Planning a Future

Thanks to Chris Guillebeau's book The Art of Non-Conformity I have started writing out my goals. He recommends three different lists: One-Year Goals, Five-Year Goals and Lifetime Goals, each of which gets revisited a certain amount of times within a certain time-line.

This recent surge of change and passion for life came because I realized what I wanted to do with my life. I want to own a business. I want to own a business that helps people reach a more balanced life. I want to own a business where I can really make an impact on peoples lives and help them to improve themselves and reach their goals. Also with this type of business I can stay on track of who I want to be as a person.

So when I finally woke up and realized that this was what I wanted to do, I was excited, filled with passion and buzzing with ideas. Then I thought, "Where do I start?". How can I start living my life right now, to ensure I can have the future I want. Chris Guillebeau talks about this in his book, how people feel there should be more to life, how they want a specific future but they don't realize they have to start NOW!

I knew I had to change my lifestyle now to get what I wanted, but these ideas needed to find a focus. My brother said to me, "Start with your own journey" my journey to balance. If I want to start my own business, I have to walk the walk and know what its like to try and make these types of changes to a lifestyle. People have to invest in me as a person not just a business, so I can help them to invest into themselves.

So today I was sitting in Second Cup on campus and I started making out my One-Year Goals list, my Five-Year Goals list and my Lifetime Goals list. I became more conscious of the fact that I needed specific goals to connect to help each other come to life.

So I went backwards and started writing out my goals to see how to start setting up my future. For example, regarding my business.

Lifetime Goals

• Own my own successful business and improve peoples lives, as well as my own.

Five-Year Goals

• Do CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Levels 1-3 / Educate myself for my career
• Graduate University

One-Year Goals

• Become financially aware so I can start saving for my post University Education
• Invest in my current education and build my connections
  

So once I had a focus on my future I started thinking about how to get from one step to the next. Specifically the transition from graduating university to educating myself for the future of my business. I know I want to educate myself through the CHEK Institute as well as others I find beneficial, but how? When I graduate I'll have student debt, and studying with these institutes costs money i.e the courses themselves, the travel, the resources, etc. So I thought to myself what do I have to offer, how can I still do what I want while saving money for further education and paying off my student loans.

I am currently in University doing a double major in English and Professional Writing. So instead of overlooking that and seeing the future education I want, I need to use what is at my disposal now. I am still going to have a degree, why not use it to my advantage. If I invest in my education now, work on getting published and making connections in the writing world it will be an investment in my future. I do love my program. Writing is a passion of mine, I can't forget that.

I know I want to have a relationship between the two things. I eventually want to write a book. Any way I can use my talents and tools to reach people and educate them is beneficial.

I am aware that after university I will have to have some kind of a job to help my finances and my future. Yes writing will help, but I'd like to have a few things to help me along my way. So I guess now I just have to brainstorm on what they can be. And also take opportunities as they present themselves.

Whenever planning or trying to make a change, don't just dismiss your life now, use it as a tool!