Like anyone, I get really inspired by people’s “this is how I made it stories”. I find them really interesting and engaging to watch the hero move away from zero and toward success they can be proud of.
The trick though, is it is not a “recipe” or a “formula”. Their personalities, technology, worlds view and situation will all be very different to yours so you cannot follow it step by step and get the same results.
The interesting thing, if we ask them to predict their next 6 steps in their career and business, I bet they would struggle to tell you the first one or two. I am not being critical, as I would struggle as well.
When you look backwards, you can see the connections, the steps that led from this to that. The reason there is a saying about hindsight having 20/20 vision is because it all seems clear and logical when you look back. The decisions have already been made and connections and steps on the path are very clear. However, when they were standing at a cross road and deciding to go one way or another, they could not see what one way would produce and what it would not.
So, what do you do instead?
What you do is take one step forward, using a Strategic Life Map you have designed that suits you and your circumstances. Think of it like entering a car park with environmentally friendly lighting. You take your first step forward and some lights come on, you take another step and more lights come on. Change direction and a different set of lights comes on. Designing your life is exactly like that. You take one step forward in the area/s you want to work on and another step will be revealed.
What are you talking about?
Let me demonstrate with my story. I left a particularly horrid change gig and spent the best part of 3 months staring at the television, trying to process my thoughts. The hilarious part is that it was a poisonous organisation and I should have left after 6 months not 2 years later. In fact, they did me a favour, not that I knew it at the time.
It was funnily enough then that the Design your Life on Journey started, but I only realised that recently when I drew my “how did I get here” journey.
I started a side hustle called Yellow & Co (design business eg t-shirts) when I was at the above horrid gig. It was a chance to indulge my love of merch, which I learnt a stack out of as part of the process, and still design t-shirts, jewellery in my design book.
Side Hustle number 2 - Ideas Coach.
I am very good at generating ideas and helping people see differently about circumstances and next steps, - so Ideas Coach made sense. There were fabulous elements to this as well, including my Idea Café, Like eHarmony for entrepreneurs and services that can help them. It almost became a Vivid workshop, except I did not have any executional evidence to back my fabulous idea. I still learnt a lot and apply some of the principle I established for Design your Life.
A course here and there meant that I niched to Musicians and you know what, I authored a book – Working Your Mojo for Musicians. While the few musicians I worked with loved it, it was not the right market for me, despite the fact I am also obsessed with music.
So where to from here…
A few more courses and navel gazing.
You know what I am exceptional at - Change. Every year for 7-10 years I create a Strategic Life Map of what I am going to focus on personally, and professionally. I have created tools and templates and processes that I know work, because I have tried them on myself, and people I coached or worked with in Corporate gigs, over and over.
But Design your Life is more than a plan, it is a curated experience. If I had not done Yellow and Co, I would not know how to get the best merch, If I had not started Ideas Coach, I would not have experience at generating ideas at pace and volume. If I had not of written a book for the wrong audience, with some right content, I would not have worked out how to do Design your Life.
Looking back all the steps are connected and make sense, when I started on each path, there was no connection and no grand plan, just a Strategic Life Map for the next year and what I was keen to explore.
So, what does this mean for you?
Save yourself the time of following the “do it my way” mantra. Use it for inspiration sure, but decide what you want your perfect life to be. Don't waste time doing all the crazy research I did, as I have done it for you. Let me guide you on a wholistic Strategic Life Map that suits you and only you perfectly.
Yours Collaboratively,
Christina MM
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