Changing a career or life situation, such as achieving an aspirational outcome, requires that you change. This generally requires multiple changes, such as your identity, routines, direction, and how you spend your precious time. Change is often complex, and it’s hard to move down the path when you consider identity changes or big, lofty goals.
I have found that reducing your view to weekly windows can make your progress toward a desired outcome feel tangible and achievable. Recognizing the small signs to change also fuels confidence and momentum to keep going.
In this post, I share three ideas I use to progress toward long-term goals.
1. Visualizing Your Best Self
Life becomes more fulfilling and directed when you can see who you are in the present and have an aspirational vision of who you want to become. This requires a journey to look inside and find your best self. I describe this journey of self-exploration in this article.
Achieving ambitious and fulfilling goals becomes possible when these aspects of your life are aligned and integrated:
* Values - practicing principles you believe and hold most important
* Beliefs - amplifying the self-affirming beliefs that create positive emotions and energy
* Emotions - doing work and having relationships that boost positive feelings
* Vision - vividly describing and internalizing the life you wish for
* Identity - embracing a clear and compelling version of your best self
* Purpose - doing what you are driven to achieve as a North star
* Behaviors - practicing rituals that demonstrate qualities or activities of your chosen identity
* Boundaries - deciding what is OK and not OK
* Letting Go - leaving behind those things that no longer serve you so you can experience your best self
* Partner - sharing your life with someone who values and respects your best self
The way I found my best self that guides my weekly and longer goals was to document content for each of the aspects above. There is an article for each of these where you will find ideas on how to do this yourself. Each day I will take a quick scan through my document to remind myself who I am becoming and why I am allocating my time. This consciousness creates confidence, calm, and discipline to forge ahead in the sea of uncertainty.
I use visual and audio cues to guide my best self, such as reading a few pages of the content above. Here are a few other ideas:
* using a phone screen background to describe your chosen identity
* imagine yourself achieving the goal and how you overcame obstacles
* using specific words on your LinkedIn headline and About section
* placing symbols, pictures, and belongings in your workspace
* how you introduce yourself to others influences how you see yourself and want to be seen by people
2. Allocating Focus and Time with Weekly Sprints
I have spent most of my career building software using the Agile methodology, where you break work into shippable features that create value within two-week windows. I have adopted this same process to the aspirational outcomes of my career and life using weekly windows. Here is how it works.
🧭 Sprint Planning
Each Sunday, I document a list of weekly micro outcomes that contribute toward more significant outcomes that may take months or years to achieve. These are tangible goals I can achieve within my control. Generally, they are aggressive to challenge and stretch me into discomfort. My sprint starts on Monday morning and ends Sunday at 5 pm.
Thinking about your goals and weekly micro-goals creates the consciousness of what is important and how you intend to spend your time for the upcoming week. The key is playing offense by projecting your time instead of reacting to the demands coming your way throughout the week. This is not to say you can’t adapt and remain fluid, but without a conscious plan, you will likely say “yes to the urgent” and “no to the important.”
I use Notion to document my sprint plan, with daily notes to track my progress and capture essential thoughts. I often use the mobile app to capture ideas when on the go.
Reflect on these statements to shape your weekly sprint plan:
* What values do I want to honor, and how will I do that?
* What activities or outcomes will derive the emotions I want to feel more of (and less of)?
* What is a micro-goal that reinforces an identity I am working to evolve into (e.g., publish a podcast as a Podcaster identity)?
* What boundaries will I need to enforce to stay focused and on track this week?
After documenting my micro-goals, I will generally schedule time on my calendar to visually convince myself how those will be achieved throughout the week. You will fill up your calendar regardless, so why not leverage this conscious state to allocate your most precious gift of time?
💥 Sprint Execution
Each morning I read my weekly sprint goals to stay calibrated. The outcomes are at the top of my Notion page, with a section below for each day of the week. As I execute my work, I take notes and screenshots of content throughout the day.
As I work, I often evaluate my emotional state as clues into the work that derives my best self. I am feeling the Mojo? If so, why?
I will ask myself, is what I am doing right now contributing to who I want to become? If not, I stop and calibrate my mindset.
At the end of the day, I do a closeout reflecting on what I achieved, what I learned, and how I will take that into the next day. I also acknowledge the small changes in identity that create momentum toward transformation change.
✅ Sprint Review
Before creating next week’s sprint plan each Sunday, I conduct a sprint review to take stock of how I performed against my sprint outcomes. This is an opportunity to internalize progress and carry the momentum in the upcoming week.
Reflection questions:
* What is one small sign that I am evolving into my desired identity?
* What did I learn from goals that I did not fully achieve?
* How can I be more resourceful to deliver on these goals?
* How did I demonstrate my values this week?
3. Rituals
My rituals help me stay focused, calm, confident, and clear as I execute my weekly plan. I recommend you find personal rituals that keep you motivated and focused on achieving your weekly goals.
🧠 Meditation
My day starts at 6 AM with ten minutes of Headspace and 24 ounces of Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend coffee. The key to getting up early and consistently is my Whoop band that buzzes at 545 AM and setting up the coffee the night before to automatically start brewing so I smell it from my bedroom.
🏋️♀️ Physical Exercise
My best days are when I start with exercise to create energy and do something for myself first. I also find that my mind wanders thinking about the day ahead when running on the treadmill or weight training. This helps me focus and visualize what I hope to achieve by the end of the day. I will often get ideas during this creative and energetic state.
🚶♂️ Evening Walk
Generally, I will walk the same path from my house to our community pool every evening. It’s an opportunity to release energy and let my mind wander. I will often record a few minutes of audio notes to capture my thoughts and feelings. I will occasionally listen to a short clip of the past to remind myself where I am in relation to important goals.
📝 Journaling
In the evening, before bed, I take ten minutes to capture my thoughts in written form. I have been journaling for many years, and it’s a special place to talk to yourself and organize your thoughts.
👥 Connecting with people
I make it a priority to connect with family, friends, and professional colleagues throughout the week. I may need assistance to achieve one of my weekly goals, and I love the energy when you connect with someone special. I have used this ritual to reconnect with friends and family members I lost touch with.
😊 Emotions Audit
Each Sunday morning, I take fifteen minutes to conduct an emotions audit to reflect on the intensity of emotions during the week. Refer to my previous article on how this works and improves the quality of life. This ritual is more of a snapshot to gain insights into emotional states. It’s also an opportunity to get curious about why you feel what you do and the agency you have to feel more or less of an emotion.
🎧 Listening to Podcasts
Time is finite, so finding people furthering down your chosen path or learning tools and techniques that can accelerate your progress is essential. I find podcasts are fantastic and easy to take in new ideas while driving, working out, or doing chores around the house.
📕 Reading Books
I am an avid reader with a book collection that has shaped my knowledge and mental models. As I think about my goals and the identity I am choosing to evolve into, I will acquire books to broaden and deepen my perspective. Books are also a way to escape the urgency of life and open your mind to new ways of thinking.
Bringing it Together
These three ideas act as a catalyst to make weekly progress on ambitious goals that can change your career and life. These weekly deposits demonstrate conviction and compound as a force multiplier over time.
* Visualize your best self to internalize who you want to become and what you want to achieve.
* Use weekly sprints to break down your journey into micro-goals that will serve as guideposts to progress.
* Determine the rituals to help you create a routine that delivers on your weekly goals with predictability and fulfillment.
I hope you find a nugget here to help you accelerate your path.
Good luck! - James
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit graymatter.jamesgray.ai
