How quick and easy it is to fall into a ‘default’ kind of life, a life based on what we are supposed to do. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

Go to school, study hard, get a job, work hard for a living, and oh yeah, in the meantime get married, have kids, get a mortgage, and buy your house in the suburbs and maybe have a nice car to do it with. and then retire when you’re 65, at which point you can enjoy the ‘good life’.

Sounds familiar. Now I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it can be an amazing life, but it’s a predetermined life, it’s what we all do and it’s what each of us will fall into unless we consciously design and create something different.

How many of these people who fall into this type of life by default, actually want something very different, have dreamed of a different life, have talked about it, have said that one day I will do this or it will be us one day, but then they have never took any action on it?

Let’s say maybe 99.9% of the population, or is that too conservative an estimate?

People spend more time planning a vacation than actually planning their lives, that’s a scary thought.

I sit down with hundreds of investors and people every day every year, and honestly, over 90% of these people, just as they dream of doing something very different with their lives, know they have more untapped potential and hidden passions than ever before. they feel like they will never be able to live and it lurks in the back of their minds every minute of the day, and there’s the other 10% of people who are actually doing what they love or moving quickly toward it every day and have totally different around him, a fire and an emotion for each day.

So what’s the difference between people who live the life of their dreams and those who live by default and just talk and wait and say ‘oh they must be lucky’?

I think… no, actually I know without a doubt, the difference is the design, physically creating the time to dream your final life, write it down and then make a plan to achieve it and then follow through on it. That’s the difference, simple I know, but how many people do it? Maybe 0.1%, now if you’re reading this, I hope this 0.1% includes you, or if not yet, you’re about to be included.

Here are some starting points to get your life out of the defaults and into design:

Step 1: DREAM BIG

Learn to dream big again, like you did when you were a child. It’s Christmas and you can have, do, be or go wherever you want with whoever you want, whenever you want and as many times as you want. That is your criteria in designing your ultimate life.

Step 2: SCHEDULE

Schedule time regularly to create, evaluate, and carry out your life plans. One thing I really know is that if something isn’t scheduled, it doesn’t happen. A magical life doesn’t just happen out of the blue, a magical life comes about by taking the time to plan and then taking consistent action to bring it about. This can be a weekly meeting with yourself that you schedule in a non-negotiable way where you consciously spend time reviewing your goals, dreams, and what is good in your life and what can be improved.

Step 3: STEP BY STEP

Create a step-by-step plan, which will bring you closer and closer to your final result, write it down and take it with you everywhere and read it when you have a free moment.

Step 4: ONE THING EVERY DAY

Truly, one of the best things I’ve ever heard is to do one thing every day, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, work towards your goals. You’ll be amazed at how these little things add up and combine to create phenomenal results.

Step: 5 QUESTIONS

Constantly ask yourself questions. Is this goal still relevant to me today? Am I spending my time on things that really matter, or am I doing what’s fun and easy instead of what’s hard and necessary? How can I speed this up? Who can I help and who can help me?

Step 6: NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP

Never give up. Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, wrote “Patience, passion, and persistence are the path to success.” I could not agree more! The most successful people went on and on and on, like the Energizer bunny and never gave up despite all the obstacles, ‘failures’, say no’s and all the challenges along the way. This is exactly what you have to do if you really want to live your passions.