• Design Your Life
  
  So how do you get started on designing the life you want? And perhaps at this point I’d like to remind you that the life you want is not necessarily wrapped around how much money is in your bank account. If it was as simple as that, we need not even go through this exercise!
  
  Here are some simple steps to help you get started:
  
  
  1. Find a nice quiet spot where you will be undisturbed for at least 20 minutes.
  2. Equip yourself with a pencil and a new note pad that will become your “Life Book”.
  3. Draw a time line across a page, from now to say five years on.
  4. At the left end of the time line, write “Present State”; at the right end, write “Desired State”.
  5. On the left end, describe as accurately as you can your Present State. Ask questions like:
  a. What am I doing now?
  b. What is my income, if any?
  c. Do I like what I do?
  6. On the right side, under Desired State, describe as clearly as you can what you would like to see five years from now. Ask yourself, if I can’t fail…
  a. What do I really want to be?
  b. What do I want to have?
  c. What will my life be like?
  7. Between the Present State and Desired State mark on the time line
  a. What must I do to get what I want?
  b. Who can help me?
  c. What skills do I need?
  d. What resources do I need?
  
  The first time you may not get all the answers you want. If you do this exercise daily for some time, I can guarantee you that you will end up with a pretty good design for your life. You will know where to get what you want, what to do, who can help you and so on.
  
  You don’t stop working on your project to design your life. I recommend you to keep going back to the “Life Book” you have created; it’s a “project in progress”.
  
  Take charge of your life now. If not now, when?
  
  Article contributed by professional trainer and business coach Patrick Lim was featured in The Straits Times, July 21, 2006.