If you've ever felt stuck, gone through a heartbreak, or just looking for a new beginning, you may have found yourself wishing you could just *snap* your fingers and flash forward to a time where you have everything you ever wanted. The career, the confidence, the circle of close-knit friends.
Believe me, I wish I could do that too!
And we'll get there one day. But we can't get to day 100 until we get through day 1.
So here's how you can jump start your journey to becoming the best version of yourself.
1. Get Clear on Who Your Future Self is
I want you to take a minute and visualize yourself a year from now. What is she doing? What is she wearing? Who is she with? What are they talking about? What is she like? Does she have any routines like treating herself to Starbucks every Monday or going to a yoga class once a week? What does she do when she needs alone time? Write it all down.
You need to know her like you know your best friend. Here’s some more questions to help you hone in on your future self.
2. Clean Out Your Closet
Now it’s time to go through your closet, dresser, nightstand, bathroom and desk. Throw out everything that doesn’t fit with your future. Think of it like this is the beginning of a new chapter. So go through your closet and get rid of (or donate!) the clothes you don’t see your future self wearing, clothes you keep saying you’ll wear but never do, clothes that don’t fit you anymore. Take it all out!
Same goes for things in your bathroom, office.. If it’s your space, go through it and toss anything your future self wouldn’t use. You’re making space for your new life.
BONUS TIP: If you’re having trouble deciding whether or not you should throw something out, ask yourself: if I threw this out today, would I go out and buy it again?
3. Cut Out Any Toxicity
If you have anyone in your life who isn’t 100% on your team, who doesn’t wholeheartedly support you, cut them off. Keeping people who are unsupportive and negative only holds you back from becoming who you’re meant to be. Think about it, if you start working on yourself and have breakthroughs and everything’s going great and you’re excited to be on this path to become the best version of yourself, and suddenly this person starts criticizing you and makes you question your capabilities, that’s definitely not someone you need to have in your life. It’s only going to slow you down in the long run.
People are typically a product of their environment. While you definitely need to cut out people who aren’t doing anything positive for you, you can change your environment and turn it into a place that supports you too!
Here are some ideas:
4. Take Small Steps
Let’s go back to that list you made where you specified who exactly your future self is. What is something you can do today that she does?
Let’s say your future self is generous. She likes to donate to charities. And you might have this notion in your head that you need to be rich to donate to charities, but that’s not true, is it? You can start donating today. Even if it’s just a dollar at the checkout line. If you don’t start today, you won’t start tomorrow.
This transformation isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s going to take small steps to get there! But little steps can really make a huge impact in the grand scheme of things.
So let today be your Day 1. Clean out your closet, buy yourself a bouquet of flowers or that set of earrings you’ve been practically drooling over, cut out those fake friends of yours and start stepping into the best version of yourself!