Happy New Year! 🥂 Thanks for reading the Midweek MindShift in 2024 – every Wednesday, you’ll get proven methods to make it your best year yet.

In my opinion, there’s too much talk about goals at the start of the year, and not enough talk about vision.

Too often, goals are just loose collections of what we think we “should” be doing, not what we actually want.

Your goals should be in service to the greater vision you have for your life.

But many people get stuck there.

"What do I want my life to look like 1, 3, 5 years from now?" – *draws a complete blank*

Or, perhaps you've experienced this: a big dream comes up, and then your brain guides you back to ‘reality’ quicker than you can blink.

The second you imagine traveling the world, your thoughts quickly pivot to your current bank balance and tell you “Errr, yeah right, we’re not doing that. Next.”

If you find it challenging to envision a positive future beyond your current circumstances, you're not alone.

In fact, most of us have a lot more clarity about what we don't want.

So here’s the Anti-Vision technique👇

Step 1:

Connect with your future self. Imagine it's January 1st, 2025.

Clearly.

Picture the celebrations, seeing the date on your phone, following your NYD tradition…

Step 2:

Describe everything you don’t want, as if it were true then.

Make it as vivid and discomforting as possible.

Example: "It’s January 1st, 2025, I am working 60h/week in a job that absolutely drains me. I have no sense of fulfillment whatsoever. I have no energy to engage in the hobbies I like, so I spend my evenings watching Netflix and doom-scrolling. Despite all my hard work, I can barely get by, let alone save, invest, or enjoy my life. My sense of self-worth is starting to erode, and…"

Let me clear: Your anti-vision should TERRIFY you.

Step 3:

Use your Anti-Vision as a clue to what you truly desire. 

Instead of merely flipping negatives to positives, dive deeper with questions.

Example: If the thought of being stuck in a joyless job terrifies you, ask yourself:

• What makes this so terrifying? (= more clues about what you could change)
• What would make the biggest difference? (= more clues about where to start)
• How could I make (parts of) that happen? (= more clues about what's in your control)

You'll likely have to ask questions for a few rounds, as you'll continue to uncover new clues.

Step 4:

Set clear, actionable goals based on your insights. 

Remember, the most powerful goals are SIMPLE. 

They are achieved by consistent, small action steps takenday by day.

Limit yourself to 3 goals (yes, really).

Let’s say you identified that you want to build your side hustle to escape your terrifying job.

Great, but how??

If you’re stuck here, you can “anti” your goals, too: How would you ensure you didn’t achieve that in 2024?

For example:

• Don’t dedicate time to it
• Don’t get visible
• Don’t create offers/products

Now flip those and make them measurable goals. For example:

• Block 3h every week to work on my side hustle.
• Grow my online presence to 10k+ to increase visibility.
• Launch my first product by March 30th.

From there, make it actionable by defining your very first small step. For example:

• Block three 1h time slots in my calendar to work on this.
• Research different social media platforms and choose my primary one.
• Read 10 articles on how to launch a product online.

Your anti-vision highlights what you want to avoid. 

But in that there are numerous clues about what's truly important to you. 

And you can find them.

Here's to making 2024 the year of meaningful transformations. 

I can't wait to hear about your journeys and successes.

Rooting for you,

Charlotte