in my 5th-grade classroom library, the original Chicken Soup For the Soul.

The culprit was my girlfriend’s sister-in-law. She gifted me the book and even folded the corners of pages to stories I might like. I was reluctant to read it at first. I remember being in 5th grade thinking it was quite corny. But she made the extra effort to fold the pages, so I decided I would read them.

One of the stories she saved was titled Another Check Mark On the List.

It was a short introduction paragraph and a five or six-page list. The intro began,

“One rainy afternoon an inspired 15-year old boy named John Goddard sat down at his kitchen table in Los Angeles and wrote three words at the top of a yellow pad, “My Life List.” Under that heading, he wrote down 127 goals. Since then he has completed 109 of those goals. These were not simple or easy goals. They included climbing the world’s major mountains, exploring from source to mouth the longest rivers of the world, piloting the world’s fastest aircraft, running a mile in five minutes, and reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.”

I am not going to post the list, but you can find it here.

It was remarkably fascinating to me what John was able to accomplish.

Growing a sweet mustache was on the list.

After I did some fact-checking, I was inspired to start my list and follow through.

I immediately scribbled away. I wrote down as many things as I could. Every time I thought, “I want to do this”, or previously mentioned to someone, “I’m going to do that.” I included it on my list.

I was so energized but equally as disorganized.

I would do a little bit of this a little bit of that, but I didn’t have a plan.

I tried learning everything at once. I tried breaking things down. Either way, it seemed impossible.

I was wasting so much effort. I knew the end goals but didn’t have direction.

Looking for guidance, I researched our friend John some more. A few weeks had passed since I wrote my list, and I was feeling discouraged.

I came across an interview with John Goddard from NBC Dateline. When asked what his secret was, his response was simple,

“Deadlines.”

I knew what I needed to do. But how was I going to start a plan of action?

Lucky for me, I found another book.

A Little Organization

While traveling Australia, I came across the biography of my boxing idol, Sugar Ray Robinson. I had finished reading it and was looking to make room in my book box for a new book. Around that time, my partner and I stopped at an information center in a small mining town in South Australia. The woman behind the counter greeted us and gave a quick verbal tour of the information center. She finished with, “…Oh, and we have second-hand books in the back.” I thanked her, excused myself, and made my way to the back room.

Me at local Australian op shops (Photo by Elijah Hail on Unsplash)

In the back were two massive wooden bookshelves. That’s where I found how to organize just about everything written by Peter Walsh. When I initially saw it, I found the book compelling, but potentially a little bit much.

“This lady at the front is going to think I am a crazy person if I bring this to the counter.” I thought to myself.

So I moved on.

I went through the rest of the shelves but kept thinking about that book.

My list, my goals, and my future were swirling in the back of my mind.

“What if this book can help me get organized?”

Five minutes later, I gave in and swapped the beloved biography I had recently finished for the self-help organization book.

And yes, the lady at the front looked at me like I needed help, but not the kind I would find in the book.

I didn’t mind.

That book changed EVERYTHING.

Peter Walsh’s book has hundreds of different one to two-page organizational guides on a variety of subjects.

I started with page 1: Get Organized.

After reading a little, I made a two-step checklist.

1. Take an inventory of yourself.
2. Visit page 16: Set Goals.

I took an inventory of myself.

But, what does that mean?

Taking an inventory of yourself means to check-in and evaluate everything in your life.

Are you passionate about your days?

Are you happy with how you are spending your time?

Do you wish you had more time to do other things?

Are you happy with the people you surround yourself with?

This quick inventory is a useful tool to reuse over and over again. It’ll point out where you’re spending your time and effort. As well as point out if you’re spending effort on things you value.

After I took an inventory, I turned to page 16 and made another checklist.

1. Set goals with a timeframe.
2. 2. Set priorities.
3. Set subtasks
4. Write a daily to-do list.

Step 1: Set goals with a timeframe.

Luckily for me, I had already written down all of my goals in my first to-do list. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, consider asking yourself the following questions:

1. What do I want to (do, see, accomplish, and experience)?
2. Look at a wide range of areas. Ponder, what do I want out of my (career, arts, physical achievements, finances, education, and public service)?
3. What are my values?
4. How do I want to feel?
5. Do I want a family or create a stronger one?

Honestly reviewing, and reflecting on these questions should get the ball rolling. Once you have a few things written, look at each goal and ask yourself, is this a goal I want to accomplish in (a month, a year, five years, ten years, a lifetime)?

Check Out My List Here for More Ideas.

Step 2: Set priorities

Now that your goals are well defined, and you know when you want to accomplish them. Look over them again.

Figure out which are most important to you and the timeframes you want to get them done in.

Will you be able to balance your priorities with the demands of home, family, relationships, and work?

Be aware of resentment. Are you resenting how you are spending your day? Are you frustrated with your partner or kid?

Re-establish your priorities by assessing the true source of your frustrations.

Another valuable tip is to try and resist the urge for mindless activities.

Nobody is perfect, but days can be lost and energy wasted on social media and video games.

Sidestep this by trying fun activities that will help you towards your goal.

Step 3: Set subtasks.

Some goals can be lofty.

Take, for example, my goal to become a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt.

It would be awesome if I could instantly become an expert, but we’re not in the Matrix.

I need to create subtasks.

First, I need to join a gym and get my white belt. After 1–3 years of training, I’ll receive a blue belt, after another 2–6 years, I’ll receive a purple belt, then in another 1.5–4 years a brown belt, and finally, 1–2 years a black belt.

The average BJJ black belt takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years to earn.

It would be unreasonable to focus on becoming a black belt without first becoming a white belt.

Small Daily Action

Photo by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

Step 4: Write a daily to-do list.

Now that you have smaller achievable subtasks, your dreams are in reach. Start incorporating those subtasks into everyday life via a to-do list and start crossing them off.

Make sure when you are writing your to-do list to write them the day before. It is essential to do this. You want to wake up knowing what you have to get. You don’t want to lose an hour of your morning because you were writing a to-do list. I usually create mine either before bed or after dinner.

Another notable item to consider is how to keep track of your lists.

You can write them freehand, use your phone notes, an app, a whiteboard, etc. Be sure to choose a method that you will feel the most comfortable with.

I currently use Microsoft’s To-Do on my phone because I’ve always used the now-defunct Wunderlist and the apps are pretty similar.

Some other great note takings apps include:

• Evernote
• Microsoft OneNote
• Apple Notes
• Google Keep
• Notion
• Todoist

Commit to your plan. You’re already further along than most; stay focused, and don’t forget to step back and take notice of your progress along the way.

Follow my journey on completing my life list below:

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