Set unrealistic goals
This isn't a generic motivational rant, I promise.
Most people I know don't have defined goals of any kind.
Some people I know have some vague, general ambitions that aren't very well articulated.
Even fewer people I know have some clearly defined goals.
Some of those people have clearly defined goals that have timelines associated with them.
And a tiny proportion of those people have goals that are pushing the edge of realistic.
If you are setting goals, with timelines, that force you to stretch your self-belief and current level of resourcefulness, you are already part of a very tiny minority.
And yeah it's scary. But consider this...
Even if you don't achieve any of those goals, who will you become and what can you accomplish in the pursuit of those goals vs being exactly where you are continuing to do exactly what you are doing?
Look, I am NOT an expert or master in practising this by any means.
I myself am working my way towards having clearly defined goals these days. And it is damn scary, because I've been out of practice for a while.
And it takes another level of self-honesty to admit to yourself what you want and refine it down to actually admit to yourself that you have X, Y and Z goals.
The voice in your head (like the one in mine) will give you a lot of reasons to not fall into some toxic positivity hustle culture BS, and just be more grounded and present instead.
And for some people that perhaps is the stretch goal.
For others, it's a cop out. A dishonest philosophy to hide behind.
The thing is, even working on confronting this, becoming more honest with myself, and trying to set scary, unrealistic goals, has already given me ideas, energy, courage, and connections I would not have otherwise had.
Objectively I have not accomplished anything materially that from the outside looks like achieving those goals. But I can tell with 100% certainty that I am closer to becoming the person I need to be who can achieve those goals.
So here's my provocation to you:
Make a list of 50 to 100 things you want, without filter or any rules.
Write down what you want out of your life in 10 years.
Critique the crap out of your list, specifically for where you've shrunk your goals to make them more realistic or reasonable seeming.
Now write down the unrealistic, unreasonable versions of the goals. What do you REALLY want if you throw away the realistic/reasonable filter?
There is another level to this process but I'll leave that for another time. Just do the above, even that'll be worth it.
Let me know if you try it and please share with me any tips or advice you have of your own for setting scary goals that catalyse your personal growth just from being in the pursuit of them.