My steps:

I spent a few days revisiting my long terms goals and dreams and my core values to see if anything has changed. Then I revamped my old vision board accordingly. I, then, picked 3-4 areas as my main focus for the 6 months off I have prior to starting my medical training. Then, I created 1-3 objectives (or broad goals) for each of those areas. Out of those objectives, I decided on 1-3 targets (or more specific goals) to work on within a certain timeframe. And finally, I have made some actionable steps for each of those targets with their own timeframe.

It may sound like a lot, but it is not. However, it does take some time to get through and set up in the beginning. After that it is fairly straightforward. Feel free to use my templates.

So, how do you create a new version of you in this new year or this new season of your life?

Whether January 1st or April 22th or November 11th or like me on December 16th, the life that you desire does not have to wait. You can start at any given point in the year and at any given day in the week. Just whatever you do, do it for a the better you that awaits.

Create a vision

According to Oxford dictionary, a vision is “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom;” it is to “imagine”.

Creating a vision is simply designing the life that you want to have removing all the impossibilities in it. Don’t try to be “realistic”. Just pour our your desire as vivid as possible on paper as the thoughts flow.

So go back to being a kid and imagine with no boundaries the possibilities of what life can be. Think of the desires that keep coming back to you as much as you try to ignore them. The things you want to accomplish that you keep quitting and coming back to, or never started or want to give up on. Pay attention to them because, more than likely, they are what will make you feel alive and take you to your purpose to impact the life of others. So, as long as they are good and for the benefit of humanity, give voice to those dreams and yearnings. Quiet down those limiting beliefs and grab a piece of paper and just write whatever comes to mind for each area of your life.

Time to get creative. Now it is time to make your vision board. Whether it is on a piece of paper or posterboard or computer just be creative with pictures and colors. Make it accessible that you can constantly see it and read it on a regular basis.

Keep in mind your vision is not meant to stay within 1 year. It can be for 3, 5 or 10 years+ and you modify it as you go as your priority changes. It’s about who you want to become and what you want to accomplish. It’s a compass on how you navigate your life, not an endpoint.

Decide on some objectives (or broad goals)

Choose a cycle

Whatever time of the year you are doing this, plan based on the patterns in your life to increase chance of success. As a student, I used to plan per semester to match the rhythm of school time and vacation time. Now that I have 6 months off, even though my vision board and objectives are for the year and beyond, I have chosen 3 objectives to focus on until May.

So choose whatever cycle makes sense for you based on your major responsibilities. It can be every month or every three or four or six months or weather season. If you have kids, maybe do it based on when they are in school vs out of school, or extracurricular/athletic seasons changes etc. The goal is to choose your targets (or more specific goals) with a fix endpoint in sight. That way, you can reach those objectives and in so doing, make your vision a reality bit by bit.

Choose some realistic targets (more specific goals)

Create a plan

Now it’s time to create a plan for those targets. Your plan are the actionable steps that are within your control to achieve those targets. You will move closer to achieving those bigger goals and your long term your vision. Those actionable steps are timebound, trackable, and relevant. This is the hard part, because in this step you have to think and choose only the actions that will get you to your goal and remove all the unnecessary fluff. That is where the 80/20 rule in which 20% of your action leads to 80% of your result. This is in turn means your plans can’t be a long checklist. So the less step, the better. Try to limit them to 5 steps per target within a given timeframe to not overwhelm yourself.

Choose a tracking method

You need to have a tracker or “a scorecard” system as it is called in the book to track your progress. The goal is every week to hit at least 85% of each actionable step so you can hit your target and in turn achieve your objectives. This step is important because it serves as a motivator and also a reality check. So it’s a must otherwise you won’t be able to quantify and objectify your progress and know how to make proper adjustments and see if your adjustments from week to week is helping or not.

You also need to put them on a task list or calendar, so you can be reminded. Whether it’s your tracking app that gives you reminder or your usual To do list or calendar just put those actionable steps on your to do list just like you would for anything else since they will be part of your day to day or week to week

Review and Reflect

You need to review your tracker/scorecard on a weekly basis to see your progress and make adjustment accordingly. Remember achieving 85% of each actionable steps means more likely you will hit your target each week, which means more likely to achieve your objectives. Achieving at least 65% means you are making some headway towards that objective but not achieving but have improvement compared to where you were before.

Once you review each actionable step and know your percentage, reflect on what made it possible to achieve them, the challenges you face and the barriers that cause you to not achieve them for that week. Once you gather that, see how you can make adjustment to make it easier to achieve them such as maybe start smaller and work you way up. For example if you want to exercise more and you never been consistent instead of jumping to exercise 4x/week and you couldn’t sustain that, make it exercise for 15mins 2x/week for week 1 and then 15mins 3x/week for week 2 and slowly increase the increment in either time like 20mins or frequency like 4x/week until you hit your desired end goal.

Don’t let your emotion make you quit or judging yourself badly as you go through this step. The tracking percentage is a number, so treat it as such and gamify it to make bigger percentage next round. If you are constantly scoring 100% on everything or less than 40% you are doing something wrong. You are not challenging yourself enough so you need to make it more difficult or you challenge yourself too much that you need to make it more manageable and realistic to your lifestyle and need, respectively.

Be truthful & compassionate

To achieve your goals or aspiration, you have to be true to yourself. That means be truthful to your “why” and your “how”. Know why you want to do what you want to do. Let the purpose of it be bigger than yourself, let it be for your betterment but also others because how you show up, how you give, how you receive impact others directly or indirectly because in some way you contribute to this world. All of us are interconnected in some fashion and our thoughts and actions impact ourselves as well as others.

Be compassionate with yourself when you have an off day, when you don’t accomplish that goal you set for that week. Don’t judge yourself, accept whatever emotions you feel but don’t stay in it. Look at the ugly truth for that it is. Is it because of pure laziness, is it because you felt sick or low energy, is it because you got distracted or did not prioritize properly or you put too much on yourself too soon?Whatever the reason is, look at it, accept it, forgive yourself, be kind to yourself and adjust accordingly and get back to it.