It’s not going to be an easy path to reach the rewards promised by your life plan. All the research, deep thought, information-seeking interviews, consultations, soul-searching, and strategizing that you’ve done to create your life plan are certainly a lot of work, but they’re only the beginning. A large part of your effort will be implementing the steps you’ve created for yourself. It can seem rather daunting, especially if you’re uncertain about your intentions, but that’s all part of the process. Instead of thinking of your plan as a dark and murky pond that you must dive into head-first, imagine that you’re taking a daytime walk through the woods to a specific destination. What happens on a walk through the woods? Well, you can go at your own pace for one thing. You can sit under a tree for a while, enjoy the scenery, catch your breath, and think about your journey. You may find that you’ve deviated from the path on occasion, but that’s not a cause for panic. Simply take a breath, reorient yourself, and keep moving forward. You may even discover that your first-choice destination is not really where you want to wind up at all. If this happens, you can either return to the trailhead and choose another path, or simply branch off from your current path to reach your new destination.

The point I’m making is that the path to your Life Vision need not be a frenzied, do-or-die endeavor. It’s quite the opposite – the plan you’ll follow will require you to tap into all your resources and follow your true intentions. For most people, this means that following your plan will in itself be an exercise of self-discovery and soul-searching, even as you make real-world progress. Therefore, it’s important to pause from time to time – especially right before you embark on your journey – to contemplate whether you are ready for the process of change, and if so, whether your path is the best one for you.

If you’re feeling stuck or uncertain about moving forward, that doesn’t mean you have to stay put. Simply ask yourself what this feeling signifies. Are you as yet unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve your dreams? Do you need more tools to help you on the path to your goals? Do you need reassurance, or a boost of confidence, before you proceed? Do you require more supportive people in your life? Is one toxic person, or several toxic people, holding you back? Are you following someone else’s plan, and not your own? Would it be best to take a break and return to your life plan in a few months?

Allow yourself time to ask these questions and find answers. If you’re having any of the concerns mentioned above, or others, that doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for success. We all deal with these challenges at one point or another. The tools and behaviors that will help you overcome these challenges are the same tools and behaviors that will allow you to achieve your Life Vision. Courage, patience, discipline, and deliberacy will enable you to reach the finish line. Clarifying and focusing your intentions, as well as maintaining a positive outlook, will allow you to make progress on your path.

External progress – that is, real-world accomplishments and successes – are inextricably linked to your own internal progress. As you discover more about yourself, your wants, and your abilities, you’ll take concrete steps to achieve your Life Vision!

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com

Making sure that your life plan reflects your true intentions is a vital part of your progress. Is the finish line you’re nearing really a line you’ll want to cross? Do your real intentions mesh smoothly with your life plan? If you discover that the answer is no, don’t despair! It’s not too late. Doubts, false-starts, and other obstacles are all part of the process. I’ll help you identify problematic intentions, develop solutions, and keep moving forward to a fulfilling life. Yesterday, I addressed competing intentions and unfocused intentions. Today, I’ll help you overcome two additional problematic intentions.

Let’s say that you’re in law school, and the life plan you’ve created will eventually lead to you becoming a lawyer. For some reason, you keep falling behind in your studies. You’re not doing well on tests and papers, and you feel that your heart’s not in the work. What’s the problem? You’ve put a lot of effort into creating a life plan, and law school is a major step of that plan. So what’s happening? Why aren’t you succeeding? Perhaps becoming a lawyer is not your true intention, but someone else’s vision for your life. A parent, spouse, or best friend may have planted the idea in your head that you must become a lawyer; that it would be perfect for you. You may have even convinced yourself that becoming a lawyer is your calling. But clearly, something isn’t working since you’re not performing at the level you desire. The solution is to take some time to examine your intentions, and figure out if they really are your intentions. If you discover that becoming a lawyer is your honest intention, you’ll be able to dive back into law school with newfound confidence and deliberacy. If you learn that becoming a lawyer is not your true intention, deep within yourself, then you can adjust your life plan to pursue your real intention. This requires some thought and discussion. Try speaking to the person you were trying to please by becoming a lawyer. Maybe this person will offer insight as to why he or she thought you would make a great lawyer, and this person will be able to help you find another goal that’s more in-sync with your personality. If this person is unsupportive, or dismisses any adjustments to your life plan, you may need to set up new boundaries with this person, or reduce the amount of time you spend together. Whatever the case, keep in mind that you probably won’t find fulfillment pursuing someone else’s vision – you must pursue the Life Vision that is truly yours.

Another problematic intention arises if your upbringing, or circumstances from your past, set up an expectation of failure. If your father always said you were “slow,” or “not cut out for anything special,” his opinion may have embedded itself in your own opinions. Likewise, if you’ve failed to meet certain goals in the past, the fallout can be a major confidence-buster as you approach new goals. We all have stories and experiences about times in our lives when people berated our abilities, or our character. The solution is to recognize these failure-based intentions, and do what you can to clear them from your mind. Whenever you catch yourself thinking about failure, or doubting your abilities, take a moment to write it down. Putting it on paper will allow you to see that your feelings of failure are just that – feelings. They are not concrete, and there is no real-world wall preventing you from reaching your goals. Every time you record a negative thought, write a positive thought, or a brief note of encouragement to yourself. This will counteract your sense of failure, and it will help you overcome your fears. The antidote to negativity and failure is positivity and success! It really is that simple!

So, if you find yourself stuck on your life plan, take a moment to make sure that your actions are aligned with your intentions. Even if you’re proceeding smoothly on your life plan, it never hurts to take a breath and confirm that your intentions and actions are in-sync with your true self. Once you get your intentions and actions in order, or confirm that they already are in order, this will give yourself a boost to keep moving forward!

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com

Courage, patience, discipline, and deliberacy are four necessary behaviors to help you achieve the fulfilling life you’ve mapped out for yourself in your life plan. These behaviors will only be effective, and will only help you reach the finish line, if your life plan is aligned with your true, often unconscious, intentions. If your intentions point you in one direction and your life plan points you in another, you’ll find that it’s difficult to follow your plan, and you’ll get stuck. Don’t give up! Sometimes our intentions are elusive, and it often takes a few rocky starts before we really discover what we want. I’ll address several challenges that can occur with our intentions, and I’ll present ideas for overcoming these challenges.

Competing intentions occur when you want two opposing things. For example, if part of you wants a promotion because you desire more money and respect, but another part of you wants to stay put because you fear the added responsibility of the new position, you’ll be conflicted and stuck in limbo, unable to decide. What’s the solution? Analysis, thought, and discussion. Concentrate on what’s important to you, and figure out which path would best suit your personality. Talk it over with trusted friends or family members, and in the end, make the choice you think is right for you. Pursue your chosen intention, let go of the other one, and move forward. If you have trouble along the way, a life coach or therapist will be able to provide guidance.

Unfocused intentions arise when you have a vague or general idea of what you want, but you haven’t yet developed the specific intentions necessary for clear, deliberate action. For instance, you may know that you want to wind up in a career that allows you to use your creativity, but if your intentions end there, you don’t have much to work with. These unfocused, general intentions are great jumping-off points, but they’re not enough in and of themselves to inspire real-world steps to achieve your goals. To stay on course, you’ll need to get specific, and create a plan to turn your specific intentions into reality. So, for the creativity example, you may want to take time to think about your interests, and explore the possibilities for employment in “creative” fields. Talk to people. Take different classes in graphic design, art, creative writing, and so forth, until you lock onto your passion. Learn as much as you can, and make a choice. This is your life, after all, so make sure to do the research and put your heart in your plan!

If you’re feeling stuck, there’s almost certainly a reason, as well as a solution to free you from the rut and get you on the path to make genuine progress. Pause, reflect, and take the steps I’ve discussed to get unstuck. Tomorrow, I’ll focus on some additional pitfalls you may encounter, and I’ll share solutions to keep you moving forward!

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com