What’s Your 5-Year Ideal Life?

Here’s a simple yet powerful exercise for the beginning of a new year. Get comfortable with this practice and you’ll never struggle with new year resolutions again.

I’m not asking you to set any goals.

Setting goals can feel oppressive, overwhelming, or unpleasant.

Too many times in the past I got super excited and attached my ego to high and lofty goals with no clear direction or plan to get to them. I also had the habit of choosing unrealistic timelines. I would shoot for the stars and expect huge results in a short period of time.

Let’s face it, a bold and assertive goal to double the size of my business or start a new business sounded badass. It felt like that’s what successful people would do, right? But my timing was terrible. I was trying to reach those goals while I was a single mother to young boys. I was constantly holding my progress up against married men with wives that stayed home and took care of all the loose end. Needless to say, setting goals left me feeling like I failed.

I was bad at setting goals, but not bad at life. Over the years I learned to tell the difference.

Look at the future differently.

I’m in a different place now. I have the extreme privilege of being able to focus on goals regarding my spirituality, relationships, continuing education, health, mindset, and fitness. There’s plenty of food on my table, my kids are grown and independent, and I live in a safe environment with fun friends and family nearby.

Less is more. Less stuff and more awareness. How can I level up the simple ingredients to a happy life? How can I create even better health, relationships, and state of being? How can I feel better in mind and body? And while it’s all already awesome, how would I get from here to my ideal 5-year life?

What’s a 5-year life?

What’s the ideal life you want to be living in 5 years? Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel?

Take a moment to get quiet and turn inward. Imagine you’re standing on a timeline. It stretches out to infinity. See yourself in the distance 5 years ahead.

Take in that vision of yourself. It’s the you that has your ideal life. It’s five years from now, and you’ve become the person you want to become. You have what you’ve been longing for. You’re living your happiest, healthiest, most centered life.

You know the answers to these questions. Now write them down.

Write it on a tablet and run with it, doesn’t Jabez say something like that? Observe the ideal you 5 years down the timeline.

What are you doing with your free time?
What time do you go to bed and what time do you get up?
Describe your diet. What do consume and what have you given up?
What are your routines for physical fitness and spiritual connection?
What do you do for work?
How do you manage healthy boundaries?
What are your relationships like?
What do you look like?
What are your spending habits like?
Does the future you feel at peace? Safe? Good enough? Loved?

These are all goals you can create for free.

And here’s the secret. They are all things you can have right now. That’s the trick of this exercise. You don’t have to wait 5 years to have these things. Your time is now. Right now. These things are all yours right now.

These things are all yours right now.

Try something different this year. At least for now, forego setting material goals. You can always do that another day. For now, tap in to your authentic self. It’s been waiting patiently for you.

You deserve genuine and lifelong happiness, the type of happiness that can’t be taken away from you no matter what sort of craziness is happening in the world. Read my book, Happy Ever After. We can all use that right now.