Hi First name / Friend
I turned 52 last week, and it got me thinking about time. In 8 years, I’ll be 60. It’s not that far away, is it?
But when I look back to 44, it feels like a lifetime ago.
And maybe you can relate, not because of the years that pass, but because of how much can change.
On my 44th birthday, I was standing in my garden with a brand new wheelbarrow, ready for an afternoon of pottering. Life looked good.
🏡 Lovely house.
🚘 Nice car.
📸 Thriving freelance career.
💷 Money left at the end of the month.
📚 Studying to be a Life Coach.
I’d come a long way since being a single mum on benefits. Life was good… but I didn’t want a good life. I wanted extraordinary.
So I started setting BIG goals…
🎯 Make £50k in a year as a Life Coach.
🎯 Train with The Life Coach School in the USA.
🎯 Coach clients around the world (on Skype!)
🎯 Drive a Mercedes.
🎯 Live by the sea.
🎯 Spend winters in Italy.
🎯 Be married.
And then… the wildfires came.
When you start setting big goals, your current life often begins to fall apart.
- First, my relationship ended abruptly after 15 years.
- Then my daughter moved out.
- I went from a 3-bed house with a huge garden to a tiny flat across town.
- I gave away or sold three-quarters of my belongings.
- I left my freelance career and took a job waiting tables.
- Then, my dog died. 💔
It was, as Dickens wrote, the best of times and the worst of times.
Because even in the hardest of times, I didn’t give up on the vision. I kept those seven goals in view.
And today, 8 years later…
🏆 I’ve coached clients from all over the world (now on Zoom, not Skype!).
🏆 I trained with The Life Coach School.
🏆 I’ve made £50k+ in one year as a coach, working part-time.
🏆 I drive a big Mercedes.
🏆 I live in an apartment by the sea.
🏆 And I’ll be married by mid-August.
5½ out of 7 goals, DONE. Winters in Italy? I’m coming for you next.
What changed my life wasn’t magic. It was setting a vision for an extraordinary future and being willing to let go of anything that didn’t fit that vision anymore.
And when things fell apart, I decided to believe they were actually falling into place.
If you're standing in your “good life” but dreaming of something extraordinary, please don’t talk yourself out of it. The mess doesn’t mean it’s not working. Sometimes the breakdown is the breakthrough.
Keep your vision close. You don’t need to know how. You just need to know why.
Try on these thoughts for the next 12 months:
💭 I’m allowed to want more.
💭 This breakdown is part of my breakthrough.
💭 I’m becoming the person who lives that life.
💭 I don’t need to rush, I just need to believe.
💭 I don’t need to know how, I just need to believe.
💭 I can do hard things.
You’re not too late. You’re right on time.
Keep going, future-you is already waiting.
