Take Control Of Your Life With These 4 Steps
How often does it happen that you just remembered something that happened a few years ago and it makes you think about where did all that time go? You had big plans. Some of them came true, and some didn`t. After thinking about this, some people get ‘mad’ and decide to finally take control of their lives and others find an excuse to why is it like that. This post is for the ones who are ready to own their lives, to take responsibility for it and to be proud of what they accomplished.
To really take control of your life, you need to be aware and truly believe that you have all the power over it. I know you have it. And not just you, but every single healthy person in the world.
Sometimes it will require getting out of your comfort zone, making some decisions that are hard or telling someone something that you are not comfortable saying. But you always have to remember that you are doing it to get your life on the road.
Once you decide it’s time to make your life the way you want it to be, you cannot just start from today and tell yourself that from now on you’re gonna take the lead. What you need to do is go back, organize your thoughts and start ‘cleaning up’. To help you with it, I made a list of 4 steps that will lead you to full control over your life.
1. DEFINE THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO OR CHANGE
First thing first, you need to sit down, gather your thoughts and be honest with yourself. But really honest. Even if it’s something you don’t want to think about, let alone talk about. This step is crucial if you want to take control of your life.
Create a list of your wishes. Maybe you always imagined yourself as a successful businesswoman and you still think you should be doing something more than what you’re doing now. Maybe you want to get married and/or have kids. Or you wanted both of those things. You want to travel the world, buy your own place, learn another language or write a book. Whatever it is that you want in your life, this is the step to say it or even write it on a paper.
What might help in this step is to imagine your ideal life in 5 or 10 years from now. How does it look like? What do you do? Who are the people around you?
I did this method and it was my turning point. I imagined myself heading this same road for the next 10 years. While I am perfectly happy with my life at this stage, things will change in 10 years from now, and then what? I will probably forget how much energy 3 small kids required and I will only think about why didn’t I think of that stage of my life before.
2. PRIORITIZE AND ORGANIZE YOUR WISHES
Ok, now that you have it all written down (or in your head), it’s much more clear. I am assuming your list is filled with some big, life-changing things such as have kids and with some ‘small’ things such as learn to cook. In this step, you need to decide what is really important to you.
There are life-changing decisions and there are life fulfilling decisions. To work on the second ones, you need to have the first ones in order. If you decide to learn to cook first, something will always be incomplete. But if you start to deal with ‘the big things’ first, you will be able to do some of the other things along the way.
Also, we all want to do so many things in our lives, but we cannot do it at the same time. If your list of wishes consists of travel around the world for the next 2 years and do your best to get promoted at your job, you’re probably not going to make it (unless your job is to travel the world?). So make a schedule. Postpone some of your wishes and be ok with it. You will do it, just not now. Because you’re doing something that is more important to you in a long-term.
If you really decided to take control of your life, you need to be honest with yourself. Tell yourself what is it that you really, really want and need to be happy and make it your priority.
3. MAKE A TO-DO LIST
If you followed the first 2 steps, you know exactly what is it that you want that will make you happy. If you want to start your own business, then you need to do some research first. You want to get married or have kids? It’s time to talk about it with your boyfriend/husband. If you want to travel, explore your options.
In the example above, where I mentioned my turning point and why I started blogging, I’ve made a to-do list not just to guide me, but if I ever wanted to quit it reminded me that I am not finished.
Whatever it is that you want, you need to make a road that will lead you there. Nothing is impossible. You need a change in your life and changes happen when you get out of your comfort zone.
4. START TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE
The best thing I can tell you here is to quote Jim Carrey:
“You can’t just visualize your success and go eat a sandwich.”
It simply doesn’t work like that. The whole point of taking control over your life is that YOU need to do it. If you don’t do it, nothing will change.
And remember, a road to success is always under construction and this is where your to-do list comes in handy…to keep you focused.
Be strong, be focused and take control over your life.
