CREATE THE FUTURE OF YOUR DREAMS
"If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."
– Jim Rohn
Are you happy with where you are? Are you making the kind of income that you want? Are you finding fulfillment and doing the area of practice that you enjoy? Are you working with people you like and respect? Do you find enough time to be with your family and pursue hobbies that please you?
Sometimes we get stuck in the grind and do not reflect on what we want in our life. Now, as the New Year’s approaches, we have the essential time to reflect and choose what we want our future to be. We have the power to create the future of our dreams.
In this newsletter, I will explain some of the most important considerations to evaluate in determining what we want our future to be and lay out a nine-step process for you to choose exactly who you want to be and how to create that future
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Have you ever reflected on exactly what you want your life to be? Have you thought about what values are most important to you in your professional career? Many of us have not. We can create our best future once we determine what is most important.
These are some of the most important factors to consider:
Finances. How critical is financial success to you? We all, of course, want some level of financial security. But some positions in the legal profession lend themselves to much greater financial success. What level of income is critical to you? How important is the ability to obtain a bigger home, better car, a more extensive retirement account, funding for college education for family, etc.? Often, the greater the income potential, the greater the work demands of the position.
Autonomy. How much independence do you want? To choose what kind of work you do? To determine how you handle your matters? In certain firms, what we do, and how we do it is very controlled by firm management. We need more independence in our work. Do you crave more autonomy?
Type of work. What kind of work do you want to do? Are you presently working in the field that you like the most? Is it the kind of work you want to do? All too often we get pigeonholed into a certain department, which is not really the field in which we want to work.
Work-life balance. Do you have enough time to be with your family, do the things you enjoy personally, and pursue your hobbies? Are you overworked and overstressed? Are you comfortable with the workload that you have? For many of us, nothing is more important than achieving a balance and doing what we love the most with the folks we care about the most.
Prestige. Is an important to you to work in a prestigious firm? To receive public recognition for the work that you do? For some, this is very important and can help build and fuel your practice.
Fulfillment. Do you work in an area of law where you find great purpose and satisfaction in serving your client's needs? Is there that personal connection between your clients, where you are to find solutions to their problems? Finding fulfillment in what we practice helps us to enjoy what we do.
Geography. Are you working in the location where you want? Is it a place where you can be happy spending the rest of your life?
These are just some of the most important considerations in choosing what we want our future to be. What is most important to you?
STEPS IN DETERMINING OUR VISION OF SUCCESS
Now that we know the considerations, how do we sit down and create what we want our future to be? These steps you can follow to determine your vision of your ideal professional life.
Reflection. Find an extended period for reflection. Clear your mind. Eliminate distractions. Open your mind and heart to focus on you, your dreams, and where you are.
Evaluate where you are. Are you happy there? If not, why not? What do you like about where you are? If you could change anything, what would it be?
Determine your values. What is most important to you? Understanding there may be a trade-off between some of the considerations discussed above, which ones are essential to you to have the life of your dreams?
Create your vision. What would it look like if you could have the life of your dreams? Where would you be? What would you be doing? What would be the size of your firm? What would be your work life like? This is your opportunity to be creative and determine your dreams and what they look like.
Plan your course. What do you need to change to make that vision come true? Can you make changes where you are to achieve that? Is it a matter of building your business, or do you need to move in a different direction? Once you determine your future, plan what changes you need to make that vision come true.
Obstacles. What are the obstacles to you completing our plan? Are there financial roadblocks? Emotional mindset issues? Important people in your life who will oppose that plan? Consider those obstacles and how you can best manage and overcome them. To achieve our dreams, we cannot let those obstacles stop us.
Timeline. Create a timeline of exactly what you need to do when to get to where you want to be. Be as specific as possible, with each step being optimistic but achievable. Make a plan for how you want to achieve each step in that time frame to accomplish your ultimate goal.
Be Accountable. Keep your timeline and your goals at the forefront of your mind. Be accountable for accomplishing them. Share your goals and timeline with your family and your close network, and ask them to help you be accountable.
Seek support. Work with a mentor, or network of close professional acquaintances, who can encourage and support you and provide help along the way. Questions will arise about how to handle certain things. A coach or mentor can be of tremendous assistance, as he can be neutral, independent, and supportive, providing answers and expertise as you need.
Commitment. Do you want to see that vision happen in your life? If so, you need to truly commit to it in your heart, knowing there will be obstacles, setbacks, and hurdles along the way. But, if it is so important to you, you will find a way to overcome them. It may be a challenge, but it is so worth it.
CONCLUSION
So often, we feel stuck and frustrated, like we do not have a choice. But we do. We have the power to choose the life of our dreams. We have everything inside of us necessary to make that happen. We can be as successful and as fulfilled as we want. And I can help. Would you like to have a courtesy chat about how to create a vision for your life? If so, you can schedule a courtesy chat: :https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call