When you envision your future today, you can see yourself free from the hustle and bustle, reaping the rewards of all the preparation you’ve done yesteryear. However clear the vision, it’s the journey that’s a bit cloudy, the steps toward your ideal keeping your dream distant. No matter how lofty your goals or where you’re starting, there are strategies you can deploy to maximize your efforts.
1. Protect your sleep at all costs
Quality sleep is the key to unlocking your potential and science agrees, citing brain health, mood, and longevity benefits. Getting the recommended seven to nine hours each night can be challenging, especially when you’re building businesses and leading teams. You can start preparing by first reviewing your schedule to pinpoint your current peak performance hours and if your sleep schedule supports them today. If poor sleep habits keep getting in the way of your morning gym session, adjust your evening routine.
Start by limiting blue light exposure, which confuses the body’s natural circadian rhythm. Switch devices to nighttime mode, which adjusts the screen color to a warmer, less disruptive shade. Set a time to begin winding down each night, even on the weekends. While it may seem reasonable to shift your routine to accommodate weekend festivities, your body’s sleep cycle doesn’t adjust quickly. Opt for reading, light stretching, and self-care activities to relax in favor of checking into work or scrolling social media.
Banish sleepless nights by managing your nutrition and supplementation. Aim to have your last meal at dinnertime to reduce the likelihood of blood sugar spikes or acid reflux at bedtime. Support your sleep health with supplements that both help you sleep well and wake up refreshed. Melatonin supplements are popular for aiding sleep but can leave you feeling drowsy in the morning. However, Numo’s melatonin-free sleep gummies use all-natural ingredients like magnesium L-threonate to promote restful sleep. Plus, gut-friendly Tauring and Kombucha Live Cultures stimulate natural melatonin production while calming the central nervous system.
2. Create a sense of calm at home
Visual chaos at home can derail you from a moment of genius as soon as you walk in the door. If your home environment is less than serene, it distracts from what truly matters. Disorganization leads to time-sucking searches throughout the house before a pitch to an investment group. Living in a messy space can stifle creativity, increase stress, and decrease well-being.
Honor yourself by insisting on living and working in a clean, tidy environment. Declutter and get rid of anything no longer useful or meaningful, retaining only what’s necessary or truly special. If you’re sentimental, this exercise can be challenging or even painful. However, the memories you made while on vacation mean more than the souvenir mug taking up space in your cabinets. Instead, keep only meaningful mementos and display them proudly instead of locked away in the attic.
Next, tackle the cleanliness factor in your home by bringing in a professional to help you reset a baseline. A professional cleaner is worth the investment to make it easier to maintain yourself or with professional assistance. Examine your habits too, to identify ways to keep things tidy and avoid unnecessary rework. Create new habits like cleaning up while cooking, doing laundry to completion, and tossing junk mail before setting it down. By preparing today and improving your home environment, you’ll begin each day with a fresh outlook without the distraction of undone tasks.
3. Master time management
Humans aren’t machines, nor should they be, but to accomplish your biggest goals, you need to master time management. You’ve likely already accomplished a lot in your life, but systems and strategies can help maximize your time. We’ve already covered the essentials of quality sleep, but how you wake up sets the tone for everything that follows. Select an intention, a plan, and measurable goals for the day you plotted out before bed. Some days, this will be an intense exercise, but other times, you will follow the next logical step in a long-term plan.
Start the day with exercise, as raising your heart rate can improve your energy levels and mental clarity hours afterward. Commit to waking for movement, even if it’s not strenuous. By maintaining the same time for exercise, you can establish a healthy routine that offers trickle-down benefits. You’ll naturally be forced to spend the early hours investing in yourself, improving your ability to show up fully elsewhere.
While you’re in the thick of work, use the Pomodoro technique to stay focused and productive. This practice challenges you to perform deep work for 25 minutes, followed by a five-minute break. The promise of a break after deep, complex work can keep you focused and motivated to continue. Use this strategy at work and home to challenge your mental toughness and ability to follow through on your deliverables. Block time to relax, too, establishing an immovable barrier that protects your ability to recharge.
4. Become a lifelong learner
It’s easy to dive deep into your work, but you risk becoming irrelevant if you aren’t engaged elsewhere. Make it a daily practice to read outside your interests. Lean into curiosities and bolster your mind. Ideas you hear outside your circle will only add to your context, potentially inspiring new solutions or innovations. Read daily, making time to be the student instead of the teacher during the workday. Learn from junior colleagues and those outside your functional area to broaden your understanding and increase empathy.
Take courses online, attend seminars, and let your curiosity lead you toward new experiences. Platforms like MasterClass make learning from industry titans accessible and digestible, no matter how busy your schedule. Be willing to put what you learn into action, testing new strategies and techniques. The more you learn, the more you can grow, evolve, and improve as a human and a professional.
5. Make a strategic plan for your life
Just winging it won’t work for your business, so why would you expect it to work for your life? If you haven’t been preparing a strategic plan for your life, it’s time to draft one today. As you would in the boardroom, consider where you are, where you’re going, and where you want to be. Do this independently at first, incorporating those you share your life with, including children. Gain input from your life stakeholders, as they’ll likely point out some blind spots and offer new ideas.
Establish a vision for what your future self and life look like. If this is too abstract initially, envision yourself as a business of You, Inc. Once you have this in mind, break down the goals that’ll get you there. Beneath these goals, list the tactics you’ll tackle before the goal is complete. Since this is your life, not a corporate fiscal year, this list will get long and change over time. Review your progress quarterly and walk your plan forward annually, just as you’d do in business.
If one of your goals is to age healthily, your tactics may run the gamut. One tactic may be to run half-marathons regularly, so your daily actions must include time for training. Nutrition will also play a role in your longevity, so your work at the tactical level could include gardening. There’s no limit to how you strategize your future or what a full and successful life looks like. Above all, establishing what you want, creating a plan, and breaking it down into achievable goals is imperative.
6. Manage what you put in your mind
What you put into your head quickly becomes your reality. Quality comes out if you’re constantly immersing yourself in quality people, ideas, and information. But if you’re surrounded by negativity, watching junk, and feeling stuck, you’re going to get more of the same. Take charge of your future by being intentional about what and who you let in your mind.
First, assess the people you spend the most time with your family and friends. While you may not be able to choose your family, you can work on your relationships. Make time to connect with your partner and work on your relationship. Couples therapy can help bridge communication divides and provide a safe space to discuss challenges. If family relationships are strained, work to repair what you can and limit your interactions when you can’t.
Be honest about how well your friendships are serving you, and if you need to cut ties, do so gracefully. Some friendships are meant to be lifelong, while others are best kept for a season. Monitor how you feel when you’re with them, and if you feel worse, it may be time to stop.
One person you can’t break ties with is yourself, but you can build a better relationship. Start by contacting the core “you” that exists outside of titles and responsibilities. Get comfortable spending time alone, relying less on others’ guidance or feedback for feelings of validation. Dig into your past to heal old wounds and work toward self-actualization with the help of a therapist. The more time you spend supporting your mental health and preparing today, the better your tomorrow will be.
Create your dream life on purpose
The hand you were dealt doesn’t have to be the one you keep. Live your life with intention, making strides daily toward a life you’re proud to live. Honor yourself with self-care, quality sleep, and high-energy surroundings. When you do, the journey toward your dream life will come more easily and joyfully than you ever thought possible.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva; Pexels; Thank you.
Deanna Ritchie
Editor-in-Chief at Calendar. Former Editor-in-Chief and writer at Startup Grind. Freelance editor at Entrepreneur.com. Deanna loves to help build startups, and guide them to discover the business value of their online content and social media marketing.