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It’s hard to be determined when you don’t know what you’re working towards or how to even recognize when you’ve gotten there. Figure out what success means to you and you’ll be better equipped to persevere towards your goals. The best possible future self exercise can help you do that.  Spend about 15 minutes writing in great detail about what you’d like your future life to be like (1, 5, or 10 years into the future). Consider various areas of life, such as your career, relationship, health, passions, etc. What would each of these areas be like in your best possible future? Try not to filter yourself or allow negative, competing thoughts to affect what you write. It doesn’t matter if this future seems improbable now—just write about it creatively as if it could happen. Develop clear goals geared towards reaching the success you imagined in the best possible future self exercise. Start with just a few that address different areas of your life. Get as specific as you can with your goals.  For instance, you wouldn’t say “I want more money” and leave it at that. You might set a specific goal to complete a certification course so that you will be eligible for a managerial position at your job. Similarly, you wouldn’t say “I want to go to Hawaii.” You might set a clear goal to save $10,000 for a family vacation in Hawaii. You might create separate goals for different areas, including finances, health, career, relationship, and personal development. However, different goals may overlap. In the above example, being more specific about the financial goal (“I want more money”) uncovered a career goal. Focusing on a few goals at a time will help you stay focused and determined. If you focus on too much at once, you'll get overwhelmed, which will make determination harder to maintain. After you’ve clarified a few specific goals, divide these goals down into smaller, more manageable steps. You’ll feel more determined to stick with your goals, if you know what’s expected along the way.  For example, if you set a goal to publish a novel, smaller steps may include writing the book itself (which also must be broken down into various steps), editing it, learning about the publishing industry, figuring out which literary agents to send it to, writing a synopsis and cover letter, and sending it off to the different agents and publishers. You might divide it up so that you're focused on one step at a time. Then, each individual step may take some evaluating to determine if you have the resources to accomplish it. For instance, professional editing may be costly and require that you save money first. For example, if your goal is to publish a book, focus on outlining the book first, then drafting the book before you think about the publication process. Creating a time-frame to accomplish your goals is a powerful way to stay determined. Set a far out date for the overall goal (e.g., “Save $10,000”) as well as creating shorter time-frames for the individual steps required to reach that goal.  For instance, you might give yourself a year to save the money. However, after breaking the goal down, you might aim to save $2,500 within the next three months. Your deadlines should be feasible yet challenging. If you allow too much time to reach the goal, there’s a greater chance of you losing focus. If you truly want to remain steadfast in reaching your goals, you must be willing to put them before other less important aspects of life. This doesn’t mean you’ll be working 24 hours a day towards your goals, but it does mean you should always carve out time for them. Prioritizing means instead of just making a vague commitment to work on your novel each day, you will set aside a specific window of time. Say, "I'm going to write from 6:00 am to 8:00 am every morning." You have put your goal first, which means no matter what happens from 8am onward, you will have dedicated some time towards working on your goal that day. Regularly review your future self and look for discrepancies based on your current life. What habits or behaviors are getting in the way of you becoming that future self? These gaps are where you’ll want to focus in your goal-setting. For example, if you’d like to save $10,000, but you eat out every day, you will need to change your spending habits to save the money. You might save more, faster by limiting restaurant meals and cooking at home.
Complete the best possible future self exercise. Create a few specific goals. Break your goals down. Set challenging deadlines. Prioritize your goals. Look for gaps that prevent goal-attainment.