Ever felt STUCK with something in your life? Blocked, like you can’t get past this mental state, this hurdle, this creative block, this bad habit, this… Wait a minute. Why am I even asking that question? Of course you’ve been stuck before. We’ve literally ALL been stuck before. And by extension we all know how much it sucks to be in this state of mind. AND – on the flipside – how amazing it is when you can reclaim your life and get back to the things you want to be thinking, doing, and becoming. I’m obsessed with overcoming the mental blockers that try to keep me down – and I think it’s been a big piece of my personal success. Which is why I thought this little nugget might help.
ENTER: Lewis Howes.
My good friend Lewis Howes was in the studio shooting his newest CreativeLive course last week and I was able to snag him for a few minutes to chat about his new book and his amazingly simple, yet powerful process for reclaiming our lives and live our biggest dreams. In this episode, Lewis shares a powerful experience from his life and how- on reflection – it helped him overcome his biggest obstacles in achieving his biggest dreams for himself. Lucky for us, Lewis breaks this process down into TWO simple steps, and gives us an action plan for moving through our blockers. He calls the exercise his “Perfect Day Exercise” and it looks like this:
1. Create a Big Vision
What’s one thing that we clearly have the ability to do as kids that we usually LOSE as adults? Easy. The ability, or rather comfort, with dreaming big. As adults, our wildest dreams are tempered by a lot of other messages we get in life (mortgage, job, family, responsibility, etc – sound familiar?) and that can often cloud the real vision we want for ourselves. To break through this blocker, and to get clarity, Lewis prescribes the following… First, go out into nature. Not like a climbing expedition to Everest, we’re talking just spend 30-60 minutes outside. In a park, on a beach, under a tree, at the table out in front of your favorite coffee shop… and envision your wildest dreams. Dream big. It’s a creative exercise. Do not limit yourself and in the process, picture your PERFECT DAY. Think about all the things that you want in life — without limits. Be detailed. Think about the people you’re spending time with, where you’re traveling, the food, the experience, how you’re feeling, what you’re creating … dream big and don’t feel guilty about it. Then write.this.down. This is key, because even if you have 100 reasons why your big dream cannot happen, there is power in taking the first step… writing it down.
2. Create a Daily Itinerary
Thing 2…is once you have a vision, create a fantasy daily itinerary outlining blocks of time will fit into your big vision in to every day little steps. What would you do every day? What would your day look like if you wanted to live those big hairy dreams you thought up in step 1. Now be careful not to over think this part. This should be easy. Imagine big blocks of time for what you want most. Some small block for other stuff you love. Get in touch with yourself. And again – WRITE IT DOWN.
3. Baby Steps – but Get to WORK
From this simple recipe you now literally have the basic outline of how to get out of that rut you’re in. You should ideally be energized because you’ve literally just created V1 of your outline to a new life. NOW… start integrating those things, those moments… first something that just takes 15 minutes, then something that takes 30 minutes… then keep pushing. It’s super simple stuff I know, but if you are intentional with your calendar you will start seeing small progress to the things you want to be doing. How do I know this? Because I’ve done it. Countless times in my life I’ve used this technique to get unstuck from stuff in my life… be they small or large…it works. I even share a simple example in the video.
Setting an intention starts with a dream. Then writing it down makes it a little more real. Scheduling time give you a space to start to live it…and before you know it, you’re on your way.
So this little nugget of goodness and a bunch more is in Lewis’ new book, The School of Greatness which drops TODAY! Check it out – and buy it via that page I just linked to and receive some special prizes along with your order. He also has two awesome CreativeLive courses online, Start Your Profitable Podcast and How to Build and Online Business. Both are baller.
Links from the Episode
The School of Greatness Book
The School of Greatness Podcast
Connect with Lewis Howes [ website | facebook | twitter ]
What’s Covered
Who is this guy [0:38] The key to success [1:13] How to get unstuck. Where this idea comes from [1:37] The Perfect Day Exercise: [2:10] Step 1: Dream Big [3:15] Step 2: Create an Itinerary [5:29] The Recap [6:35] My results by planning my day [6:51] The School of Greatness Book [7:30] The School of Greatness Podcast [7:36]
