7 Tips for Creating the Life of Your Dreams
You’re working a full-time job that you’re “meh” about, but you have no idea what you want to do next. You’re still figuring out exactly what you want to be when you grow up. Maybe you need help figuring out how your certain set of skills can land you your dream job. Reading about how inspiring #girlbosses quit their day jobs to launch their awesome ice cream shop, makeup brand, or successful kids’ clothing line is one way to get closer to your dream, but maybe you need an extra boost of help. Cara Alwill Leyba is a master life coach, speaker, and the author of the book, Girl Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Success, Sanity, and Happiness for the Female Entrepreneur. She dishes her best tips for making your dreams come true — whatever they may be.
1. Ask yourself what you want. While working full-time at MTV as a digital advertising director, Leyba built her brand and blog, The Champagne Diet, for years before launching herself as an author, speaker, and master life coach. She asked herself some key questions: What’s missing? Where is the disconnect? If I were my own client, what would I want? “I knew I wanted an edgy, fashion-forward brand that was rooted in personal development. I wanted to connect with a girl who sipped Champagne while she meditated, and wasn’t afraid to wear Chanel to a self-help seminar. I didn’t see that anywhere, so I created it!” Leyba says. Tune out the noise and ask yourself these same questions.
2. Date your passions. If you’re contemplating whether or not one of your passion projects is worth pursuing full-time, Leyba suggests giving it a shot. “You’ll never know until you try,” she says. If there’s something that you’ve been dying to try and can’t stop thinking about, then you owe it to yourself to “dip your toes in the water,” Leyba suggests. If it doesn’t work out, regroup and move on to the next thing on your passion project list.
3. Hustle hard. Leyba started her blog in 2008. She had no idea what would happen, but focused on consistent hard work and patience. Now, nine years later, The Champagne Diet has been featured in Glamour, Marie Claire, Shape, and more. Leyba has penned several books, produces popular workshops, and hosts her podcast, Style Your Mind. To create a life you love and materialize that career and dreams you want, Leyba suggests “working relentlessly on the things you love to do.” Leyba shares, “It’s important to have vision in the sense that you know what you want, but you also need to be flexible. You have to be willing to evolve because things change fast these days. Stay true to your heart, and leave a little room for magic.”
4. Spend time visualizing your future. In her new book, Girl Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Success, Sanity, and Happiness for the Female Entrepreneur, Leyba shares motivational exercises and advice for people who want to launch their own business or are currently working on their side hustle. Her best motivational exercise is to visualize. She recommends spending time meditating, walking in nature, or taking a bubble bath. Ask yourself: How do you want to feel each day? Who do you want to be? How do you want to make others feel? What do you want your day to look like? “Once you have the picture in your mind, write it down in a journal or on a white board, and start building it out from there. You can create all of your action items based off your vision if you are strategic about it,” Leyba says.
5. Figure out creative solutions. On her blog, Leyba writes about the time her first book proposal was rejected by 19 editors at 19 different publishing companies. Instead of letting the rejection stop her creative process, Leyba continued to build her community of readers through her blog and social media. “If you are really committed to your dreams, you’ll figure out a creative solution,” Leyba says. After self-publishing several books, an editor at Penguin Random House approached Leyba about publishing a new version of Girl Code.
6. Do what consumes you. Before Leyba starts a new year, she sits down and goes through an important checklist of things to do before embarking on a brand-new year. She suggests unsubscribing from email lists, cleaning out your closet, and creating success rituals that celebrate big and small moments in your career and life. To figure out your next passion project, Leyba suggests this: “Think about what you are dying to work on. The audience will come when you’re true to yourself. In order to create something that is sustainable, you’ve got to be obsessed with it. What can you create that will consume you in the best way possible?”
7. Haters gonna motivate. Ten years ago, Leyba announced to her group of friends and then-boyfriend that she was writing a book. Her ex rolled his eyes, and she was totally mortified. “That moment stayed with me and I used it to fuel my dream. Let the haters motivate you. If someone is downplaying your dreams, it’s probably because they’re downplaying their own,” Leyba says. If someone in your life tells you to be more realistic, Leyba suggests being wary of them. “Your reality is entirely up to you.”
What are some ways you’re hustling toward your dreams? Tweet us @BritandCo!
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