This is the time of year when many of us are still thinking about goals and what we might create in the year ahead. Goals are a funny thing when you really think about. What guides us when we start creating lists of what we would want to do, have or be in life? How much of what we put on the list is is about what we “should” want versus what our soul really yearns for?
Why this week’s guest is so perfect for this podcast is that she utilizing a formula for goal setting and achievement that is rooted into conscious awareness. It goes way beyond questions of what I want and dives deeper into questions of who I am.
Dana Adams is the author of the book Live Your Gift: Discovering Your Authentic Life Through Life Mapping and Founder of the Life Mapping Institute. As one of the country’s top thought leaders on the life mapping process, she has done a two-decade-long deep dive into what it means to not only achieve goals but to create a personal future vision for your life so that what you give your time, focus and resources to align with what you truly desire in life.
She is a single mom of four boys, and resides in Kirkland, Washington.
What’s ahead is a conversation about the life mapping process but also about what it means to live on purpose and to really align with what gives you joy and meaning.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
There were so many notable insights in this conversation but I’ve distilled the list down to these favorites:
1. Life mapping isn’t just about goals in the near and distant future; it’s about how to live our best, most fulfilling life today.
2. The process creates massive focus and breaks down many steps into tiny daily steps so that we not only know what our critical activities are but we also discover the things we don’t need to be doing. When we’re efficient, focused and productive and consistently moving our goal forward, we can create massive momentum.
3. You can have a main gig that brings you lots of success and still have a soul calling to do something more meaningful. If you are getting the nudges to explore something different, start investigating. You don’t have to choose one or the other, and you don’t have to give up your day job to pursue what might be your life’s work.
4. Ask yourself: how big is the gap between where I am and where I would like to be? Start thinking about what would start to close that gap. When we constantly ignore our soul’s calling, we turn our back on ourselves. Imagine what it would be like to live like there is a reason for your life. We only get one chance in this body and we don’t even get to know in advance how long we get in this lifetime. From that perspective, we might start to see that exploring our purpose is an incredibly meaningful exercise.
5. When we map out life, we design it and navigate it. It no longer happens by default. We become an active co-creator of what’s to come.
A big thanks to Dana for being this week’s guest. You can learn more about her book, workshops and training at lifemappinginstitute.com.
Until next time,
Keep on living the Synced Life.
