George Clooney and a jar of chocolate spread…
Just me?!
Well – do keep reading. Because today, I want to talk about why this is actually relevant to YOUR life, YOUR dreams and YOUR big goals!
January 26th was a massive day here. When – after so many hours spent working on it – my book ‘Have Life Your Way’ finally hit the shelves and instantly became an Amazon bestseller in not just one but SIX categories (yes, much celebratory gin was consumed!).
In the book, I share my argument against all of that woo woo Law of Attraction stuff. If all you had to do was imagine something and it would magically manifest, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, writing this blog.
I’d be sitting here with Mr. George Clooney himself and a big old jar of chocolate spread.
When I use this as an example in any of the presentations or Guest Expert masterclasses I so often do, it usually results in an eruption of laughter throughout the room. Because most people have got that little picture in their head (of George Clooney or Jason Mamoa or Nicole Kidman or whoever your fantasy with the chocolate spread would be).
Now – I take this further in the book and talk about how if this is something that you seriously want to happen, like anything else in life, you’re going need a plan and take action and actually DO something about it.
A recent survey asked people how they’re going to live their dream life. So many people gave the old “lottery ticket” answer – but the same survey found that of everyone who gave that as their answer, 52% did NOT regularly play the lottery.
I mean really…how can you win the lottery, if you don’t even buy a ticket?!
The whole “got to be in it, to win it” thing really is true. And being “in it” in our businesses means getting a really, REALLY clear picture of what you actually want.
I’ve written about vision boarding extensively before, here on the blog – why it works; all the science behind it and your reticular activation system.
But ultimately, whatever you’re aiming for in life, you just can’t float around like a ship without a rudder. You NEED to know where you’re going.
As my amazing friend, Leigh Howes would say…you wouldn’t get on a bus that didn’t have a destination printed on the front of it!
So that’s what we need to be doing. Decide what you want and make a plan. Simple. Right?
Except…well, it’s not always quite that easy, is it?
Because once you’re clear on what you want, it’s then figuring out how much money you’ll need to do it. Because let’s face it, most things ARE going to need money (whether you want to buy a home, travel the world or volunteer and work for a charity).
You’ll need enough money coming in to pay your bills and basic costs of living (or more than basic costs, depending on your dream – there’s a big difference between backpacking and luxury hotel travel!).
So how much money will you need? And by when? Do you need a big chunk of money in one go or a smaller deposit, with payments over time?
Get really clear on EXACTLY how much money you need and want, even if feels like a big or scary number.
The next stage is then to find the money to make it happen!
And if you’re game, I have a fun little exercise for you that’s just so powerful. It’s something I often do in challenges or masterclasses with clients or potential clients, to help you get some clarity on exactly where you’re starting from.
So grab a notebook and without double checking your online banking, write down these 3 things:
- How much you THINK you earn or comes into your bank account each month
- How much you THINK you spend on bills / direct debits / essential expenses each month
- And how much you THINK you spend on everything else each month (including all the fun stuff!).
Then go check your apps or bank statements and see how accurate you actually were.
Give yourself a green heart if you’re spot on; an amber heart if you’re in the right sort of ballpark; or a red heart if you’re well off.
What colour would you be showing me?
Of course, when we do this exercise in groups together, I don’t need to know your figures. That’s confidential, not what I’m about at all (all the ways I work with my clients enables you to not need to share any of your personal information in any group situation – ever).
But the key thing is that if YOU don’t know your own numbers, you don’t know where you’re starting from.
Once you’re at that stage, the next step is usually to do a budget planner and check that you’ve got more money coming in than going out. The aim here is NOT to restrict your spending and make life totally boring, but to help you prioritise where you spend your money, mindfully spending it in the places that matter most for you.
At the bottom, your budget planner will show you how much money you’ve got left over to put towards your big dream.
And then it’s simply about setting up a separate bank account for your big dream fund, with an automatic payment that goes out on payday (or shortly afterwards), before you have a chance to blow that cash on anything else.
Hardly rocket science, is it?!
But ultimately, if you don’t make the choice to move the money, you’ll get to the end of the month and find there’s only £16 left – because you had the extra takeaway or spent £60 on random stuff out shopping, that seemed great at the time. But the £150 (or however much) you intended to put towards your big dreams and goals is long gone, with nothing to really show for it.
So! If you want to go deeper into all of this – to work through the whole process, step by step, and REALLY start feeling in control of your money, to make your big dreams a reality…
Grab a copy of my best-selling book here now: ‘Have Life Your Way!’
And who knows…
If one day George Clooney magically appears in my world, I’ll send you a picture of the chocolate spread!
Until next time,
Claire