How to bridge the gap. The gap is the gaping abyss between where we are and where we want to be, can feel overwhelming. This class will help ease that stress and give you a solid future to work towards. you've likely been asked before about your three year plan or your five year plan, or beyond. And if you felt a surge of fear when considering the answer, you're definitely not alone. considering our future, for the most part can fill us with fear.
Because the uncertainty any rational person knows the future holds. Unless you have a crystal ball, you will agree that we simply can't know for sure what our lives will look like in these distant times. Heck, even the next Tuesday could hold some surprises for us. Or maybe you love answering this question and dreaming about your future self. Some people do. They fantasize all day long.
But when it comes to making moves towards the goal, they still it's much safer to In imaginationland, than in the real world, folk like this, it's a daily grind that doesn't appeal. The gap between here and there is so vast that they grow discouraged and start to believe that future fantasy will never be this. Is there even any point in considering these distant futures? If they leave us a feeling either filled with fear, or uncertainty or even the discouragement of overwhelm? Yes and no. Let's start with yes to future plats.
The argument for having a future plan isn't because in doing so you'll create more certainty or make something happen simply by stating out loud. I'm all for vision boards, that not if you think that in the cutting and sticking of magazine and catalog images, that you will automatically bring them into reality. That's a lot of pressure for some printed paper and glue. But if he used methods like vision boards as a way to bring clarity to your desires, and creative ideas, and I'm all for it This is the single most valuable point of answering these three year plan type questions. It brings us clarity. with clarity, you have something to set your sights on, you have something to get a grip on and work towards.
Life can be just fine swimming aimlessly at times. But at some point, you'll want to swim towards the shore. But what Sure, where is it? What's it look like? What directions you need to orient yourself in. Whether or not you make it to the exact point of the exact tool you have in mind isn't even important.
This is the part we miss most often when creating our grand plans. When we cling too tightly to the particulars of our plan, from getting that dream job to getting signed by that publisher, we end up feeling discouraged and disappointed. It then becomes much harder to reorient ourselves and swim towards a new, more suitable short note to future plans. And to my argument against making distant future plans, they can leave Feeling like we're intent, we're attempting the impossible. Like anything we really want is too difficult or too unlikely to achieve. Or because we know how likely we are to change our mind the classic feature of a creative type.
We wonder, what's the point of getting so specific, we'll only go and change our mind along the way. The result is that many of us end up overthinking and trying to second guess our motives. introverts are particularly good at overthinking. And whilst this can have its benefits, yeah often holds us back. What's the creative introvert to do? What's an appropriate amount of time to spend considering the future?
How details do we get in our grand plans? How grand do we get? How big can we dream before it scares us off? Is it too small so that it doesn't push us to expand or reach our full potential? Enter the bridge. Regardless of whether you love or live long term planning, the answer, it's getting from where you are to where you want to be.
Is the same, you have to bridge the gap. The gap is the Abyss that seems impossible to cross the gap that somehow others have crossed. But then they must have had some special paragliding skills. Wrong. Not everyone who's crossed the gap has had a special advantage. They just built a bridge.
And building a bridge takes time, but you're totally capable of it. To build a bridge metaphorically speaking, I'm no internet, you have to start small. You can work backwards from your grand plan, or you can work forward from where you are today. The key isn't taking a route that suits you. If long term goals scale and you feel discouraged, start from where you are and work forward. What would make tomorrow better.
Then start thinking further beyond tomorrow taking steps towards it. If taking baby steps is uninspiring and you love the big picture thinking, start big and work backwards. What does that distant future look like? Then you can start breaking it down and making it happen. Depending on which you prefer, or which scares you more, you can pick one of the following options to use as your guide for building your bridge. If you still aren't sure, listen to both of these and pick one that feels right for you.
Option one, start from where you are. This is the option for you if you don't like answering the question, Where do you see yourself in five years from now? You'll start with thinking about your daily life and the small actions you can take that enrich your life today. And that will set you up to the future. To start right out a typical day. everything you can think of no matter how mundane This is your current life.
Just write out all the things that you go through on a typical day. What aspects are things you'd like to keep the things that you wouldn't change the world the things that light you up and make you smile If you have highlighters or felt pens, I recommends highlighting these aspects. For everything else the things that you don't enjoy or want to change even a little bit, transfer these to another list. This list is going to be your starting point for your bridge. Now for each of these less ideal aspects, write down what you would prefer this to be or feel like. For example, if getting dressed every morning is a pain.
Your desire might be to have a simple wardrobe full of only clothes that you like and feel amazing in. Or if instead of waking up annoyed at the alarm or feeling unenthused about getting out of bed, you might want to feel more real well rested and get out of bed with more enthusiasm. For each of these desires, write down one small step you can take to move closer to them. For example, if it's the waking up scenario, then it might be going to bed 30 minutes earlier. It might be taking a magnesium supplement to help us sleep. It might be changing your alarm to suddenly like finally Think about your day in three months from now, if you are going to continue taking action towards improving these things, right, you're out as you did before, but under the assumption that you did what you intended, and that things improved accordingly.
These things may seem small, but these little improvements are will add up to a contented life. option to start big and work backwards. This is the option for you. If you love thinking about the future, it doesn't scare you, it excites you, until you wonder how the heck you can actually make those big plans happen. So to start, start with the end in mind, write out a list of whatever it is you want for your future. It can help to pick a time frame, even if it isn't super precise, like three to five years time.
Things consider where you live, what you do for work, what you do for fun, who you surround yourself with, and how you feel most of the time now Each of these desires write out where you'd like to be with them in approximately half the time. For example, one year from now, things might not be there quite yet, but you're making progress towards these aspects. Now half the time again, so that you might be at six months from now, in each case, you want to try to make each aspect feel more attainable, less like a big unrealistic dream. And more like something you can confidently see yourself and working towards one more time, see yourself in three months time. What would you be doing that would sow the seats for each of these things to later come to be? These are going to be the small things from browsing online for your dream flats, and getting a clearer picture of what exists in your dream location to researching clients that will allow you to do the work that you dream of doing.
Congratulations, regardless of which option you chose, you should be at roughly the same place you three months from now. Taking daily actions to build that bridge that will cross the gaping abyss without feeling utterly overwhelmed. action step, pick one of the options that we went through, depending on whether you love the daily steps, option one, or the big visions option to then start writing about your dream future. If you don't want to write, you can make this visual using a collage or Pinterest or any other artistic medium that helps you get clear on what you truly desire.