10 Action Steps to Realize Your ‘Future You’

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Just for fun, cut out some images from a magazine or draw a picture of who and what you’d like to see as the life of your “future you.” Perhaps you imagine watching your adult child graduating from college completely free of student loan debt. Maybe you see a generous future you, handing over a substantial donation to your favorite charity. Or perhaps you see a disciplined future you, looking at the documentation of your $100,000 savings account. You may even see your future you living in your dream home.

Whatever your future goals, document them on a vision board so you can look them over every day. Having these visual images at your immediate disposal will motivate you to do what’s necessary to make your future you become a reality.

Here are 10 action steps to help you realize your goals for your future you.

1. Set goals for yourself in five areas of your life: family, financial, physical, spiritual, and educational.
   • Post images of you and your family doing, seeing, and living out these goals.
   • Look at these images at the beginning and ending of each day.
2. Finish all the unfinished things on your to-do list from yesterday, last week, last month, or last year.
   • Translate all those unfinished tasks into SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely).
   • Set a deadline for each goal.
   • Seek help when you need help.
   • Know that some goals are truly worth doing while others are not. The key here is knowing the difference, then doing what’s worth doing and letting go of what’s not.
3. Productivity equates to prioritizing goals and being proactive.
   • Prioritize your goals as they relate to profit.
   • Prioritize the actions that will help reach your goals every day.
   • Actions that lead to generating income take priority over actions that do not.
   • Be intentional with your time.
4. Practice “habit stacking.”
   • Habit stacking is coupling new habits you need to achieve your goals with established habits you’ve already incorporated into your daily work life that enable you to be efficient and productive.
   • Recommended reading: Habit Stacking: 97 Small Changes that Take 5 Minutes or Less, by S. J. Scott.
5. Have defined start and end times of your workday.
   • This is becomes easier when you do it consistently.
   • Two positive benefits from this habit: improved productivity and improved sleep quality.
6. Be relentless about you magic number.
   • Your magic number is the number of listings you need to have at all times in order to exceed your monthly income requirements.
   • Your magic number is the most important number for you to know and embrace.
7. Be relentless about being of service to others.
   • Increase your efforts to help others.
   • Your success is directly related to you helping others reach their goals.
8. Be relentless about tracking your money, bills, and investments.
   • Consider using mint.com or another platform to help create a financial dashboard for your accountability and reference.
9. Be relentless about tracking your productivity.
   • You do not have 365 days a year to be productive, so track the days you do have.
   • Mark on a calendar your workdays with dollar signs.
   • Mark on a calendar your days off with a capital X.
   • You’ll see you have a series of days to be productive, so use those stretches wisely.
10. Be relentless about your fitness and nutrition.
    • You must be healthy to achieve your goals for your future you.
    • Get help hiring a trainer or coach, a join a program such as Orangetheory or CrossFit.