If I’ve timed it correctly, then this post should land in your inbox after the workday on Monday. The significance of that timing?

Well, for me, Mondays often go this way: I start the day with creative energy and purpose, sights set on the week ahead, refreshed from the weekend and ready to tackle my big ideas.

Then the reality of Monday gets in the way, and my clear-headed morning vision gets cloudy, fast.

This week we’ll work on keeping that clear-headed vision – and we’ll use some worksheets that aren’t in the workbook.

(Note if you’re just signing on for this series: I’m in the building and launching a course called Your First 100 Days, a structures approach to setting clear goals and implementing a process to stay on track until the habits stick. The first post in the series is here.)

So if your Monday went the way mine often does, if you started the day dreaming big and are heading to bed feeling pulled back into the muck, here’s the work to get started imagining a different future:

Using the worksheet that looks like this (below), or on a blank sheet of paper, write words that describe your dream/ideal state/vision for yourself in the areas of health, family, relationships, career, and personal life in general. This first step is just a word exercise. If you get stuck, look back over the list of 100 Wants.

The purpose of this short exercise is to set the framework for your vision of the year ahead and for the 3-5 year horizon. Start with key words, and we’ll take it from there. The words should be the language of your clear-headed imagining, words that link to your best ideas about what you want for yourself in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.

But first, tomorrow, we’ll take a look at mindset and belief systems. See you in the morning.