I want to be better than I am right now. You probably do, too. And if you’re like me, every now and then you write down a few lists about how to make life better.
One is a list of attributes you’d like to have in the future. This is your dream.
The next is a list of what you’re doing now that’s preventing your dream from existing. This is your reality check.
The final list is usually all the things you should be doing to become the person on list one. This is your action plan.
Here’s where you mess up, so pay attention. Tomorrow, you’re going to try and be your future self. You’ll rewrite list three and check things off throughout the day. You’ll go to bed feeling accomplished, like you made something of your life.
The day after that, you do it again. Except you don’t check off everything like yesterday. You have to put out a fire, your uncle calls, and you forget you have to cook dinner. Your pillow feels less satisfying, and you start to question the feasibility of your action plan.
You wake up the next day and return to who you were before list one. You don’t write any more lists for a few months.
There’s an easy fix to all of this: start by doing one thing on list three today. Then do it again tomorrow and the next day. Keep doing it until it becomes a habit, then slowly attack something else. Maybe this one takes a month to master but you commit to it anyways. This continues, and in eight months you’re closer to the person described on list one.
So do yourself a favor and slow down. Life is long and you can’t become someone you’re proud of tomorrow. To make real, lasting change you have to extend your ludicrous deadlines.
If you don’t know where to start, ask yourself this: “what can I do today that will make life better?”