How to take ownership of your life

Do you ever feel lost? Do you feel that you have inner potential, but you don’t know how to express it to get the life you know you deserve? In this article I’m going to help you take charge in your life and unlock your inner potential by showing you what drifting is, and how you can identify and prevent it.

A drifter is a person that lets life take control of what happens, the promotion, success and the perfect body is just around the corner, because good things happen to good people. A person that takes control in life sees things in a different way, such as a person that gets glasses. He knows that you need planning, practice and hard work to get the life that he’s destined for. Here are 10 ways that you can use to unlock your success and become the person you know you can become. 

1. Setup goals
2. Own your time
3. Know who you are

1. Setup goals

A recent survey stated that only 3% of Americans write goals, and only 1% of Americans write daily goals. Successful people know that in order to reach your destination, you need a smart goal. Luckily for us, there is a method we can use to write smart goals as well!

The model is called “S.M.A.R.T” and stands for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related. The key points here is that you need your goal to be as clear as possible, and make it measurable and time specific. For example, a goal for losing weight can look like the following example

Specific: I’m going to lessen my calorie intake by 500 calories per day, and I’m going to walk 5 kilometers per day.

Measureable: By using a scale

Assignable: Myself

Realistic: Yes, experts says it’s realistic to lose 10kg in 5 months

Time: 20 weeks (5 months)

2. Own your time

Let’s face it, time is hard. Everybody has 24 hours per day, but some people seem to get more done. Why is that? Time management, there’s two key factors to take from this. One hour in the morning is not the same as an hour after lunch, Typically a person’s mental capacity is at the top in the morning, then declines after lunch and is restored in the afternoon. Plan to do your most important tasks in the morning or in the afternoon. 

Another fallacy is working too hard, or too little. You want to plan a time to set aside every day to work on your goal. I used to squeeze in every hour in the day to work on my goals, what happened? My head was a mess, I wasn’t making any progress and my goal was further and further away. Now I set up a smart goal beforehand, and I set aside 1-2 hours per day to work on my goals. That’s enough for almost 2 work days per week!

3. Know who you are

If you’re in New York, with a map of Manhattan you’ll never reach your destination. Or worse, you don’t have a map at all! You need to know who you are, and where you’re going. Knowing who you are is hard, that’s why VITALS exist. 

VITALS stand for Values, Interests, Temperament, Around-the-Clock Activities, Life Mission and Meaningful Goals, Strengths. You can read more about it here. Just remember, shape yourself yourself, don’t listen to other people or assume what they want.