Dream Year Editable

D ISCLAIMER | D ISCLOSURE | C OPYRIGHT
All the content provided in this eBook is general information .
Wh ile I try to provide accurate general informat ion, it may not

apply to you. Y ou should not rely on content I provide as
professional or finan cial adv ice . Y ou should consult a f inancial
professional before making any financial decisions. You should
not rely on this content as advice .
There is no guarantee and there is no warranty with respect to

applying the information contained in th is eBook.
I disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this

information.
I am part of affiliate advertising programs . Th is means if you

click and/or m ake a purchase through certain links in th is
eBook, I may be compensated . Th is is at no addit ional cost to
you, and I only recommend product s I believe in. I am not
liable for anything on external website s that are linked to from
my blog.
Copyright © 2018 by Natalie Bacon
All rights reserved. Th is eBook or any port ion thereof may not be
reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without my
express written perm ission .
For que stions or concerns please co ntact me us ing my contact

form at Natal ieBacon .com/ contact .
NatalieBacon.com |1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I NTRODUCTION
i. W HAT I S D REAM Y EAR ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ii. H OW W ILL D REAM Y EAR H ELP M E ? . .. . . . . . . 9
P ART I: THE L ESSONS
i. L EARNING HOW TO FEEL BETTER . . . . . . . . . . 14

ii. W HAT FEELING BETTER HAS TO DO WITH SETTING
GOALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
iii. H OW TO SET GOALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
iv. A VOIDING BURNOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
v. S KILLS THAT WILL IMPR OVE YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF
SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
NatalieBacon.com |2
P ART II: THE W ORKBOOK
H OW TO USE the WORKBOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
YEAR
THE YEAR WORKBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
THE YEAR WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET . . . . . . . . . 123
MONTH
THE MONTH WORKBOOK . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
THE MONTH WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET . . . . . . . .147
WEEK
THE WEEK WORKBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
THE WEEK WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET . . . . . . . . . .169
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P ART III: THE E XTRAS
B ONUS T IPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

S AMPLE Q UESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
S AMPLE T HOUGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
S AMPLE E MOTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
R ESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
T HANK Y OU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
NatalieBacon.com |4
Most people spend
more time planning
a one-week
vacation than they
spend planning
their life.
- Michael Hyatt
NatalieBacon.com |5
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Dream Year !
I’m so excited for yo u to get started.
Y ou are about to learn how to set goals so you feel better, take
act ion to work toward yo ur goals , and get the results you want .
After years of study ing personal development techniques and

experiencing successes and failure s in my own life, I decided to
create Dream Y ear to teach you how to do what I do.
Mo st goal -setting tools only focus on taking act ion and gett ing
results.
Dream Year is different.
I t focuses on deeper work (yo ur tho ughts and feelings) to get

to the root causes of the act ions an d the results in your l ife .
If you set and work toward yo ur goals while managing your

thoughts and feelings, yo u’re more likely to succeed long -term
than if you just try to change your act ions (wh ich is what most
goal -setting tools do ). Don’t worry, I ’ll explain this in more
detail below.
For now, I want you to g et super excited for what’s about to

happen to you – it just may blow your mind .
Y ou can start Dream Y ear any time during the year – it’s not
just meant to be started on January 1. The tools you’ll find in
this book can be applie d as soon as you’re ready to make
massive, positive changes in your lif e, so start whenever you
get access to Dream Y ear.
Let’s get started!
NatalieBacon.com |6
i. W HAT IS DREAM Y EAR ?
Dream Year is a goal -setting tool unlike any other.
Dream Y ear is div ided into three parts:
Part I : the LESSONS

Part II : the WORKBOOK
Part III : the EXTRAS
Part I: t he LESSONS
The LESSONS section of Dream Y ear teach you abo ut sett ing
goals in a totally different way than other goal -setting books.
Y ou’ll learn how to manage your thoughts and feelings so you

take action and get the results yo u want. Y ou’ll learn how to
do the thought and feeling work that is needed to set goals
you actually follow through with.
Once you’ve learned how to set goals, yo u’ll learn how to

comm it to them, how to plan, how to manage your t ime and
be productive , and how to deal wit h failure and avo id
burnout… among other things.
Part II: the WORKBOOK
The WORKBOOK section of Dream Year is your template for

ach ieving your goals.
The WORKBOOK has three sect ion s:
1. Y EAR WORKBOOK
2. MONTH WORKBOOK
3. WEEK WORKBOOK
Each section incorporates tradit ion al goal -setting (act ions)

with deeper causal work (thoughts and feelings).
NatalieBacon.com |7
Once you get the hang of using each workbook , you can use
the CHE AT S HEETS in the back of each sect ion .
Y ou should always use the YE AR WORKBOOK along with one of

the other workbooks. I ’ll discuss them in detail later, but for
now, just know that these workbooks are designed to be used
in com bination with each other – the Y E AR WORKB OOK along
with at least one of the other workbooks. I recommend try ing
all three together when you’re first start ing, but yo u may f ind
you prefer using the MONTH WORKB OOKS over the WEEK
WORKBOOK , or v ice versa .
Part III: the EXTRAS
The EXTRAS section of Dream Y ear is made up of useful tools for

you to use during your goal -setting journal.
Here’s a list of the kinds of tools you’ll find in Part III :
1. Bonus Tips
2. Sample Questions
3. Sample Thoughts
4. Sample Emotions
The bonus tips w ill help you steer clear of common traps I see
so many people fall into that sabot age their success.
These sample question s, thoughts, and emotions w ill help you

answer the respective prompt s in the WORKBOOK if you’re
struggling w ith them, so I really do encourage you to check out
the EXTRAS I ’ve put together there for you .
You can achieve any goal you want using the framework I’ve
designed for you. It works if you do the work .
NatalieBacon.com |8
ii. HOW WILL D REAM YEAR HELP
ME ?
Dream Y ear will help you manage your thoughts so your m ind
supports yo ur well -being, succe ss, and happiness.
Dream Y ear will help you feel better .
Dream Y ear will teach you how to take action even when you
don’t want to .
Dream Y ear will teach you how to set goals .
Dream Y ear will teach you how to plan like a n in ja.
Dream Y ear will help you increase y our productivity, manage

your time, and avoid burnout .
Dream Y ear will show you how to get the results you want in
your life .
Mo st importantly, Dream Y ear will show you how to achieve

your #1 goal this year and feel better doing it .
NatalieBacon.com |9
Successful people aren't
born that way. They
become successful by
establishing the habit of
doing things unsuccessful
people don't like to do.
The successful people
don't always like these
things themselves; they
just get on and do them.
- William Makepeace
Thackeray
NatalieBacon.com |10
PART I
DREAM YEAR
LESSONS
W ELCOME TO P ART I OF D REAM
YEAR!
In Part I of Dream Y ear , you’ll learn all the lessons you need to
know to achieve your #1 goal and f eel better doing it .
You’ll learn that the only reason you want anything is because
you believe you’ll feel a certain way in the having of it.
Y ou’ll learn how to do the internal work required to act ually

ach ieve your goals and design your dr eam life (by m anag ing
your thoughts and feelings ).
Y ou’ll learn how your thoughts create your feelings and how
your feelings create your act ion s and results.
You’ll learn how to set goals by following my 16 step goal -

setting process.
Y ou’ll learn about burno ut and how to avoid it.
Finally, you’ll learn about the most important skills for

ach ieving success – planning , com mitment , integrity , decision
making, productiv ity , time management, constraint , discipline,
focus, and failure .
I t’s important that you read the LESSONS before moving on to

the WORKBOOK because you won’t understan d how to do
certain sections of the WORKBOOK without reading the Lessons
first . I take a very different appro ach to setting goals and the
Lessons explain all of that.
I truly believe this work will be a game changer in your life and
will make things possible you never knew you were missing . I t’s
the best work I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait for it to help
you.
Here’s to making this your best year yet!
Rule your mind or
it will rule you.
- Horace
1. L EARNING HOW TO FEEL
BETTER
Mo st goal setting focuse s on taking specif ic act ions to get
results.
The problem with this is that it ignores the reason people ever
take action : feelings.
The only reason you want anything is because yo u believe

you’ll feel a certain way when you have it . (There’s a truth
bomb for you!)
Let me explain…
a. An overview: circumstances,
thoughts, feelings, actions, &
results
The biggest secret to the un iverse (and to your happiness) is

this:
Thoughts Feelings Actions Results
Y our thoughts create your feelings.

Y our feelings create your actions.
Y our actions create yo ur results.
The circumstances that exist in your life do not have to

determine how you feel. Th is is why you see people of
extremely different circum stance s with very different levels of
happiness.
Y ou think they do, but they don’t . I t’s your thoughts about your
circumstances that create your fe elings, not the circum stance s
themselves. And yo u always take act ion based on how you
feel. So, if yo u want to change the results in your life , you have
to start by manag ing your m ind and your feelings .
This is why most goal setting doesn’t work. It only focuses on

actions and results. I t doesn’t focus on thoughts or feelings.
When you set goals w ithout do ing t he thought and feeling work
it’ s much harder to take act ion and st ick w ith it . Usually, the
results (if you get any at all) don’t last .
b. Circumstances
Circum stance s are f acts that could be proved in a court of

law.
Everyone agrees. There are n o thoughts or judgments. Just

facts.
Examples of circumstances:
I am a woman.
I have a job.
I am a blogger.
I am 5’ 5” tall.
I don’t eat meat or dairy .
I live in an apartment .
I own a car.
I have blonde hair.
Any t ime you add something to de scribe a circum stance , you

convert it into a tho ught.
These are NOT circumstances:
I am an amazing woman.
I have a great job.
I am a succe ssf ul blogger.
I am average height.
I am very healthy.
I live in a crappy apartment .
I have a decent car.
I have pretty hair.
The second set of statements only expresse s opin ions. People

could agree or disagree about the m. This makes the m
thoughts. Not circumstances.
Circum stance s can be proved in a court of law as fact s.

Remember this. I t’s really important . Y ou can change your
thoughts right now. Y our circum stan ces are the way they are.
Y our thoughts about your circumst ances are what you can
change.
c. Thoughts
Thoughts are sentences in your m in d. They are what you th ink

about a circum stan ce.
All of your thoughts are choices.
Y ou have a choice to think any way you want to about yo ur

circum stances. Th is is why some people in your sit uat ion would
be super happy while others wouldn’t. Th is is why people in
third world countries w ith nothing can be super happy .
Y our feelings are based on the thoughts you decide to think

about yo ur circumstances – not the circum stances themselves.
Mo st people set goals because they think they will be happier

if they get what’s on the other side of that goal.
This th inking is flawed.
You canno t pursue things to make you happy. Doing things

won’t make you happy. Your thoughts make you happy.
Happiness drive s you to create and ach ieve - not the other
way around. Y ou have to learn to do things in your l ife because
you want to from a place of abundance and happiness , not
because you th ink those th ings you’ re pursuing w ill give you
abundance and happiness.
When you start understanding that your thoughts cause your

feelings , you w ill realize you are the cause of most of your
suffering . Y ou can change this by putt ing awareness to yo ur
thoughts, understanding them, then changing them .
Start by watching your own mind.
The best way to bring awareness to what you’re thinking is to

ask yo ur brain questions. When you ask your brain a question, it
can’t think about anything else. Questions take over your
brain’s thought process.
Bring awareness to your mind by asking your brain questions.
Here are some question s to st art asking yourself:

1. What am I thinking?
2. Why am I choosing to th ink th is?
3. How does this thought make me feel?
4. What thought is causing the way I feel right now?
Another way to bring awareness to you life is to ask why . I t will

increase the conscio usness you hav e. Y ou will be forced to find
the meaning and intention behind t houghts and feelings. Y ou
may be on auto pilot liv ing out the patterns you learned
growing up w ithout quest ioning them. Asking the right
quest ions th at get to the cause of the results in your life can be
life changing.
For example, ask yourself quest ions l ike :

1. Why are you broke?
2. Why are you overwe ight?
3. Why are you not ach ieving your goals?
4. Why are you unhappy?
5. Why are you in yo ur situat ion?
External factors are not the reason why you have the results in
your life . Y ou are the reason you have what you have in your
life. Th is is goo d news , be cause it m eans you can change it .
This awareness alone can be a game changer. See Step 11 of
my goal -setting process and the Sample Questions in Part III for
more about how to in corporate the se deeper quest ion s into
your thought work.
Beyond creating self -awareness, the next step is to change

your thoughts .
I t’s important for you to be compassionate toward yourself. Y ou

may not like what you f ind. Y ou may want to hurry to change
your thoughts, but you can’t just start repeat ing new thoughts
that you don’t believe .
The reason your thoughts create the results in your l ife is

because you believe them. So , when you create new thoughts,
you have to believe them, too. Th is means you can’t go from
one extreme to the other.
For example, you can’t go from thin king you’re d e stined to be

broke to believing you’ll be rich next year. I t’s too extreme.
Instead, yo u need to create m in i thoughts in between those
extremes that move you away from the negative thought and
toward more neutral thoughts. Then you cont inue chang ing
your thoughts incrementally until you arrive at the new thought.
To do th is, create a new thought that is close to your current

thought but that moves you incrementally closer to happy.
Instead of going from “I am unhappy” to “I am the happiest
I’ve ever been ,” choose a thought t hat is sl igh tly better than “I
am unhappy ,” l ike “ There are moments in my life when I am
happy” or “I ’m not happy right now, but that’s o kay .” The idea
is to create a neutral thought that moves you away from the
negative thought . Then, comm it an d pract ice that thought.
Once you’re in that space for long enough, you can rework the
sentence again so yo u choose anot her thought that is even
closer to happiness. Rinse and repe at unt il you no longer
believe the negative thought. Y ou'll create new
neuropathways that w ill change your life . Y ou'll bridge the gap
from where you are now to where you want to be by creat ing
thoughts in between.
Here are a few examples. These negative thoughts are st art ing
point s:
1. I don’t have time to accompl ish my goals.
2. I’m really stressed out .
3. I don’t make enough money .
4. I don’t think I can achieve my goal .
5. I am afraid to go after what I want .
If these are your thoughts, it won’t help you to sim ply start
recit ing new, supportive thoughts because you won’t actually
believe them (yet).
Here are examples of neutral thoughts you co uld create

instead :
1. I t is possible that one day I will have enough time to
accom plish my goals .
2. I’m really stressed out right now and that’s okay .
3. I don’t make enough money yet .
4. I don’t think I can achieve my goal right now, but one day
I think I could.
5. I am afraid to go after what I want, but I know that is just
my prim itive brain try ing to protect me from change .
Once you start believ ing these neutral thoughts, you can inch
closer to the more positive thoughts by in crementally changing
the neutral thought to more a posit ive thought. Just make sure
you believe the se thoughts.
Make sure you always create thoughts you actually believe,

otherwise they won’t change the results in your life .
When you create your thoughts pro act ively, you w ill change
your feelings, actions, and results. The key to succe ss is
changing your thoughts , because it gets at the root of the
problem instead of focusing only on the results you desire .
The WORKBOOK section of Dream Year in cludes space for you

to generate new thoughts and ask better quest ions that w ill
support your well -being, happiness, and success.
d. Feelings
Feelings are vibration s in our bo dy t hat are caused by our

thoughts.
All of your feelings are caused by your thoughts. S in ce your
thoughts are cho ice s, you can choose your feelings.
Mo st people don’t actually feel feelings. They:
1. Resist,
2. Avo id, or
3. React
to their feelings, in stead of 4 ) experiencing them (RARE ).
Suffering is resisting , react ing , and avoiding pain. Pain is

inevitable. Suffering is optional. Y ou have to learn how to
manage your emotions because as you cont inue to succeed,
you’ll continue to have pain and problems. That is life .
Accepting and embracing pain m akes it so m uch easier. Y ou

can’t change your life to avo id pain. Without pain , you’ re a
sociopath. S top try ing to avo id it . E mbrace it . When you learn
to experience all your emotions you’ll stop seeking to f ix and
control your circum stances to chan ge how you feel.
For example, when people are yelling, or seem angry, they are
typically resisting a painf ul feeling – not actually feeling it .
Everything you do is because of a feeling you want to feel.
If you’re like most people, you worry about the thing s you worry
about be cause you want to avo id t he emotions those things
will create. When you realize there isn't any emotion that can
harm you (that emotion s aren't harmful - it's simply your
react ion to them that is harmf ul), they no longer rule your
act ions .
Every action you take is due to feelings you have. And yo ur

act ions create your results. So , quit e literally you are creat ing
the results in yo ur life from your m in dset .
Since the po int of Dream Y ear is to create the results you want
in your l ife, yo u need to start by learning how to manage your
emotions.
The key is to decide how you want to feel. Then work on
creating that emotion within you (instead of external to you).
All you need to do to feel a certain way is to control your

thoughts and th ink a cert ain way . I f you want happiness and
well being, focus on those feelings and start experiencing
them.
I t’s that easy!
But this is most l ikely all very new to you, so it won’t be easy at
first .
Here’s how you can start.
The first step to managing your feelings is to increase your

awareness of them.
Here are the steps to be com ing aw are of your feelings:
1. Notice and name the feelings you’re currently having.

Don’t settle for “I don’t know” – make sure you ident ify
exactly how you feel right now.
2. Find the thoughts causing your current feelings . Write
down exactly what thoughts you’re having that cause
your current feelings. Don’t stop writing unt il you’ve got it
all down.
3. Notice how your current feelings create your actions and
results . The way the world works is t hat thoughts create
feelings which create act ions wh ich give you the results in
your life . Notice how this is true for y ou.
Just hav ing this awareness alone will start to change how you
feel because you’ll start to observe your own feelings.
Here are exercises you can do to stimulate new feelings:
1. Be willing to feel. Greet the emotion (imag ine you’re

opening your front door and let the emotion in ) . De scribe
that emotion in as m uch detail as possible from the
position of an observer . Write it down. I f you were
teaching someone what this emotio n felt like, how would
you describe it? Memorize th is emotion so yo u can re -feel
it on purpo se anytime.
2. Practice feeling emotions on purpose by making negative
emotions stronger . Next t ime you fe el a negative emotion ,
stimulate new thoughts to make the feeling worse. This
requires bravery , but is totally worth it . When you do th is,
you will realize you are in control of your emot ions – not
the other way around. I t’s powerful. Once you have
practiced negative emotion , you can move on to posit ive
emotion. B ut start w ith negative emotion .
3. Practice generating positive emotions on purpose. There
are two ways to do th is. The first way is to pick a thought
that makes you feel a certain po sit ive emotion. Pract ice
thinking it and re sponding to that thought by over -
exaggerating your posit ive feelings (th ink Jim Carey ). Th is
will help you understand that yo u are in control of your
feelings. The second way is that the next time you feel the
way you want to feel, memorize that feeling. Then,
practice it over and over. For exam ple, let’s say you go
home and see your dog and you im mediately are
beaming w ith happiness. Pause and memorize that
feeling. Then, pract ice generating it when you’re not with
your dog . (Note: do not go to your past to create posit ive
or negative emotions. Th is keeps yo u past -focused and
takes you o ut of the present. Y ou sh ould create emotion
from your thoughts about the prese nt and the future .)
Think about 1 ) what you’re th inking, 2) the vibrat ion in
your body , and 3 ) the act ions you w ould take because of
this feeling. Th is is not an attempt to create posit ive
emotions in negative emotions, or to ignore or get out of
negative emotions. I t’s an exercise t o genuinely stim ulate
positive emotions when you want to feel a certain way.
Here are a few more tips for increasing your emot ion -
generating success :
1. Remind yourself of the contrast of life. Life is hard and

bad th ings happen all the time. I t ’s the contrast of life.
There is noth ing you can do abo ut it . The sooner you
accept th is, the sooner you can learn to be happy, w ith
all of life’s unfairness. Y our biggest problem is that yo u
think you shouldn’t have any problems . When something
bad happens, remin d yourself of this. An d decide to let
yourself feel a negative emotion on purpo se (when
something bad happens, you probably want to feel bad –
e.g.: bad test results or someone dies).
2. Don’t confuse happiness with external pleasure . Seeking
pleasure externally is often escapism, wh ich is not the
same as happiness. External pleasure can come from
overeating, over-drinking , over-Netflixing, an d so on —
anything you do to escape yo ur life and st im ulate your
intake of pleasure. Th is just creates a need to over -
consume that takes you o ut of long -term happiness.
3. Find feeling triggers . Th ink of things that make you feel a
certain way when you experience them. T hen, when you
see them, remember how they make you feel . An
example would be your d og, a favo rite bracelet, or a
room in your house . I t could even be your coffee or
something else. Whatever seeing th ese things make s you
feel, remember to feel it as a trigge r every time you see it.
Creating external triggers w ill boost your happiness. Th is is
different than expecting your external circumst ances to
make you happy . I nstead, it’s a way for you to get a little
“boost” to generate the feeling of happiness.
4. Let go of trying to change your circumstances . Y our
circum stances aren’t making you unhap py – your
thoughts about your circum stance s are. Someone in the
exact same situation as you could be completely happy
or feel entirely different. I t’s import ant to remember this so
you know that you have control over your own happiness
and aren’t just wait ing for some ext ernal factor in your l ife
to change so you can be happy .
5. Remember emotions are just vibrations in your body that
you generate based on your thoughts. Do not forget this!
If you’re feeling “blah ,” you should work on your thought
management and belief systems – n ot on seeking
something externally to make you feel a certain way.
When you're willing to feel any feeling in the world, you can
create anything you want in your life because you won't be
holding yourself back out of a fear of having certain emotions.
Life is full of contrast. Bad th ings happen. Learn ing th is and
expect ing bad th ings to happen w ill help you be naturally
happier. There will be times you want to feel bad emotions –
roughly half of the time, act ually. Knowing and accept ing this
makes like m uch more enjoy able. Examples of when you want
to experience negative emot ions are: someone passes away ,
you lose a jo b, your friend disappo ints you, your sign if icant
other cheats on you, etc. The key is to be intentional with your
emotions. Be willing to feel the good ones and the bad ones .
Pay attention to the top 3 emotions you feel compared to the

top 3 emotions you want to feel on a regular basis.
There is space in the WORKBOOK be low for you to plan the

emotions you want to generate to support yo ur well -being,
happiness, an d success. See the Sample Emotions in Part III for
a list of emotions for ideas.
e. Actions
Act ions are the behaviors yo u do in your life .
You always take action (or inaction) because of your feelings.
Mo st planning and goal sett ing only deals with act ions.
Act ions are great to help you get results, but if you only learn
how to take action (and yo u don’t learn how to create
thoughts and feelings), your pattern of act ions won't last
because you’ll be pushing against so much resistance . And if
they do last, you won’t be happy w hen you achieve your
results because you’ll have focused only on action s and not on
the thoughts and emotions needed to support your success.
Actions don’t make you happy. Your thoughts make you happy.
There are so many action s you can take to get the results you
want in your l ife if yo u’ve done the thought and emotional
work first.
The WORKBOOK is designed to empower you take massive
act ion in your life by meticulously planning every step i t will
take for you to succeed. Y ou’ll also learn how to develop sk ills
that will lead to success, including pract icing integrity ,
comm itment, decision making , product iv ity , discipline,
constraint, focus, habits, t ime management and even failure.
f. Results
Results are the effect s of your act io n s. Your results will always
be evidence of the original thought you had.
The only things you can't control are other people, your
circum stances, and your past .
That's it.
Y ou are responsible for the results in you r life right now. Y ou are
already creating the results you hav e. Th is is good news
because it means that yo u can change your thinking and get
different and better results.
You can get results by changing your thinking, feeling s , and

actions.
So, why don’t you have the results you want in yo ur life
already?
Because yo u haven’t done the thought work to create the right

feelings that lead to the right act io ns and g ive you the results
you want.
The Dream Y ear WORKBOOK w ill help you do th is.
g. Victim and scarcity mindset
vs. responsibility and
abundance mindset
Here’s a m illion dollar quest ion for y ou: Are you takin g
responsibil ity for your l ife – how you think, feel, and act ?
If you don’t think you are responsible for your own well -being,
happiness, an d success, then you a re assuming the role of
victim.
Mo st people live in this space and don’t realize it .
A good way to f ig ure out if you have a vict im mentality is to

ask yo urself if someone else is respo nsible for how you currently
feel .
A v ict im always has someone else to blame.
If you are blaming anyone besides yourself for how you feel or
for your circumstances, you are assuming a victim role.
Scarcity th inking is sim ilar.
With scarcity, there is always lack. There is always fear. There

are always excuses. S carcity th inkin g comes from your prim itive
brain wanting to 1 ) seek pleasure , 2 ) avo id pain , and 3 ) be
efficient. Th is was really helpful back in the day for surv iv ing as
humans. Not so helpful now for achieving goals. Y ou needed to
be afraid of the bear. Y ou don’t need to be afraid of fail ing.
Whenever you have doubt , fears, or concerns abo ut your own

well-being, happiness, or succe ss, y ou have a scarcity m indset.
Serio usly.
Y ou need to shift out of this v ict im and scarcity m in dset to an

abundance m indset where you know and believe things are
happening for you and you have the power to get the results
you want .
For example, when you say “I can’t afford that” yo u are
speaking from a place of scarcity . I nstead, you shou ld say “I
am choosing to spend my money on my mortgage instead of a
vacation .” Y ou always have a cho ice about how to spend your
money. There is power in acknowledging you are in control of
your actions and creating your desired results in your l ife.
If you live in a place of lack and scarcity , yo u w ill act out of

fear. At worst, you won’t ach ieve your goals. At best , yo u’ll
ach ieve them out of negative emotion, which will leave you
unfulfilled or even miserable on the other side.
2. W HAT FEELING BETTER HAS TO
DO WITH SETTING GOALS
Most people postpone happiness until the achievement of
something in the future.
This happens when we don’t separate happiness from success.
We don’t allow ourselves to feel happy now. I nstead, we th ink

happiness comes w ith success (l ater).
Interestingly, we really don’t define these terms, e ither.
This is bad news. I t never works out .
This is what is happening when you hear about people who are
super driven and successful and seem to “have it all” but are
actually miserable. They’re being driven toward success by
negative emotion – anxiety , stress, fear, etc. They expected
happiness to be on the other side of success. Sadly, that is
never the case .
Shawn Anchor say s in The Happiness Advantage that success

does not lead to happiness. Happiness leads to success.
a. Setting goals and achieving

success
On the interwebs, success is def ined as “the accom plishment

of an aim ; an attainment of popularity or prof it ; att ain ing
prosperity .”
Y ou can use this def in ition , or better yet, come up w ith your
own. If you’re not intentional about defining success for
yourself, you’ll end up using someone else’s definition , wh ich is
an easy way to end up chasing som ething you didn’t really
want in the first place .
Success won’t make you happy . Success is a way to evolve

and grow into the best version of yo urself.
When you pursue success from abundance and happiness,

you’ll move out of happiness and contentment during the
process. Mean ing, you’ll be forced to grow a nd go through
struggles in your pursuit of succe ss. But everything worth doing
in life requires you to get a bit un co mfortable. Y ou’ll have
thought patterns that you “can’t do it ” or that it seems
impo ssible, but that’s normal . Y ou can work through that.
If you try to achieve something expecting to get happiness on

the other side, you’ll always be putting off happiness for some
future moment that never comes.
Sometimes, people wonder , “I f I can be happy now and have

contentment now, why bother pursuing success?” Because you
want to. From a place of contentment, you’ll likely to find that
you want to pursue more and evolve as a human .
Y ou can evolve through pain, anxie ty, and discontentment, or

you can evolve from happiness. Doesn’t evolving from a place
of happiness so und better? Th is is w hy some super successful
people who “have it all” are miserable and other successful
people are happy. The ir mot ivat ion s for success are completely
different.
Achieving something isn’t about attaining happiness – it’s

about expressing your happiness. The happier you are, the
more you’ll create success in your l ife from a place of
abundance.
b. Feeling better and being
happy
When I look it up online, happiness is def ined as “a feeling of

contentment, delight, or be ing pleased.”
If happiness is a feeling of contentment, the quest ion is: what

are you waiting for?
Y our thoughts create your feelings. Y our feelings create your

act ions. Y our actions create your re sults.
If happiness is a feeling, then it is always av ailable to you. I t’s

always a cho ice .
Y ou can choose to be happy now, right where you are based

on creating thoughts that make you feel happy.
Your circumstances don’t have to change for you to be happy.
I’m not saying you sho uld choose to think happy t ho ughts all
the time. The experience of life means that there is contrast .
Y ou can’t stay in the same emotion al place indefin itely, nor
should you try to . So , there are t imes when you’ll want to
choose a negative emotion. I f someone you love is hurt , for
example, you probably don’t want to choose to be happy
about it.
But you also don’t have to wait for success to be happy .
If you really want to, you can th ink t houghts and be happy
right now. And I mean reallllly happy.
Never forget that whatever you are feeling right now is the
result of the thoughts you’re having. Y our brain is efficiently
doing what it’s always been doing – thinking thoughts that
create your feelings. Y our brain is programmed for efficiency .
If you’ve always thought you’re not good enough, then that’s

the feeling you’ll create, which leads to the act ion s you’ll take,
which creates the results in your l ife.
If you are programmed to be stressed, anxious, and unhappy,
then that will be your default.
We are all programmed for sur v ival – fight or flight – and

everything that comes w ith it (anxiety, fear, etc.).
I t takes a lot of energy and intentio n to change your thought

pattern.
But the good news is yo u can change your thoughts.
You don’t have to project your past onto your future. Y ou can
pro ject something new onto your future by using your
im ag ination to create new thoughts that create a happy
feeling.
You have the capacity to be as happy right now as you can or

will ever be.
What yo u do in your l ife should com e from a place of

happiness. Y ou should not do th ings in your l ife to ach ieve
happiness , be cause it won’t work.
Don’t chase happiness by pursuing goals. Happiness doesn’t

come from your goals or results. Happiness comes from your
mind through what you think and how you feel.
When you think thoughts that make you happy , you w ill feel
happy. Then, you’ll take act ion based on your happy feelings
and get positive results based on those act ions.
Bottom line: happiness is available to you before, during, and

after the journey to pursue your goals.
Once you understand that you are responsible for how you
feel, you can learn how to create support ive thoughts from a
place of abundance and pursue your goals from posit ive
emotion. That is the true beauty of well -being, happiness, and
success.
3. HOW TO SET GOALS
Dream Year, at its core, is about setting goals.
The goal -setting process I explain in this book is different from

any other method because it focuses first on your tho ughts and
feelings and second on your act ion s and results.
If you use this form ula, yo u can get the results you want in your
life.
We’ll start from a high level with life planning , then work down
to the daily planning.
As Tony Robbins says, “You can’t have a plan for your day until
you have a plan for your life.”
We’re starting from the beginning by defin ing what a goal is.
a. What is a goal?
On the Googles, the defin it ion of a goal is “the object of a

person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.”
Goals come in many shapes and sizes.
There are achievement goals – goals that you set and, once
you ach ieve, they are com pleted (e.g.: run 1 marathon ).
Then there are habit goals – goals t hat you implement as habits
(cook 1 new recipe every week).
I t’s up to you to determine the t ypes of goals you want to set . I

will lead you to ward making that decision in the steps below!
b. Why set goals?
As you know by now , happiness leads to success. S uccess does

not lead to happiness.
You should not set goals because you want to be happier. Y ou

should not set goals because you th ink attain ing someth ing
else will bring you greater contentment than you have now.
So then, why set goals at all?
Goals give your brain structure, supervision, and a direction to

move toward. Goals allow you to design your life the way you
want to.
They allow you to predict where you’re going to be in your life

by giv ing your brain a dest inat ion or milepost to focus on . They
are a way to decide where you want to be instead of going
about l ife haphazardly.
The secret is to practice want ing what you already have with
the things you don’t have yet . Th is subtle but effect ive pract ice
will teach you how to want from a place of abundance . For
example, in the WORKBOOK, I ’ll have you make a l ist of things
you want that you already have (e .g. kids if yo u already have
kids, a college education if you hav e a degree , be skinny if
you’re skinny, be healthy if you’re healthy , be out of debt if
you’re debt free , have a prof it able blog if you already make
money blogging , and so on . Th is is different than being
grateful. I t’s about wanting what you already have. S ay to
yourself “I really want XY Z an d I really want ABC and I really
want 123.” XY Z and ABC should already exist in yo ur life ,
whereas 123 is something you’re working toward hav ing in the
future . I t’s a sort of “goal sandw ich ” of things you have and
don’t have.
When you want from abundance, you’re driven by positive

emotions and you’ll be much more likely to get what you what
(and you’ll be happier too ).
When you want from a place of scarcity (you want someth ing
because you feel the lack of it ), th is dream ing causes yo u pain
because you don’t have it . So , you stop dream ing be cause you
don’t want to feel bad about not having it .
If you start dream ing and planning from abundance and stop
react ing to the world around you, y our dream s won’t cause
you pain , and yo u’ll be much more likely to d ream bigger.
The art of setting goals from a place of abundance and

happiness is a skill you can practice and get good at. I f you
do, yo u can take th is powerful skill with you for the rest of your
life and reach goals beyond your w ildest dreams.
c. The 8 life categories
The goal -setting process starts from a very high level – big
pict ure planning. The Tony Robbins quote above spells out
exactly why big picture planning is necessary – “Y ou can’t plan
your day until you plan your life. ”
I have reviewed maaaaaany ways of organizing the categories

of life by many experts, and here is the breakdown I like best :
1. Health (physical and mental)

2. Relationships (fam ily, spo use , friends, etc.)
3. Money
4. Career (business, job, side hustle, et c.)
5. Personal / Spiritual development (se lf-help, spirit uality ,
religion , etc.)
6. Home / environment (physical space at home and at
work)
7. Service / volunteer (contribut ion s back to the world)
8. Fun / entertainment (extra-curricular act iv it ie s, hobbies)
These are my major life categories, so some categorie s may not

apply as m uch to you as others. Evaluate my breakdown based
on your own life and decide which categories you want to st ick
with . Only you know what you care about the most .
d. The goal-setting process
After you do the im portant thought and feeling work, you can
set goals from a place of abundance.
I recommend intertwin ing your tho ught and feeling work into
the goal process to make sure you’re always start ing from that
deep level by focusing on your th oughts and feelings first .
Along the jo urney of setting, workin g on, and achiev ing your
goals, you w ill be content because your goals come from a
posit ive place (not from a place of scarcity ).
I have a 16-step process for setting goals . I ’ll walk you through
the process in th is section , and then you can apply it yo urself in
the WORKBOOK.
Step 1: Reflect on last year
The first part of my goal -setting pro cess is to reflect on last

year.
This include s answering the following quest ions:
1. What events took place (big or sm all)?

2. What did yo u accompl ish?
3. What failures did you experience?
4. What were the top 3 emotions yo u felt last year?
5. On a scale of 1 to 10 , how did you do in each of the 8 life
categories?
Reflecting on last year also include s describing last year in 3

words and g iv ing that year a t itle.
As you continue to use Dream Y ear in the future, yo u’ll be able

to compare years and see what results you created in the
longer term from the planning you did. Th is is a great tool to
remind yo u of what is really possible in your l ife with the right
kin d of planning.
Step 2: Evaluate the present
The next step is to evaluate the present. Th is in cludes

describing your current circumstances in each of the 8 life
categories.
Y ou should only include facts when you describe your

circum stances – not thoughts.
For example:
I t’s a circum stance that I live in a 7 00 sq . ft . apartment,
and the guy who lives below me smokes cigarettes.
I t’s a thought (not a circumstance ) that I live in a crappy
apartment.
Y ou need to know the difference between thoughts and

circum stances for th is pro cess to work. C ircumst ances are facts
that can be proven. Y our opin ion (e ven if “everyone” agrees
with it ) is not a circum stance . Y our opin ion is a thought .
The next part of evaluating your circumstances is to list 10

things you want that you already have. This will teach you how
to want from abundance.
For example, if you are married, have two ki ds, and are debt
free, and you continue to want all of those things right now ,
you would write down “I want to be married; I want to have
two kids; an d I am debt free.”
This exercise will teach you how to want things you already
have, which will help you learn to appreciate what you have
more and feel good in your current circum stances w itho ut
thinking that feeling better is on the other side of your goals.
Finally, evaluate the present by practicing self -love and listing

10 things that you love about yourself.
I t’s really important for goal sett ing and success that you love
yourself. The only way you will actually do what you have
planned on your calendar is if yo u honor your comm itment to
yourself, and that only works if you have integrity and respe ct
for yourself.
In the WORKBOOKS below, you’ll have the chance to evaluate

your present life by 1 ) describing yo ur circumst ances, 2 ) list ing
things you want that yo u already have, and 3 ) l ist ing th ings you
love abut yourself.
All this work gets yo u ready for the next part of the goal -setting
process : planning for the future .
Step 3: Make a list of things you want to

accomplish in your lifetime in each
category (your bucket list)
After you decide on the life categorie s you want to use to set
goals in , make a l ist of th ings you w ant to accom plish in yo ur
life in of these areas (use your own list or my list ) .
Sim ply grab a pen and do a though t dump w itho ut stopping or

passing judgment on your list . Don’t think too hard about it .
Just write whatever comes to min d.
These are big bucket list items. These are n ot things you want
to have (a big house or a v acat ion ) , but th ings that yo u want
to achieve in your lifetime if anyth ing was possible for you.
Do not go small. Y ou may have thoughts of doubt or fear and

immediately dism iss th ings yo u want. Don’ t do th is. Dream big !
Y ou don’t have to figure out how in this step. Y ou just have to
list your dream accomplishments if anything was po ssible for
you.
After you have your bucket list of about 20 lifet ime

accom plishments written down, it’s time to clean up your list .
Organize and categorize your l ist by type of accompl ishment. I f
some things fall under other items or categories , list them
together (e.g .: start a podcast is so mething that would fall
under your bigger accom plishment of start ing a business).
After you o rganize and categorize y our list , rearrange your list
in order of importance and priority to you. Some th ings may be
obvio usly more im portant wh ile others may be of equal
impo rtance to you. For those of the same import ance, sim ply
choose which you’re likely to want to focus on f irst and put
that accomplishment ahead of the other .
Finally, remove anything that duplicates another or that you

don’t want on your list anymore aft er doing th is org anizat ional
exercise . (Do not remove something because you have doubts
or fears abo ut it!)
Step 4: Choose 1 item from the top of your

list and use it to find your 1-year SMART
goal
Choose the 1 item from the top of your bucket list that yo u
most want to focus on this year.
I say “1 item” here for the sake of assum ing you want to
ach ieve something big . By big , I mean that it w ill probably take
you longer than 1 year to achieve.
That said, you can repeat th is pro cess for m ultiple, smaller
goals to do at the same t ime , but for this exercise I want to
show you how to tackle longer term goals .
After you have your top prio rity picked out , make a l ist of what
it would take to accomplish this in y our lifet ime . Not a list of
obstacles or steps, but a list of 3 -5 intermittent goals that will
lead you to this lifetime ach ievement. (Note that if your big
goal is already something that is achievable in 1 year, you c an
skip th is step.)
If it’s a 20-year accompl ishment , then you may need to guess

at what it would look like (e .g .: start a biz in year 1 , grow that
biz to 6 f igure s by year 3 , write a bo ok in year 5 , h ire people
and grow the biz even more by year 8, etc.)
If it’s a 3-year accom plishment, you may find it easier to break

down the process (e .g . lose 30lbs in 1 year, 50lbs in 2 years,
and 75lbs in 3 years).
I t doesn’t matter how many years you think it will take you to
accom plish yo ur big goal. The point is to break it up a bit so
you can get an idea of the steps to take to get there .
Finally, it’s time to create a 1-year goal that moves you toward
this lifetime, bucket list achievement item in your life . Th is goal
can either move you toward your l ifetime goal or be the entire
goal itself. Here’s an example of a 1 -year goal that moves you
toward your l ifetime goal : say that y ou want to start a business
and impact m illions of lives. Y our 1 -year goal would be to
launch the business and have a bre ak -even year. Alternat ively,
if it’ s a lifetime achievement of yours to run a m arathon and
you are already a runner, then this is completely achievable in
just 1 year.
Either way , decide on a 1 -year goal that gets you closer to

your lifetime ach ievement goal.
I want you to use the SMART method for setting goals to create
your 1-year goal . Th is method may be overused a bit but it
really works, so we’re using it !
SMART goals are:
Specif ic
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bo und
SPECIFIC means… GOOD EXAMPLE
Cl earl y defined Save $10 ,000 in 1 year
Not vague BAD EXAMPLE
Save m oney
MEASURABLE m eans… GOOD EXAMPLE
Y ou know when you wil l have Lose 2 5l bs in 1 year

reached your goal
BAD EXAMPLE
Y ou know how far away
com pl etion is Lose weigh t th is year
ACHIEVABLE means… GOOD EXAMPLE
Y our aim is high, bu t i t’s Increase incom e by $7 ,000 in 1 year

reasonabl y accom pl ishabl e in 1 (new job, pr om otion, or side hustl e )
year
BAD EXAMPLE
The goal is accom pl ishabl e with
the resources, kno wl edge, skil l s, M ake $10 m ill ion this year
and tim e you have.
( A s s um i n g yo u do n’t ha ve a b u si ne ss
al re a dy )
RELEVANT m eans… GOOD EXAMPLE
Y our goal is rel evant to your Decl utter hom e by rem oving anything
val ues and your overarching I don’t 1) l ove or 2) use, in 1 year
l ifetim e vision
BAD EXAMPLE
Redecorate l iving room this year
( A s s um i n g t h e o ve ra rc hi n g v al ue o f
m i ni m al i sm , re d ec o rat i ng i s i rrel e v a nt )
TIME-BOUND means… GOOD EXAMPLE
Y our goal has a deadl ine Pay off $5,000 of debt in 1 year
Y ou know when the goal is BAD EXAMPLE

com pl eted
Pay off $5,000 of debt
Use the chart above as a reference for how to set SMART goals.
Now, create a 1 -year goal for your own lifetime ach ievement
goal from one of your top priorit ie s.
Step 5: Know your “why”
The next step in the goal -setting pro cess is for you to dive deep
into why you want your goal.
Goals take you out of your comfort zone, and you’re likely to
face resistance and obstacles along the way.
The stronger your “why” is, the more likely you are to st ic k to
your goal during tough times.
A fantastic exercise for fig uring out your real “why” (not just the
surf ace level “why” you’re giving yo urself ) is to ask yourself the
reason you want your goal , then ask yourself why that reason is
impo rtant, and so on . E ach answer you give , ask yo urself why
you want that until you’ve gotten to the root of your
motivation .
Here’s an example. Assume you r lifetime ach ievement goal is

to run your own business.
First level of why : Why do yo u want to run your own

business?
o Answer: More flexibil ity in my schedule.
Second level of why : Why do you w ant more flexibil ity in
your schedule?
o Answer: More freedom to choose how I spend my
time , including when to work and when not to work.
Third level of why : Why do you want more freedom to
choose how you spend your t ime?
o Answer: I want the power to make my own decisions
about how I spend my time so I can spend more of it
with my husband an d ch ildren, on my own terms.
Fourth level of why : Why do you want to spend more time
with your h usband and children?
o Answer: I believe time is the most v aluable resource
(more than money), and I want to spend the limited
time I have with my family, never m issing events and
being present as much as possible.
In this example, when you get to the fourth level of “why,” you
realize that your f am ily is the reason for why you want to start a
business – not flexibil ity in your sche dule. Th is is a much more
compelling reason for you to push t hrough the obstacles that
will arise as you work on your goal. If you think flexibil ity in your
schedule is the real reason, when things get tough you m ay
give just up or choose to find part -t ime work instead.
Step 6: Write a letter to your current self

from your future self addressing your
doubts and fears as if you’ve already
achieved your goal.
If you’re doing th ese exercises, you will likely be experiencing

any one or more of the following emotions: fear, disbelief,
doubt, shame, and discomfort .
Why w ill you feel this way? Because your prim it ive brain (aka
your cerebellum, which is your auto mat ic brain ) isn’t used to
you stretching yourself in th is way .
I’ll address these feelings specif ically in Sect ion G below, but
this part is designed to help you to address these emotions by
writing a letter to yourself from your future self .
Here’s how to do the exercise .

I magine it’s 1 year from now, and y ou have accom plished
your goal.
Write a letter to your current self.
Address your current self’s 1 ) negative thoughts, 2 )
negative feelings, and 3 ) how it feels for your f uture self
to have accomplished your goal .
When you go to the place where your goal is already

accom plished and you look back at yourself now, you w ill see
that you truly can overcome your doubts and fears. P utt ing
your emotions in perspe ct ive in this way will enable you to help
yourself a ton.
Step 7: Turn your 1-year goal into 12,

monthly mini-goals
Once you have a really strong why, you are ready to break
down your 1-year goal into 12 min i- goals (1 goal for each
month).
Start by working backwards from yo ur 1-year goal . Break up

your 1-year goal into 12 act ion steps, mov ing from the end to
the beginning .
Each monthly mini-goal should be a SMART goal (spe cif ic,

measurable, attainable, relevant, and time -bo und).
If you don’t know yet all the steps it will take to accompl ish
your 1-year goal , then you should add f iguring th is out as a
step in your planning . Y ou can always adjust your m in i -goals in
the MONTH WORKB OOK as you accomplish each one, so don’t
worry about it be ing perfect . For now, g ive it your be st guess.
When you’re done, you’ll have the steps planned out to get
the results you want after 1 year.
At the end of the 14 steps below, I’ll walk you through an

example that will help you understand exactly how to do this.
Step 8: Create an action-list with all your

“to-dos”
Next up is creating an act ion -list.
Y ou should create a list of the spe cific tasks yo u need to do to
accom plish all of your min i-goals.
Be as detailed as possible.
Research what it takes if yo u don’t know.
Everything you need to do to accomplish your m in i -goals

should be on this l ist.
All of your actions added up together should equal

accom plish ing your goal . I t is just m ath.
Make sure your action -list f ar exceeds what you th ink it w ill
take to accomplish your goal. Th is will increase your mot ivat ion
and likelihood of success.
Once you have your complete list of act ions, priorit ize your
act ion-list in chronological order. Th e actions you need to take
first sho uld be listed at the top and the act ions you’ll take last
should be at the bottom.
This step may feel tedious , and it do es require spending a lot of

time th inking abo ut all the little thi ngs you need to do to
accom plish yo ur goals. But trust me when I say it’ s 1000% worth
it because once you have the steps in front of you, all you
have to do is put these act ions on y our calendar and it’s as
good as done (wh ich is the next step)!
Step 9: Plan your to-dos on your calendar

in 2-week increments
Next, p ut your action list on your calendar by scheduling each

to-do item for the next 2 weeks. The n, in 2 weeks, schedule
more action items.
This is very time-consum ing and t akes a lot of discipline if

you’re doing it right (and at the level of detail required) , but if
you do it, it works and feels great. You make all your decisions
ahead of time, so you know what it takes to accomplish your
goal.
Think about the well -known train ing sche dules for running a
marathon. The action items are liste d on a schedule. I f you do
everything on the training schedule, you ’ll be able to run a
marathon. The same idea applie s to your goal. Schedule your
act ion items and t hen execute. Before you know it , you’ve
ach ieved your goal.
Step 10: Plan supportive habits.
Up to this po int, I have shared with you how import ant it is to

control your thoughts and feelings so you can take act ion and
get the results you want in your life.
Part of this is about train ing your brain to act from the
prefrontal cortex, not from the lower, more prim itive part ,
which is the cerebellum . The prim it iv e brain loves efficiency,
famil iarity , and is fear -based. I t’s designed this way to protect
you. B ut in today’s world, yo u don’t need to be protected from
things the way your brain th ings yo u do. Y ou need protected
from bears and attackers – not from your goals.
In this section, I want to take a different angle so you can

increase the likelihood of success e ven more.
I want you to feed into the part of your brain that loves
efficiency . That thrives on do ing the same th ing over and over.
Enter habits.
If you introduce supportive habit s into your life , you won’t need
to rely as much on your own motiv ation . Y our mot iv at ion may
ebb and flow and you may not be used to pract icing it .
Basically habits are a way to hack y our success. Y ou don’t
need motivation to do something if it’ s a habit . Y ou w ill do
habits regardless of how you feel.
To plan suppo rtive habits as part of my goal -setting process, I

want you to make a list of behav iors or things in your
environment that will derail you.
Y our first job is to change those bad habits.
Y our second jo b is to implement new, supportive habits.
Habit s work like th is…
There is a 1 ) trigger, 2 ) rout ine , and 3) benefit .
For example, let’s say every day when you get home from work
you turn on the TV and wat ch an episode of your favorite show.
The trigger is getting home and walking into your l iv ing room
where you see the remote sitt ing on the table and the TV
wait ing for you to turn it on . The routine is the act ual behavio r
of turning on the TV every day that you’ve repeated for so
long. The benefit is the feeling you get from watching the show
(maybe stress relief, avo iding your t houghts and feelings about
the day, etc.). Y ou’re escaping your day and it feels great. Th is
habit is go ing to derail you from an y goal you have because
it’ s wasting time escaping y our life.
You can change your habits by changing your triggers. Y ou

can structure your environment to prompt better behavio r and
prevent the bad ones. (basically designing your env ironment to
support your happiness, well -being, and success).
Or, you can think about what you’re getting from it (the
benefit), and ask yourself it there’s a different way for you to
get that benefit by substit ut ing a be tter habit there.
Think about yo ur habits. Think about the habit s that don’t

support your 1 -year goal or your happiness an d well -being.
Think about how you can change and im plement new habits.
There is space in the WORKBOOK be low that will help you

implement suppo rtive habits into yo ur life .
Step 11: Make a list of questions to focus
on that put your brain to work on
achieving your goal and supporting your
well-being and happiness.
The first 9 steps to my goal -setting process are abo ut planning.
Steps 10- 12 are about incorporating the thought and feeling

work into goal setting so you are much more likely to succeed
(and be happy do ing it!).
Step 10 is abo ut asking que st ions.
I mentioned this in the Learn ing How To Feel Better sect ion
above, but it’ s worth repeating – When you ask your brain a
question, it can’t think about anything else. Questions take
over your brain’s thought process.
In this step, yo u w ill create questions to focus on that put your

brain to work on 1) achieving your goal and 2) supporting your
well-being and happiness .
To do th is, take your goal and any o bstacles and turn the
obstacles into po sitive que st ions. Do the same thing for your
happiness an d well -being. See the Sample Questions in Part III
for inspiration on the types of quest ions you should create.
The quality of your questions determines your thinking.
For example, if your go al is to lose 10lbs, here are some

supportive que stions to ask:
1. How can I eat healthy today?

2. How can I exercise more this month?
3. How can I lose weight this year and keep it off?
4. Where can I get more energy from today?
Sim ilarly, here are questions that support your well -being and
happiness:
1. How can I love more today?
2. How can I be generous today?
3. How can I practice be ing content given my current
circum stances?
4. How can I bring more joy to my life?
Notice how the two sets of quest ions will yield very different
results and emotions.
Dream Y ear is designed to help you ach ieve your #1 goal this
year and feel better doing it . It’s important you create
questions that target both your 1) goals and your 2) happiness
and well- being.
Notice , too, that if you asked your brain negative questions,

you would get negative answers. I f you asked your brain “ Why
can’t I lose weight?” or “ Why am I always gain ing weight?” you
will find answers to support these quest ions.
Y our brain wants to solve problems. The questions yo u ask your

brain w ill determine answers you get, what you fo cus on, and
ultimately the results you see in your life.
Asking que stions is part of the Y EAR, MONTH, and WEEK

WORKBOOKS in Part II below. Once you get used to the idea of
asking suppo rtive questions, you’ll start to generate these
quest ions more easily and will see results in your life pretty
quickly.
Y our brain loves having someth ing to work on. I f you practic e
asking it the right questions, it w ill find the right answers.
Step 12: Make a list of thoughts to think

that reinforce the belief that you will
accomplish your 1-year goal and that
support your well-being and happiness.
The next step is for you to make a list of thoughts that you
believe that will support your well-being and happiness .
For example, let’s say you have the goal of pa ying off $10,000
of debt in 1 year. Y our plan is to make extra money freelance
writ ing to pay off your debt . Here are examples of support ive
thoughts that will generate feelings of confidence and succe ss:
I t is possible that I will be debt free in 12 months.

I am capable of landing 4 freelance gigs th is mont h
because I landed 2 last month.
I am hard working and know that I’ve already paid off
$1,000 and therefore, I can pay off more.
These thoughts are very reasonable. This is import ant to note.

Y ou can’t jum p from do ubting yourself to thinking things that
you don’t believe to be true. You have to believe the thoughts
you create.
Do the same thing for thoughts that support your well -being
and happiness. For exam ple:
I am tough .
There are no “hard days” – I have everything I need to
be content.
I’m responsible for my own feelings, and I am choosing
to feel happy today .
This exercise is techn ically creating affirm at ions, but I hesitate

to use that term here because you can’t just make up any
sentence and start repeat ing it . The key to success here is that
you have to believe the thought is true. If you don’t believe the
thought then it won’t work.
In each of the WORKBOOKS below, you’ll have space to cr eate

thoughts that support yo ur well -being, happiness, and success.
Proactively coming up with thoughts to th ink ahead of t ime will
help you be more likely to get your mi nd right for
accom plish ing your goals.
Step 13: Make a list of emotions to create
that will help you achieve your 1-year
goal and that support your well-being and
happiness.
Lastly, yo u need to make a list of emotions to generate that

support your well -being, happiness, and goals.
Keep in mind that the emotions that help you ach ieve your #1
goal are likely going to be different than the emotions that
result in yo ur well -being and happin ess.
For example, if you want to lose a bunch of weight, pay off

massive debt, or build a business, y ou are not going to want to
generate peace, love, and serenity as emot ion s. These
emotions don’t lead to the act ions necessary to evolve and
ach ieve your goals. I nstead, yo u wo uld want to intentionally
create emotions that will help you achieve your goals, such as
determination, confidence or steadiness instead .
Since I ’m advocating sett ing goals from a place of

abundance, I want you to generate emotions that 1 ) help you
ach ieve your goal, and 2 ) keep you in a place of abundan ce
(th is is where the happiness and well -being come in ). Y ou need
to practice both . I f you don’t, you may fall into a trap where
you’re only generating emot ion s th at move you toward your
goal, and you end up distancing yo urself from well -being and
happiness for the entire year as you’re working on your goal
(and th is can lead you to believe that happiness and well -
being are on the other side of ach ieving your goal, wh ich isn’t
true ).
If you want to achieve a massive goal and evolve, it is

necessary to experience discomfort. I t’s worth it to move away
from the more positive , peaceful, h appy emot ions to pursue
your overall purpose of personal growth and development. Y ou
just want to make sure you pull yourself back into your own
well-being and happiness when you’re not actively working on
your goals. Y ou can only do this by being intentional about
generating emotions that keep you moving toward yo ur goal
and, when you need them, emotion s that suppo rt your well -
being and happine ss .
Remember: happiness is not on the other side of achieving your

goals. Happines s is within you.
The more you practice th is st uff the easier it gets. I promise!
Start by creating a list of emotion s t hat you think w ill fuel your
jo urney to your 1-year goal. Then, create a list of emot ions that
you think w ill fuel your well -being and happiness.
Use the Emotions List in the back of Dream Y ear for ideas of
emotions to create.
Note that not all positive emot ions are the same. Some
emotions support your well -being and happiness (e .g .: love,
serenity , generosity ). Other emotion s are useful to ach ieve your
goal s but don’t necessarily feel pleasurable (e.g .:
determination , courage, focus). These emotions don’t feel like
comfort. But yo u have to get outside of comfort to ach ieve big
goals.
On a regular basis, you’ll need to decide what emotions you

want to create to generate the results you want.
My be st tip for th is is to decide at n ight what results you want

for the next day. Then, decide what emotion you want to
generate to get those results. The next morning when you wake
up, immediately focus on thoughts t hat support you generat ing
that emotion .
Al so , as I mentioned above, memorize the feeling you

experience that you want to repeat . Then, pract ice generating
it on your own . Over time , yo u’ll get really good at generating
the emotions you want to create .
For example, if you are going to have a day where you work on
your goal, decide the night before that you want to generate
determination , focus, and strength to push through th ose hours
of working on your goal. On the other hand, if you are taking a
weekend off from working on your goal, decide the night
beforehand which emotions yo u want to feel the next day
(such as love, peace , and generosit y ). When you wake up,
read your WORKBOOK for the week to read thoughts that
support whatever emotions yo u want to generate.
Of course you are going to have things happen in your

circum stances that may keep you from generating posit ive
emotions – someone dies, yo u lose a job, you get negat ive test
results, etc. But part of being human is accepting the contract
of life. You have to be willing to feel those negative emotions
during times when something happens where you want to
experience negative emotions.
Once you’ve taken time to re cover from the negative emotion,

you can generate positive emot ions again and get back to
focusing on your well -being, happin ess, and succe ss.
Step 14: Track your progress and how you

feel (list events, accomplishments,
failures, and emotions).
Part of the goal -setting process is tracking moments along the

way.
Y ou need to keep a written accoun ting of events,

accom plishments, failure s, and how you’re feeling if you’re
ever going to be able to reflect on and evaluate how you’re
doing . Y ou probably won’t remember every single event that’s
gotten you to where you are on your journey to your goal.
There is space in the WORKBOOKS below for you to track yo ur

progress in 3 ways.
First, you will track your progress simply as events that happen.
I like to do this at n ight when the day is st ill fresh in my m ind .
Tracking your progre ss is an acco unting of your circum stance s
as it happens. I t’s what you will reference when you evaluate
your progress instead of try ing to remember it all.
Second, you will track events that stand out as

accomplishments (big and small).
Finally, you will track your failures. One of the goal -setting
rules for Dream Y ear is to aim for 3 f ailure s every month. I talk
about th is below in the Failure sect ion.
You should open the WORKBOOKS every night and write down
what happened that day (if anything) as a single sentence .
Y ou’ll not only account for sign if icant events this way , but
you’ll also have your goals in front of you more often.
The more you examine your goals and pract ice th inking and
believing in ach iev ing them, the more likely you will be to
accom plish them .
Step 15: Reflect on and evaluate the

progress you made.
Y ou need to reflect on and evaluate how your progress is

going.
Reflect on the following:
The events that happen

The actions you take
The results you see (or don’t see )
Y our top 3 emotions
The habits you’re do ing (o r not do ing)
Anyth ing else that comes to mind!
I t’s really important yo u g ive yourself time to do the reflection

and evaluation . I call this the “margin” in your life . Just like you
need a margin between your expenses and yo ur income when
it comes to your budget, you need a margin in your day to
reflect on and evaluate how you’re doing .
Give yourself time (schedule it ) to review and evaluate your

progress on your well -being, happin ess, and goals . I f you don’t,
you will keep running the rat race o f feeling “too busy ” and not
getting the results you want in your life . Y ou have to make time
to think, reflect, and evaluate yo ur life .
Step 16: Rate on a scale of 1 to 10
The final step is for you to rate the year, month, or week on a
scale from 1 to 10.
There is room for you to do th is in the WORKBOOKS . The benefit

of doing th is is that yo u force yourself to truly evaluate how
you’re doing .
I t’s important that you know what a “1” looks like and what a
“10” looks like. 1 and 10 should both be known and you should
be consistent abo ut how you score . Y ou should know what a
day w ith a rating of 1 looks like and what a day w ith a rat ing of
10 looks like.
Rat ing the time you spend w ill help you evaluate how you’re
using your time and what you need to im prove.
e. How many goals should you

set?
I have looked over countless goal -setting materials, from

reading books to exam in ing jo urnals and printables, to listening
to podcasts, and even taking courses.
There is no consensus as to the number of goals you should

have at one time.
But I have some advice on the topic based on my own

experiences that w ill help you decide how many goals you
should set.
My adv ice : If you want to achieve a massive goal, set 1 goal.
If you want to achieve smaller goals , set several goals

(anywhere from 3-8 goals at a time).
For example, if you want to start a profitable blog in 1 year,
then that should be your only goal. I t’s a lot of work and i t’s
going to require all your extra t ime and resources. I f you set 3
addit ional goals to go with it , yo ur blog is go ing to suffer. Y ou
can only spread your time and energy across so m any things at
once. The more goals you set , the less focus yo u can g ive to
each goal.
However, if you want to read 10 bo oks, l ose 10lbs, and in crease

your income by $2 ,000, yo u co uld set your sights on all of these
goals at once and ach ieve them in 1 year.
The number of goals you should set completely depends on the

size of your goals and yo ur w illingness to comm it . Don’t fall into
the trap of believing that you “should have” a certain number
of goals every year. Y ou need to decide for yourself.
For the purpo ses of the Y EAR WORKBOOK I assume you are
working on 1 massive ach ievement goal. But you can use the
WORKBOOK to work on mult iple goals – just apply the same
act ions to more than 1 goal.
f. Thou shall write & repeat
Y ou must write down your goals. Y ou must rev iew and repeat
your goals.
Period.
There are countless studie s on this, and every expert I follow

agrees – you have to write down your goals.
This is one of those times that it’s worth it to follow this adv ice
and not question it. There’s nothing to lose and only value to
gain .
Dream Y ear includes everyth ing you need to write down your
goals, and in the MONTH and WEEK WORKBOOKS you have the
opportun ity to rewrite them. There is a lot of repetit ion on
purpo se – the more you write down your goals, the better. Y our
brain w ill start to focus more on your goals the more it see s
them. Y ou should look at your goals every day.
g. Address fear, disbelief, doubt,

shame, and discomfort
Y our brain is naturally wired to seek pleasure, avo id pain , and

be efficient. Th is means when you think about doing something
new (like achieving a goal), your brain is going to resist this
new, unknown territory to try to protect you. I t will give you
thoughts that generate feelings of fear, disbelief, doubt ,
shame, and discomfort. These are not useful for the purpo ses of
sett ing goals (but very useful if you t hink you’re abo ut to be
attacked, burglarized, catch on f ire, etc.). Just not useful here.
This is why I have you write a letter to yourself as part of the

goal -setting process. Writ ing a letter to yourself will help you
work through the fear, disbelief, do ubt , shame, and discomfort
you will feel on the way to achievin g your goals.
Anything worth growing for is going to have some negative

emotions attached to it.
The good news is yo u can learn how to feel negative feelings

and do the work anyways. Y ou can learn how to feel better.
This is why there is so much thought and feeling work in this
goal setting book. I t all works together.
If your negative thoughts keep com ing up, ad dress them.

Evaluate them. Know that these are just thoughts that you’re
having, and you don’t have to believe them . This is your brain
just making th ings up in an effort to protect you. B ut it’s
illogical. You don’t need to be protected from your goals. Y ou
have to address these thoughts , though. Acknowledge them
and move past them . I like to say , “ Oh, h i there fear – I see
you. An d now I ’m moving on.”
Remember: if you don’t feel like working on your goal, that is

normal. Discomfort is the currency to your dreams. That’s when
you know you must move forward. I t’s uncomfortable following
your dream s. I f you only do what’s comfortable you’re standing
st ill or moving backwards.
Ignore fear, do ubt, and shame . These are NORMAL th ings to

feel. I t’s just your brain be ing scare d. Because that’s what our
lower brain does when we think about do ing someth ing it
doesn’t know how to do yet. If you’re not having any negative
emotions along the way, then you’re probably not pushing
yourself hard enough. Y our brain was designed to be efficient .
As soon as you intro duce new things and stretch it , yo u’ll have
negative emotions because you’re having new thoughts that
your brain doesn’t know what to do with . I f you’re stretching
yourself, you’re bo und to come up against your doubts, fear s,
disbelief s, and shame.
As you process through a negat ive emotion, pay at tention to

your m ind and take it as an opportunity to grow . As yo u not ice
the negative emotion, yo u’ll notice the negative thinking that
comes w ith it .
You’ll say things like “I don’t know,” or “I’m confused,” or

“Maybe I should wait a while ,” or “ Maybe I should change my
mind.” These thoughts will block you from achieving your
dreams. These are dream and goal stealers. Don’t listen to
them.
Nothing has gone wrong. That is part of the process.
h. Obstacles
Y ou are going to be presented with many obstacles on the way

to ach ieving your goals.
Some obstacles are really obstacles , while a lot of obstacles

are just areas of indecision. I n the latter case, it’s likely
because you haven’t made a decision or a plan on purpose in
this area. Because there are too many options you’re
entertaining, all of them. This gets you nowhere. Y ou won’t take
act ion or have confidence.
So take the obstacles and m ake de cision s aro und them.
For example, if you don’t know whether to start a podcast or a

Y ouTube channel and you keep waiting for some un icorn to
deliver you the answer, force yourse lf to decide . There is no
right de cision . Y ou are do ing the best you can with the
information you have . I f you go one route and you end up not
liking it, you can change course later. Change and failure are
parts of the pro cess. I ndecision is n ot. I t will crush you.
Y ou have to be willing to accept obstacl es as part of the

contrast of life . What I mean is that bad th ings happen allllll
the time. They’re suppo sed to happen. How do I know?
Because they do . Th is is what l ife is. This life has good and bad
and everything in between.
Y ou are going to have prob lems and obstacles whether you go

after your goals or not. There is no end to problems. Sorry for
the bad news, haha! But seriously, t his is why you need to be so
sure that yo u’re not looking for happiness on the other side of
your goals. I t is not there. Happiness is here . I t’s in you right
now. Y our goals are a way for you to get what you want in life
in order for yo u to grow and evolve and contribute to the
world. Y ou are going to have obstacles along the way as part
of the process. The more comfortable you are with this, the
better. Whenever something goes wrong with my blog I say
“Okay , this is the part of the day where something goes wrong,
and I have to fix it ,” in stead of freaking out th inking my blog is
going to crash of fail.
i. The process of working
towards your goals transforms
you more than actually
accomplishing the goal
I’ll repeat so you really get the idea.
The process of working towards your goals transforms you more than
accomplishing the goal.
You’ll become a different version of yourself through working toward you

goal. The byproduct of working on a goal is something you can’t predict
and it’s the great part about goal setting.
I have countless examples of this in my life.
Most recently, I took Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt (a goal-setting

course), and I am in that Facebook group associated with the VIP group
for the course. Someone randomly linked to The Life Coach School
podcast, and I randomly decided to give it a listen. Turns out this is the
best podcast I’ve ever listened to and it has single-handedly changed my
life forever. I couldn’t have predicted this, but by investing in myself and
pursuing my goals, I grew in an amazing way. That’s the beauty of goal
setting and personal growth.
4. AVOIDING BURNOUT
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Y ou’ll get burned out .” – They
say .
I t’s time to address burnout.
People are generally confused abo ut burn out . People will say
they don’t want to reach for a big goal, start a business, or
make XY Z amount of money because they don’t want to get
burned out.
I want you to really understand what burnout is so you know

whether you’re actually ever burned out .
I’m going to define burnout for yo u, then compare it to being

overwhelmed (which is totally different), and g ive you a
solution to burnout in case you ever do experience it .
a. Burnout defined
In order to avoid getting burned out, yo u need to know what

burn out really is.
What burnout is not…
People think working too many hours or working too hard

causes burnout. Th is is wrong. Y ou can work many hours and
incredibly hard and never get burned out .
We tend to asso ciate time and energy with money. We think

our effort creates money . We think the more effort we put in,
the more money we make. This is not really true. Results and
value are what create money – not effort.
The more value you create, the less effort it takes to create
that value. The more you plan, the less energy and ef fort you
will need to put it in to create money.
If you are afraid of burn ing out , afraid of the hustle, or afraid
that this is what it takes to create a lot of money, you are
looking at it wrong.
Burnout has nothing to do with the amount effort you put in or

the amount of money you’re going to make.
Burnout is a feeling. The feeling of burnout is caused by

thoughts you’re thinking . The answe r to not getting burned out
is to change your m indset . Y ou need to be fueled by the right
energy.
What burnout is…
Burnout is caused by 1 ) stressful th inking , 2 ) poor planning, and

3) scarcity th inking.
When you are stressed, thinking from a place of scarcity, and

not planning, you are reacting to your life and will get burned
out.
When you don’t have enough space to think, when you don’t
know how to co ntrol your thoughts and feelings, when you
don’t have a willingness to fail and work through obstacles
steadily, yo u are go ing to feel burned out (and exhausted ).
Burnout come s from want ing to escape and outrun negative

emotions. When you try to prevent negative feelings, you get
burned out. Y ou can’t out run negative emot ion s. Y ou can’t run
toward better emotion s. Better emotions are not on the other
side of your goals.
The emotion driv ing you t o do less, change course , or g ive up is

self-pity . Do not react to self -pity . Y ou are tough . Y ou are
completely capable of planning your life and mov ing forward
proactively, working through all the obstacles that come your
way. How do I know? Because you’re here. You can do it .
b. Burnout vs. being
overwhelmed
Burnout is very different from being overwhelmed, and it’s

worth distinguish ing between the two.
Being overwhelm ed happens when you are confused about

what to do. You have low productivity, an unclear plan, and
feel “busy.”
Feeling busy has noth ing to do w ith what’s on your to-do list .
Feeling busy has to do w ith the thoughts in your brain . (Reread
that sentence for a little truth bomb in your l ife – a hard pill to
swallow for so many peopl e!)
To fig ure out if yo u’re overwhelm ed or genuinely burned out ,

here’s what I suggest...
Make a list of all your accompl ishm ents, nam ing all the things
you have actually produced . Do no t make a list of al l the
things you’ve been doing . What yo u’re busy do ing is not
working . Look at yo ur list of results . If you haven’t produced a
lot, you are overwhelmed. Th is is not when you need to cut
back. The solution to feeling overwhelmed is to plan and do
more (do more means create re sults) .
If you genuinely have produced a lot and feel burned out, then
you may need to take a break . But usually, when you produce
a lot of results, you are not exhausted or burned out. If you’ve
produced results from abundance, you will be fueled and
energized. Th is is how I feel all the time. People always suggest
I’m going to get burned out . People say , “How do yo u keep
creat ing blog posts? Don’t you run out of ideas? ” I typically
reply by say ing, “I can’t not create. There is so much more I
want to create. ” Once you start , it’s so much easier to keep
going.
If you’re pursuing yo ur goals from abundance and genuinely

understan d that happiness is not on the other side of your
goals, you don’t get burned out .
Sometimes, someone will pursue goals from abundance a nd
fall into burnout. But it’ s rare .
c. The solution to burnout
True burnout (that isn’t being overwhelmed) looks like this: you
have results, yo u have a plan, you are driven by abundance ,
you produce a lot, but yo ur plan is now unreasonable and the
result has become more import ant t han the journey.
This is when you need to take a break.
Y ou need to evaluat e your why. Y ou need to asse ss why you’re

pursuing your goals and why you sh ould contin ue.
Success is created for the journey. If you’re not enjoying the

journey, you need to slow down. You need to remember that
happiness is not over there.
The jo urney has to be better for the result to be better.
If you are truly burned out , then your goal needs to be to work
smarter, not harder.
The solution to burnout is to: 1) give yourself enough space to

think, 2) organize your mind and your life, and 3) plan ahead .
Plan more space and relaxat ion on purpo se (l iterally, put down
time in your calendar to relax). Th is will be diff icult if you’re in a
hurry , but it’s necessary . Y ou need to slow down to re-energize
and produce more .
When you plan both downtime and product ion t ime , you don’t
end up in an emergency -feeling state. When you are
constantly reacting, yo u are constantly putting out f ire s. I t
wears you out.
Planning is the key to not burn ing out . Not working less. Don’t
start and sto p working on your goals. I t’s exhaust ing to start
and stop so much .
Stay comm itted, plan to avoid be ing overwhelmed, and don’t
listen to people when they suggest you’re going to get burned
out – they don’t know what they’re talking abo ut .
5. SKILLS THAT WILL IMPROVE
YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF
SUCCESS
This f inal section of the Lessons part of this book is about the
skills that you can and should work on to improve your
likelihood of succe ss.
Y ou’ll improve your well -being, happiness, and succe ss if yo u

work on these skills. These skills will take your goal sett ing and
happiness up 10 notches to n in ja/pro levels.
Y ou’re not born knowing how to do these things. People who

are good at them have just pract iced them more. Y ou can get
good at these skills, too . I t just t akes pract ice .
So, rule numero uno of this sect ion is : there’s no saying “I’m just
not good at XYZ” on the list you’re about to see . Y ou may not
be great at it now, but that just means you need to pract ice it .
I t’s not a fact that you’re not good at it. I t’s just a thought. To
get better at any of the skills below, you have to practice the
skill and start to change your beliefs around the skill (e .g .: start
say ing to yourself “I wasn’t good at XY Z in the past , but now
I’m working on it and gett ing better .”).
Y ou can get better at each skill liste d below , and when you do,
your happiness, well -being, and success w ill skyrocket .
a. Planning
Planning is up f irst. I t’s the hidden gem to getting the results

you want in life .
You can’t control circumstances, your past, or other people –
but you can control everything else in your life. The tool to
doing this is through planning.
The more you plan, the fewer decisions you have to make on a
daily basis. De cision s are drain ing and the more decisions you
make, the more exhausted you are. So, the more decisions you
make ahead of time, the less drained you’ll be on a daily basis
(th is is why I have a capsule wardrobe with only neutral colors –
fewer decision s on a daily basis means I save my brain power
for more important tasks).
If you plan ahead of time, yo u don’t have to make daily

decision s.
Do not confuse hav ing no plan with being free. I t is the

opposite . Planning your life is what gives you freedom because
you do it on purpose. Freedom is so mething you g ive yourself.
Freedom means you an swer to yourself and you love the
answer.
Here are examples of things you should plan:

Y our long-term goals
Y our short-term goals
Y our habits
Y our year
Y our month
Y our week
Y our day
Y our free time
Y our thinking and reflection time
What yo u wear
What yo u cook and eat
When you exercise
When you watch TV
When you work on your goals
When you read email and go on so cial media
Date night
Time for hobbies
Shopping time
Time for things yo u love
Fun time
Volunteer time
Time to check in on your f inances
Personal development time
Meditation time
When you walk your dogs
Time for practicing your faith
Anyth ing you would likely have an emotional tendency to
respond to
o For example, you m ay want to get up early on a
Saturday morn ing to work on your goals. Y ou may
also want to drink alcohol on the weekend at a
dinner party . The best way to make both happen is
to plan ahead of time . I f you don’t, you’ll make the
decision when you’re in the moment, an d you’ll
always give in. Y ou’ ll drink alcohol and you’ll sleep
in . But if yo u decide ahead of t ime , you can lim it
yourself to 2 drinks and decide to get up at 7am . Or,
you can decide ahead of t ime to drink 5 drinks and
sleep in until 9:30am . But in the latter case , you’ve
still used your pre-frontal cortex (th e plannin g part of
your brain ) to decide .
This type of planning is tedio us . B ut it’s worth it . Generally,

people underestimate how valuable planning is an d only plan
big events. I ’m advocating you plan every single minute of
your day – just like you would budg et every single dollar of your
money. I f you plan your time the way you plan your money,
you’ll get the results you w ant .
This type of scheduling makes you so much more deliberate in

how you spend your time. The more you plan, the more you
design a life you love.
Plan as much as possible. Review yo ur plans. Change your

plans. Alway s be planning – ABP (new hashtag?! H A! )
I look at my calendar and plans pro bably for 30 minutes every

day if I add up all the times I review it every day .
Here are the planning tools I use:

gCalendar (dig ital, month v iew planning )
The Productiv ity Planner (physical, weekly planning )
Evernote (dig ital app for notes, lists, random thoughts)
Trello (dig ital app for big pict ure planning )
I suggest using a dig ital calendar in month view (this is what I

use gCalendar for), and a physical planner (like The
Productiv ity Planner ) to keep you account able for when you’re
in front of a screen and when you’re not. The flexibility of a
dig ital calendar allows you to move things aro und and always
have it in the backgro und whenever you’re in front of a scree n
(wh ich likely is a lot of the time ) . Th e consistency of a phy sical
planner keeps you acco untable for maintain ing and focusing
on your prioritie s. I t always forces y ou to spend time away from
the screen and thinking abo ut your plans.
I created Dream Y ea r because I was using this format on my

own in a notebook in addit ion to m y planners . Th is is not a daily
planner, but instead a workbook to ach ieve your #1 goal each
year. I t starts w ith big picture planning and helps you focus
and prioritize so yo u work toward yo ur goals to design a l ife
you love. This is someth ing I use with my other daily planners.
Planning is the ticket to gett ing the results you want in your life.
Period.
b. Commitment
Next up is comm itment.
On the Googles, comm itment is def ined as “an agreement or

pledge to do something in the future that restrict s freedom of
act ion .”
When I first read th is I didn’t like the defin it ion , but after
thinking abo ut it more , it’s exactly right.
Commitment means you decide on something and you take

act ion to get that result. I t also means that you cannot do
other things because you are comm it ted to someth ing that
act ion .
The most important thing you need to know here is that

commitment is a choice – not something that happens to yo u.
The level of commitment you have before you start is

determinative of the level of success you’ll have.
I’m not just talking about comm itme nt to your goal. That is a
given. B ut you also need to be com mitte d to yourself when you
schedule something .
Y ou need to take action that is in line with the decision you

made to comm it to . Y our comm itment has to be a top prio rity –
otherwise it’s simply not a comm itm ent.
Y ou will always have competing desire s. Y ou have to decide

what your comm itment is to. Y ou can’t just th ink abo ut it . You
can’t live in “maybe” land or “I don’t know” land. These are
dream killers. You have to decide and commit.
The best example is getting married. Y ou don’t get married and

think “ Well , I’m going to see what happens in th is marriage and
hopefully, if it’s successful, I ’ll stick with it .” Y ou comm it up
front. Y ou say , “I am comm itted to y ou for the rest of my life.”
Getting married restricts yo ur freedom. Y ou no longer go out
looking for potential mates. Y ou are restricted to one person.
Think about that.
That is the level of commitment I’m talking abo ut here – to

yourself, to your goals, to yo ur plans, to your life .
Y ou have to make a decision to co mmit even if yo u don’t know

the “how” of what you’re comm itt in g to . Not know ing how is a
horrible reason not to comm it . Com mit , then fig ure it out . Just
like people do with getting marrie d. I t’s exactly like that.
Commitment means a willingness to be uncomfortable. You

don’t give up. You take massive action until the result is
achieved.
People always ask me quest ions about st art ing a blog. They
want to know if it w ill be successful ahead of time , before they
comm it. What I tell them is that the level of succe ss depends
on the commitment up front , not the other way around.
Committing inv ites risk unlike believ ing or wanting. But the
reason you comm itted make s it worth it . You need commitment
to have resilience. Resilience is what picks you up after yo u fall
down.
I t’s scary and it takes overcom ing f ear. B ut so does getting
married. So doe s anything worth co mmit t ing to.
If you don’t learn how to commit , y ou are m issing out on the

awesomeness of life.
c. Integrity
Next up is integrity .
The interwebs say that integrity is defined as “the quality of

being honest and having strong moral principles; moral
uprightness.”
For purpose s of goal -setting, I ’m talking abo ut the integrity yo u

have with yourself.
The biggest question s regarding int egrity here are:

1. Do you have your own back?
2. Do you keep your word to yourself?
3. When you go to your schedule and see you are sup po sed
to do XY Z, do yo u do it o r do you cancel?
The ability to be able to schedule something for yourself and

then to honor it is the secret to integrity w ith yourself, which will
empower you to create anything yo u want in your life . (Reread
that sentence – another truth bomb for you.)
Y ou will often try to negot iate with y ourself on the day you’re
supposed to do someth ing that you’ve scheduled . That’s a
reflection of you talking . There’s a part of you that wants instant
gratification. The part of you that wants you to accomplish your
goals is the other part – the part that plans and honors
commitments.
If you don’t have the results you want in your l ife , it’ s likely
because you are not following through on the commitments
you’ve made to yourself. Y ou have to comm it, but you also
have to honor that commitment.
The more you follow through and keep your word to yourself,
the better the relationsh ip you’ll have with yourself.
Y our relationsh ip w ith yourself is abo ut how much you love and
respect yourself. I t’s very deep stuff. I f you struggle with this,
you need to work on your relationsh ip w ith yo urself because
otherwise tips, tricks, and hacks t hat focus on act ions won’t
work. I t’s a belief system that yo u’re struggling w ith .
If you commit to a goal, schedule it out, and take action, you

will get the results you want in your life. If you don’t do it, you
won’t.
The reason you’re not doing comm it ting is l ikely because of the
relationsh ip you have w ith yourself. This is why Dream Y ear
focuse s so m uch on thoughts and fe elings. Y ou have to focus
on the deep work and get to the root of the problem. Once
you get to the root of the problem and you clean up your
thoughts and feelings, your life – happiness, well-being, and
success – will skyrocket.
d. Decision making
The third skill that you should work o n as part of yo ur happiness,

well-being, and success is decision making.
Decision making is defined as “the act of choosing.”
Tony Robbins articulated the import ance of decision making

beaut ifully when he said, “ I n the moment of decision, yo ur
dest iny is shaped. ”
Y ou should choose and not look back. Y ou should make sure

you don’t get stuck in “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know” is an excuse. Do not accept I don’t know as an

answer. That is yo ur brain telling you the discomfort isn’t worth
it . As long as you’re confused you don’t have to deal with
cognitive dissonance. Y our brain w ill sabotage y ou and try to
keep you in the same place in your comfort zone. Recognize
your brain wants to keep you safe and it want s to be efficient
and protective . Whenever you set a new goal your brain is
going to try to push you away f rom your new idea be cause it’s
not efficient and fam iliar. Know this. Notice it . Do it anyways.
Take action against yo ur brain . Say “I am willing to consider to
xyz goal even though it feels uncomfortable .”
Give yourself the gift of making the decision.
Understand that it takes pract ice , and the more you pract ice
deciding , the better you’ll get at it .
Y ou’re not bad at making decisions – you just need to pract ice
the skill more.
I t’s also really important that yo u don’t question your decision s.

Usually, there isn’t a “right” de cision like you th ink there is.
Don’t be afraid to make m ist akes. C hoose what the best

decision based on the informat ion you have available to you.
The key to your happiness, well -being, and succe ss is to decide
and make your decisions irreversible. This is the first decision -
making hack I have for you.
The second is to always make decisions ahead of time . Y our

prim it ive brain (cerebellum) naturally seeks pleasure , avo ids
pain, and wants to be eff icient . I t’s your pre -frontal brain that
does the planning and forward th inking . By making the
decision ahead of time, yo u’ll make it w ith your pre -frontal
brain instead of your prim it ive brain , which irrat ionally trying to
protect you from danger.
Make the decision ahead of t ime and don’t give yourself the
option to back o ut . The more you make decisions ahead of
time, the less reactive you will be in the moment.
For example, if you have a health goal, make the decision

about what you’re go ing to order t o eat at the restaurant
before you go. I f you don’ t, you’ll be much more likely to give
in to your natural desires ordering off the menu when you sit
down at the restaurant. Y our desires won’t be to follow your
long-term goals. They will lead you to inst ant grat if icat ion .
Trust yourself and decide . Pract ice making quick de cision s and
believing in yourself.
e. Productivity
Productivity means “producing something.”
Productiv ity doesn’t mean how much or how long you work.
Productiv ity doesn’t mean how hard you work.
Productiv ity doesn’t mean how busy you are .
The key to productiv ity is to plan your results on your calendar,

not your busy work. Schedule your results for when you’re done
– not just time spent.
For example, don’t schedule time t o “work on your blog” on

your calendar. Schedule the result that you expect to pro duce
during that time , such as “write one blog post.”
Always look at what you’re producing – not what you’re busy

doing.
Questions to ask w ith respe ct to your product iv ity are :

1. What did yo u produce in each area of your life?
2. How much money did you earn ?
3. How much content did yo u pro duce ?
4. How much weight did you lose?
5. How much XY Z?
Do not ask:
1. How much time did you spend working?
2. How hard did you work?
I t doesn’t matter how hard you worked or how much time you
spent working.
The secret to providing value, achieving your goals, and

increasing your income exponentially is productivity – what
you’re producing.
And the way to be more product ive is to manage your m in d.
Focus on the results your gett ing , not on the activ ity yo u’re
doing . Activity takes time. Results create time. Are you gett ing
the results you want? I f not , change your st rategy.
“I don’t know how long this will take” is the wrong quest ion . I t
will take as long as you give yourself. I f you give yourself 6
months to start a blog, it w ill take 6 months. I f you give yourself
2 weeks to start a blog, it w ill take two weeks. Neither is better.
Instead of say ing “I don’t know how long” and wor king at your
natural rate , g ive yourself X amount of hours and do it in that
time .
Y ou also have to manage your perfection ism . You have to be

okay with “B-” work. I f you obsess and insist on pro ducing “A”
work, yo u’ll take waaaaay too long to produce . “B-” work is st ill
tremendously valuable and helpful even though it’s not
perfect. There’s a difference.
Give yourself a due date for everything.
Productiv ity is only measured by yo ur end result . When you plan

based on productivity, you’ll be energized by what you
produce and you ’ll do it while working less. I t’s motiv ating and
it perpetuate s momentum . I f you are only busy , you’ll get worn
down, tired , and be overwhelmed.
f. Time management
Time management is a skill you can master.
Time management is defined as “the ability to use one's time

effectively or productively.”
I love this def in ition.
I t’s not about planning busy time . I t’s about planning

productive time . I t’s time well spent.
If you need help with time management, wh at you’re really

say ing is yo u need help organizing y our m ind.
Manag ing time is an art and a skill that you must pract ice
deliberately and purpo sefully. I f you are careful with how you
plan and spend your time , you are going to have so much
more time .
Y ou will naturally resist planning , making decision s ahead of

time , and thinking abo ut what you’re going to do deliberately.
If you’re like most, yo u’ve learned the misconcept ion that
living spontaneously is a more free life. The opposite is true. The
more you manage your time, the more free you will be. Y ou’ll
be able to create the results you want in your life, en joy your
free time, and pro duce so much mo re. Y ou’ll feel more in
control of your life.
If you have trouble following through with what you p lan, you
may resist planning and manag ing your t ime even more
because you don’t want to set yourself up for failure , so you
just don’t schedule your time at all.
This is an issue not w ith time but w it h the relationsh ip you have
with yourself.
An exampl e is that if yo u planned a dinner with your be st

friend, you wo uld likely respect your best friend’s t ime and
show up. But yo u don’t necessarily do this for yourself. I t just
doesn’t come naturally. Y ou have to work on it .
When you work on honoring your w ord to yourself through

pract icing time management, you will feel better and create
the results you want in your life .
Whenever you say to yourself “I don’t feel like it ,” know that

this is normal . Working on your goals and future is not normally
something you’ll wake up and be excited about. But that
doesn’t mean this reason is a legitimate excuse not to do
something.
Y our prim itive brain wants to repeat what it’s always done. I t
doesn’t want to do new things and push it self. So there is
resist ance. Th is was great for evolution because yo ur brain
protected you. I t’s not great for moving forward in today’s
world.
When you schedule time to do th ings you don’t want to do and

make it non -negotiable, you w ill follow through. I f you don’t,
and you only do what you feel like doing , you w ill not grow –
you’ll remain stagnant or move backwards.
Y ou have to practice honoring the schedule you make with

yourself on your calendar. Get comf ortable being
uncomfortable, an d over time it w ill get easier.
Time management isn’t about tricks to get you to hack your

way to being on time. It’s about being willing to create integrity
to yourself and honor your time commitments so you get the
results you want in your life.
That said, now I want to give you tricks to m aster yo ur t ime .

These are practical tips that yo u can use after you have done
the deep work of deciding and following through with your
comm itments.
My best time management tips are:

1. Keep a time journal for 1week tracking how you spend
your time . Then evaluate it . Y ou’ll be shocked at how
much time you waste .
2. Plan everything down to the hour, including downt ime ,
work time , hobby t ime , fam ily t ime , reading t ime,
exercising time , etc.
3. Schedule your results – not your act ivit ie s.
4. Keep a priorities list for the day (or f or the week) and do
things in order of priority .
5. Any time someth ing comes your way, ask yo urself:
a. Can I eliminate this?
b. Can I automate this?
c. Can I delegate this?
d. Can this wait unt il later?
6. Put a constraint on your life that yo u don’t look at email
or social media unt il after a certain time of day (e .g .:
after 11am ). Th is helps with t ime management because
you are most product ive in the morning, so you can get
your most important tasks done AS AP without wast ing
time on less important tasks.
7. Look at your calendar for at least 3 0 minute s every day .
Keep it up in the backgroun d. Constantly tweak it to
meet your needs.
8. Give yourself time at n ight to review your calendar fo r
the next day – schedule time to rev iew and plan your life.
g. Constraint
The internet says constraint is “a limitation or restriction.”
I like to think of constraint as a rule you put on your life that

helps you decide ahead of t ime .
Discipline (below) is following through with the constraint .
Constraint seems very restrict ive - and it is in the sense that you
lim it your options. But by lim it ing yo ur options, yo u create
clarity , fo cus, and freedom in your l ife. Constraint elim inate s
decision fatig ue .
It’s very hard to produce the results you want in your life if you
don’t put constraints on your life.
The fewer options you have in your life , the fewer decisions you
have to make. Decisions take so m uch energy. I t’s drain ing.
Constra int leaves room for you to use your brainpower on
things that are important to yo u.
I have so many constraints in my life . I don’t eat meat, I don’t

eat dairy , I don’t eat sweets, I only have 1 -2 drinks when I ’m
out, I only wear neutral colors. All of these constraints allow me
to focus on the results I want in my life. There is no excess
chatter abo ut decisions in my m in d . I ’ve made them already.
I t’s so much easier to completely eliminate something (e .g .:
eating dairy ), than it is to allow it so me of the time (e.g .: is it
okay to have this ice cream on Saturday n ight ) .
When you allow something sometimes, you will have so much

chatter in your brain about when it’s okay and when it’s not.
The more options yo u have, the more chaos you have in your
brain abo ut decisions.
An example is picking one mate. Once you do it , you’re

comm itted and the chatter about dat ing and fin ding someone
is gone. Y es, you m ay be lim ited and constrained to that
someone, but mo st people would agree this constraint act ually
creates so much more freedom in y our life and clears yo ur
brain of all that chatter and decisio n making .
h. Discipline
Google tells me discipline is “training yourself to do something

in a controlled and habitual way.”
Constraint is the rule. Discipl ine is th e follow-through.
Applying discipline to your life means that you have control

over your prim itive de sires. Y ou don’t eat whatever you want,
you don’t skip work, you don’t go t o the bar in stead of to the
gym, you don’t have sex all the time, etc.
People tell me all the time that they’re so im pressed w ith how
much discipline I have. They say i t l ike I was just born th is way
or I am a unicorn . Th is isn’t true at all. I have practiced this skill
and over time . I t’s become a habit .
Discipline gives you freedom. (Anot her truth bomb for you! )
For example, if you’re disciplined w ith your money then you

save your money, yo u pay yo ur bills, you have an emergency
fund, yo u have money for your future, etc. Th is g ives you
financial freedom. The same applies for your work, your career,
your health, your time , your sleep, y our food, your exer cise ,
your personal development, your relat ionsh ips, et c.
The more disciplined you are in any area of your life , the more
freedom you create .
Discipline includes w illpower and self-control. The more you

practice willpower and self-control, paradoxical as it may
sound, the more freedom and success you will create in your
life.
Kids are a great example here. Y ou discipline your kids by

creat ing rules for them. Y ou let them know what the rules are
ahead of time . They must comm it to them. Sometimes, they
break the rules, but they pract ice the rules and if yo u have a
“discipl ined” ch ild, you know that she is a rule -follower.
Discipline is having the willpower and self -control to follow

through with the expectations you set for yourself.
i. Focus
I wasn’t satisf ied w ith the def init ions of focus I found online, so
I’m defining it my self by combin ing a few definit ions.
Focus is defined as the center of your attention and

concentration.
When you only have one goal at a time you can be laser
focused and disciplined w ith your m ind. Adding th is constraint
is key to your succe ss. With too many things go ing on you’ll
create a lot of half ass things. Y our brain w ill solve your #1
problem to its f ullest potential if you focus on 1 goal.
Focus is be ing able to priorit ize your life so that you

concentrate and pay attention to what’s most import ant to
you.
If your well-being, happiness, an d success are most im portant

to you, then you should create focus aro und these areas.
In today’s world, there is so m uch o ut there trying to pull your

attention in different direct ions.
If you don’t decide what you’re priorit ie s are – what you want
to focus on to create the results you want in your l ife – you are
going to be reacting and liv ing according to someone else’s
priorit ies and goals.
This is where you have to tread lightly when you seek balance.
Intentionally decide what your prioritie s are and focus on them .
Don’t seek balance for the sake of balance. Seek the results
you want to create in your l ife by focusing on them. Seek
balance as specif ically defined by you in the areas that are
most important.
Don’t seek to spend an equal amount of time on all 8 life

categories just because I defined 8 life categories.
Prioritize them and focus your atten tion on what makes sense
to you.
For example, you m ay be in a seaso n of life where you’re in
start ing a business and are recently married. Fin ances, fam ily ,
and your business may be the top three priorit ie s in your life .
Create a balanced life around these priorit ies – not all 8
categories.
You have to decide what balance means to you based on your

values and then plan your life so you focus on those areas.
The more you practice planning, co mmitment , integrity

decision making, product iv ity , t ime -management, constraints,
and discipline, the more focus you will have in your life. All of
these together help you focus. I t would be hard for you to be
good at these oth er skills and lack focus.
Focus is often sited as the most important skill for achieving a

massive goal. The more you focus on something, the more
results you will see in that area of your life.
j. Failure
I saved the best for last – failure !
Failure is defined by Google as “the omission of expected or

required action.”
First and foremost, please know that failure is a skill you need
to get really good at in order to be successful .
If you are afraid to fail , ask yourself why. When you try to
answer that question, it’ s actually very hard. The truth is that
the result of failing is just a feeling. The reason you don’t want
to fail is yo u don’t want to feel a certain way, so you avo id
doing it altogether.
Let’s play this out.
When you take action and you don’t meet your own
expectation , you end up feeling a certain way . B ut your
feelings are based on what you decide to think.
The key to learning how to fail is to change what you make
failing mean.
If you think abo ut failing in a way th at makes yo u feel

disappo inted and de jected, then you are go ing to experience
these negative emotion s. I ronically, you’re avoiding something
you have complete control over (yo ur react ion to failing ).
Failure doesn’t happen to you. What happens is you miss your

expectation, and then you decide to make it mean something
that causes a negative emotion.
Y ou can change this.
Y ou can decide to make failure me an something positive.

Then, you won’t dread m issing your expectat ions be cause you
won’t experience negative emotions as a result of failure .
Y ou’ll reframe your thinking of the missed expectation .
This is why I included space in the WORKBOOKS for you to set a

goal to fail at least 3 times per month.
This w ill reframe how you think abo ut failure . I nstead of feeling
bad about m issing your expectat ions , you should be excited to
mark down one of your fail ures for t he month in your
WORKBOOK . Failures are now going to become badges of
honor for you that make you st ronger.
If you’re not failing regularly, you’re not setting your act ion s
and goals big enough.
Here’s an example. Let’s say I create a book and I expect 30

people to buy it. Only 5 people buy it . I can think it mean s I ’m
not any good at this, and I should stop, an d that I ’m a failure.
Or , I can make it meant that 5 people want what I have to
offer, and I should keep going to see what even more people
want the next time. I should be excited that I set my
expectations so high and t ried.
Note that I’m talking about going for it and missing the mark.
I’m not talking about failing as in “not taking action. ” I f you set
a goal and don’t try, don’t mark that down as a f ailure in yo ur
WORKBOOK . That’ s an integrity issue you have with yourself.
Not a failure. Failure is try ing and m issing the mark.
The best way to meet your expectat ions is to pract ice . The
more you practice taking act ion , th e more you’ll learn to
overcome not meeting your expect at ions. Get over
perfection ism . I t just g ives you an excuse not to put yourse lf out
there.
Practice not beating yourself up for work that doesn’t meet

your expectations.
Expect to fail. Have your own back and treat yourself with
respect. Use failure as an opportun ity to learn and love yourself
more instead of less. Refuse to say mean things abo ut yourself
or to quit.
If you set yourself up for th is ahead of time , you’ll be more

willing to take the action and the risk that most success takes.
To get outside your comfort zone is risky – yo u risk failure . But if
you know you’ll take care of yourself if you f ail, you’ll take
act ion anyways - and be more likely to succeed anyways.
Think of little kids as an example . Th ink of a kid try ing to learn

how to walk. They fall every other step. But they never consider
not trying again . They don’t walk well at first because they
don’t have the strength. When they fall, they have to learn to
push themselves back up and try ag ain . I t’s through falling
down that they get strong enough to do it . Th is is such a great
metaphor for being w illing to fail.
Another example is po uring a glass of water. Y ou are very

confident about po uring yourself a glass of water . I f you miss
the glass and spill it, you don’t make it mean anyth ing
negative or call yourself a failure . You know you just m issed the
glass and w ill try again .
The goal is to get that same sense of confidence for do ing

something you’ve never done. To do this, your confidence has
to come from your ability to fail and knowing you won’t give
up. You can fail and get better and better every time.
I honestly hate the word failure . I don’t think I ’ve failed at
anything. B ut that’s because I don’t see my failures as f ailures.
I’m failing left and right. I just don’t think of it that way .
Here are a few failures that come t o mind:

I got a super low ACT score
I bombed the LS AT
I only got into 1 law school
I took out $206k in st udent loan debt
I failed the CFP exam the first t ime I took it
I’m pretty much below average at everything I try for the
first time
The crazy th ing abo ut these failures is that I never saw them as
failure s. I went to a great college. I went to the only law school
I got into and was top of my class, so I could transfer to a top -
tier law school. I re -took and passe d the CFP exam. I looked at
my debt as an opportunity to creat e a b usiness wh ile working
full time. When I start someth ing new, I don’t care that I ’m bad
at it . I just keep going .
Every time I fail I just get back up and try again. It’s a skill set
that I’ve practiced. I don’t make it mean anything about me.
Failure should be a skill you develop. Y ou should learn to fall

down really well so you have confidence going into your
future . Y ou get good at failure by doing it often.
If you want
success, you
need to double
your failure rate.
- Thomas J. Watson
PART II
DREAM YEAR
WORKBOOK
W ELCOME TO P ART II OF D REAM
YEAR!
Part II of Dream Y ear is the space fo r you to do the work to
plan your goals.
The WORKBOOK has three sect ions:

1. Y EAR WORKBOOK
2. MONTH WORKBOOK
3. WEEK WORKBOOK
Each template in the Workbook incorporates tr adit ional goal

sett ing with deeper thought and feeling work .
Start by completing the YEAR WORKBOOK .
Next, fill out the MONTH WORKBOOK .
Finally, complete the WEEK WORKBOOK.
Once you’ve filled out all three, you can decide if yo u want to
contin ue using the WEEK WORKB OOK with the MONTH
WORKBOOK , or just use the MONTH WORKBOOK alone .
Some people prefer to always use a month planner (sim ilar to

budgeting monthly instead of weekly ), while other people like
the weekly breakdown. See what works best for you and
decide .
When you start do ing the work in the MONTH and WEEK
WORKBOOKS , you’ll notice you’re re -writ ing your goals and
plans a lot. Th is is on purpose . The more you write down your
goals and plans, the more focused you’ll be on achieving
them, and therefore, more likely you’ll get the results you want.
You can achieve any goal you want using this framework. It
works if you do the work.
If you give up on
your dreams,
what’s left?
- Jim Carrey
How To Use
the WORKBOOKS
Here is how you should use the Workbook.
1. Get ready
Start by getting ready .
Print the Y EAR, MONTH , and WEEK WORKBOOKS .
Put your WORKB OOKS in a bin der or folder.
I prefer to 3 -hole punch the WORKBOOKS and put them in a

small binder. I t keeps things organ ized and easy to open and
use . But a folder will also work.
Grab your favorite pen. Seriously, h ow good is a great pen?

The best.
Pour yourself your fav beverage. Because coffee, tea, or water

go right alongside planning your fut ure #am iright?
2. Complete the YEAR WORKBOOK
The YE AR WORKB OOK is the first order of business .
The YE AR WORKB OOK is the big pict ure planning sect ion of the
three WORKBOOKS that yo u need to complete in order to plan
your months, weeks, and days o ut .
The format of the Y EAR WORKBOOK is :
1. Table of Contents
2. the Y EAR WORKBOOK
3. the Y EAR WORKBOOK CHE AT S HEET
The YE AR WORKB OOK is the longer, full version template for

yearly planning .
The YE AR WORKB OOK CHE AT SHEET is the condensed version.
I suggest start ing with the full, long version . Then, on ce you’re
comfortable using the longer versio n, you can use the CHE AT
SHEET .
The YE AR WORKB OOK include s 28 quest ions that are in 4

categories:
1. Reflecting on last year

2. Evaluating the present
3. Creating a 1-year plan
4. Reflecting and evaluat ing how the year went
Once you’ve completed the first 3 section s of the YE AR

WORKBOOK (everyth ing except the reflecting and evaluating
quest ions) yo u can move on to the MONTH WORKBOOK.
3. Complete the MONTH WORKBOOK
The MONTH WORKBOOK is the planning sect ion of the

WORKBOOK that you need to com plete to plan your months.
The format of the MONTH WORKB OOK is:
2. the MONTH WORKB OOK
3. the MONTH WORKB OOK CHE AT SHEE T
Start w ith the full version , then consider using the CHE AT S HEET
in the following months if that’s easier and faster for you.
The MONTH WORKBOOK in cludes 16 quest ions that are in 4
categories:
1. Review ing the big pict ure of your yearly goals and plans
2. Creating a 1-month plan
3. Tracking your monthly progress
4. Reflecting and evaluat ing how the month went
Think of the MONTH WORKB OOK like a monthly budget

template for your happiness, well being, and success . Y ou
should always plan out each month before it start s and
reference it regularly (I suggest nigh tly) to track yo ur progre ss
and evaluate how things are going for you.
After com pleting the first 2 sect ion s of the MONTH WORKBOOK ,
you should f ill out the WEEK WORKB OOK .
4. Complete the WEEK WORKBOOK
The WEEK WORKBOOK is the last tem plate in the WORKBOOK .

Y ou should always plan from the top down – big pict ure f irst ,
then move on to the smaller planning. That’ s why I have it set
up so yo u do the Y EAR WORKBOOK , MONTH WORKBOOK, then
WEEK WORKBOOK in that part icular order.
The format of the WEEK WORKB OOK is:
2. the WEEK WORKBOOK
3. the WEEK WORKBOOK CHE AT SHEET
The WEEK WORKBOOK is opt ional de pending on the extent that

you use the MONTH WORKBOOK . I f you prefer monthly planning,
and use the MONTH WORKBOOK daily (tracking your progress
every day, etc.), then you may f ind you don’t need the WEEK
WORKBOOK .
This is personal preference. I suggest using the WEEK
WORKBOOK to start, then only continuing to use it if yo u
contin ue to do the work. I f it’s too many worksheets to keep
track of every week, stop using the WEEK WORKBOOK and only
use the MONTH WORKBOOK w ith the Y EAR WORKBOOK .
The WEEK WORKBOOK is set up very sim ilarly to the MONTH
WORKBOOK .
The WEEK WORKBOOK includes 16 quest ions that are in 4

categories:
1. Big picture review of your yearly and monthly goals and

plans
2. Creating a 1-week plan
3. Tracking your weekly progress
4. Reflecting and evaluat ing how the week went
Think of the WEEK WORKB OOK like a weekly budget template

for your happiness, well being, and success .
Some people prefer to budget weekly while other prefer to

budget monthly. There is no right answer. Y ou should do what is
easiest for you.
Find a way to incorporate the WORKBOOKS into your ro ut ines.

This is the best way for you to act ually do the work. By making
it a habit, yo u’ll be more likely to stick w ith it . I keep my binder
by my bed and rev iew it at n ight. I t’s the best way for me to be
consistent.
Remember – it only works if you do t he work.
You can’t have a
plan for your day
until you have a
plan for your life.
- Tony Robbins
the YEAR WORKBOOK
T HE BEST WAY TO HAVE THE FUTURE THAT YOU

WANT IS TO DESIGN IT NOW .
- T ONY R OBBINS
YEAR: __________
Table of Contents:
the YEAR WORKBOOK
What follows is a breakdown of each topic in the Y EAR
WORKBOOK . I have provided it for y ou to take a look at each
item here and get a “big pict ure” idea about what you’ll be
doing .
A. REFLECT ON LAST YEAR

1. Reflect on last year. What events took place? Look at
your calendar and write down all the sign if icant events
that occurred (big or small).
2. What did yo u accompl ish last year? What w ins did yo u
have?
3. What failures did you experience last year?
4. What were the top 3 emotions yo u felt last year ?
5. On a scale of 1 to 10 , how did you do in each of the 8 life
categories last year?
6. List 3 words that de scribe last year.
7. Create a title that best describes last year.
B. EVALUATE THE PRESENT

8. What are your current circum stance s in each of the 8 life
categories (in clude only fact s)?
9. List 10 th ings you want that yo u already have.
10. List 10 th ings you love about yourself.
C. CREATE A 1-YEAR PLAN

11. List 20 th ings you want to do o r accomplish in your l ifetime
(bucket list item s).
12. Re-write your bucket list by priorit izing, organ izing ,
categorizing , and remov ing items.
13. Turn one of your top 3 priorit ies into a 1-year SMART goal .
14. Write down why this is import ant for you to accomplish in
your lifetime .
15. Write a letter to your current self from your fut ure self and
addre ss yo ur do ubts and fears as if you’ve already
ach ieved your goal.
16. Break down your 1 -year goal into 12 monthl y goals.
17. Create an action list w ith all your to -dos to ach ieve your
1-year goal .
18. Organ ize your action list by putt ing them in chronological
order (the order you need to do these act ions).
19. Calendar your actions as results in 2 -week increments. U se
the box below to list your act ions again and in clude the
scheduled due date .
20. Plan support ive habit s.
21. Make a list of que st ions to focus on that put yo ur brain to
work on achiev ing your goal and support ing your well-
being and happine ss.
22. Make a list of thoughts to th ink that reinforce the belief
that you w ill accomplish your 1 -year goal and that
support your well -being and happiness.
23. Make a list of emotions to create th at will help you
ach ieve your 1 -year goal and that support yo ur well -
D. REFLECT AND EVALUATE

24. Track your progress (well -being, happiness, an d goal
progress).
25. Make a list of your biggest accomplishments for the year.
26. Make a list of your biggest f ailures f or the year.
27. Reflect on and evaluate your well -being, happiness, and
goal results from the year .
28. Rate your satisfaction with th is year on a scale from
1 to 10.
E. the YEAR WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET
1. Reflect on last year. What events took
place? Look at your calendar and
write down all the significant events
you attended (big or small).
2. What did you accomplish last year?
What wins did you have?
Accomplishments from last year
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
3. What failures did you experience last
year?
Failures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
4. What were the top 3 emotions you felt

last year?
Top 3 emotions
1.
2.
3.
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how did you do
in each of the 8 life categories last
year?
1. Health
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. Relationships
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. Money
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. Career
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. Personal/spiritual development
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. Organization/home
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Fun/entertainment
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. Service/giving back
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
*Overall satisfaction with last year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. List 3 words that describe last year.
3 words that describe last year
1.
2.
3.
7. Create a title that best describes last

year.
8. What are your current circumstances
in each of the 8 life categories
(include only facts)?
1. Health
2. Relationsh ips
3. Money
4. Career
5. Personal/spiritual development
6. Organ ization/home
7. Fun/entertainment
8. Serv ice/g iv ing back
9. List 10 things you want that you
already have.
10 Things you want that you already have
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
10. List 10 things you love about yourself.
10 Things you love about yourself
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. List 20 things you want to do or
accomplish in your lifetime (bucket
list items).
20 Things you want to accomplish in your lifetime
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
12. Re-write your bucket list by
prioritizing, organizing, categorizing,
and removing items.
Bucket list items
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
13. Turn one of your top 3 priorities into a
1-year SMART goal.
14. Write down why this 1 SMART goal is
important for you to accomplish in
your lifetime.
15. Write a letter to your current self from
your future self after you’ve already
achieved your goal.
16. Break down your 1-year goal into 12
monthly goals.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
17. Create an action list with all your to-
dos to achieve your 1 year goal.
Action list
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
18. Organize your action list by putting
your to-dos in chronological order
(the order you need to do these
actions).
Action List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
19. Calendar your actions as results in 2-
week increments. Use the box below
to list your actions again and include
the scheduled due date.
Action List Date
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
20. Plan supportive habits.
How does the habit support your

Habit well-being, happiness, or goal ?
21. Make a list of questions to focus on
that put your brain to work on
achieving your goal and supporting
your well-being and happiness.
Questions to focus on
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
22. Make a list of thoughts to think that
reinforce the belief that you will
accomplish your 1year goal and that
support your well-being and
happiness.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
23. Make a list of emotions to create
that will help you achieve your 1-
year goal and that support your
well-being and happiness.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
24. Track your progress (well-being,
happiness, and goal progress).
Progress
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
25. Make a list of your biggest
accomplishments for the year.
Accomplishments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
26. Make a list of your biggest failures
during the year.
Failures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
27. Reflect on and evaluate your well-
being, happiness, and goal results
during the year.
28. Rate your satisfaction with this year

on a scale from 1 to 10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
the YEAR WORKBOOK
CHEAT SHEET
1 major accomplishment y ou want to achieve in your
life
Your 1-year goal for achieving this
The 12 monthly goals you need to accomplish achieve

your 1-year goal
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Actions you expect to take this year to accomplish
your 1-year goal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Plan supportive habits
How does the habit support your

Habit well-being, happiness, or goal?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Accomplishments and progress made this year
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Failures from this year
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Habit Tracker
To u se, ch oo se on e h abi t to f o cu s on f or th e yea r . Li st i t u nder th e “Ha bi t”
li n e. T h en, m ar k an “X ” o n ever y da y of the yea r th a t yo u do th e ha bi t.
U se mu l ti p l e p a ges fo r mo r e tha n o n e h abi t.
Habit:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
J
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
F
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
M
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
A
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
M
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
J
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
J
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
A
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
S
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
O
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
N
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
D
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Reflection and evaluation
Take some time to rev iew and evaluate your progress on your
well-being, happiness, and goals.
Rate your satisfaction with this year on a scale from 1

to 10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Effective
performance is
preceded by
painstaking
preparation.
- Brian Tracy
the MONTH WORKBOOK
D O TODAY WHAT OTHERS WON ' T AND ACHIEVE

TOMORROW WHAT OTHERS CAN ' T .
- J ERRY R ICE
MONTH: ________________________
Table of Contents:
the MONTH WORKBOOK
A. BIG PICTURE REVIEW

1. Write down your big life goal.
2. Write down why you want this.
3. Write down your 1 -year goal that moves you closer to
your life goal.
B. CREATE A 1-MONTH PLAN

4. Write down the 1 -month goal you expect to accompl ish
this month.
5. Make a list of the act ions yo u expect to take th is month to
accom plish yo ur 1 -month goal .
8. Make a list of emotions to create th at will help yo u
C. TRACK YOUR MONTHLY PROGRESS

9. Make a list of 5 things yo u love about yourself this month .
10. Track your habits.
11. Track your monthly progress (well -being, happiness, and
goal progress).
D. REFLECT & EVALUATE
12. Make a list of your accom plishments for the month.
13. Make a list of the failures yo u had t his month (at least 3 ).
14. Write down the top 3 emotions you f elt this month.
15. Reflect on and evaluate your well -being, happiness, and
progress toward your goals th is month.
16. Rate your satisfaction with th is month on a scale from
1 to 10.
E. the MONTH WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET
3. Write down your 1-year goal that

moves you closer to your life goal.
4. Write down the 1-month goal you
expect to accomplish this month.
5. Make a list of the actions you expect
to take this month to accomplish your
1-month goal.
Action list
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
happiness.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
8. Make a list of emotions to create that
will help you achieve your 1-year
goal and that support your well-being
and happiness.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
9. Make a list of 5 things you love about
yourself this month.
5 Things you love about yourself this month
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
To u se, li st h a bi ts yo u wa n t to f o cu s on f or th e mo n th i n th e l ef t co lu mn
u n d er th e “H abi t” h ea di n g. Th en, ever y da y o f th e m on th tha t yo u do th e
h a bi t, m a r k a n X u nd er th e n um b er th a t rep r esen ts th e da te of th e mo n th .
Li st a s m an y h abi ts a s you wa n t f or t h e mo n th .
Habit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
11. Track your monthly progress (well-
being, happiness, and goal
progress).
Progress
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
12. Make a list of your accomplishments
for the month.
Accomplishments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
13. Make a list of failures you had this
month (at least 3).
Failures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
14. Write down the top 3 emotions you
felt this month.
Top 3 emotions
1.
2.
3.
being, happiness, and progress
toward your goals this month.
16. Rate your satisfaction with this month

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
the MONTH WORKBOOK
CHEAT SHEET
1 major accomplishment you want to achieve in your

life
Your “why”
Your 1-month goal for achieving your 1 year goal
Actions you expect to take this month to accomplish

your 1-month goal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Track your habits
Habit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Accomplishments and progress made this month
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Failures from this month
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Rate your satisfaction with this month on a scale from 1

to 10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Amateurs sit and
wait for
inspiration, the
rest of us just get
up and go to
work.
- Stephen King
the WEEK WORKBOOK
S OME PEOPLE DREAM OF SUCCESS .... WHILE

OTHERS WAKE UP AND WORK HARD AT IT .
- M ARK Z UCKERBERG
WEEK: ________________________
Table of Contents:
the WEEK WORKBOOK
A. BIG PICTURE REVIEW

1. Write down your big life goal .
3. Write down your 1 -year goal that moves you closer to
your life goal .
4. Write down your 1 -month min i-goal that moves you closer
to your 1-year goal .
B. CREATE A 1-WEEK PLAN

5. Make a list of the act ions yo u expect to take th is week to
move you closer to accom plish ing y our 1 -month goal .
8. Make a list of emotions to create th at will help you
C. TRACK YOUR WEEKLY PROGRESS

9. Make a list of 5 things yo u love about yourself this week.
10. Track your habits
11. Track your weekly progress (well -being, happiness, and
goal progress).
D. REFLECT & EVALUATE
12. Make a list of your accom plishments for the week.
13. Make a list of the failures yo u had t his week .
14. Write down the top 3 emotions you f elt this week.
15. Reflect on and evaluate the progress yo u made .
16. Rate your satisfaction with th is week on a scale from
1 to 10.
E. the WEEK WORKBOOK CHEAT SHEET
3. Write down your 1-year goal that

moves you closer to your life goal.
4. Write down the 1-month goal you

expect to accomplish this month.
5. Make a list of actions you expect to
take this week to move you closer to
accomplishing your 1-month goal.
Action list
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
happiness.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
8. Make a list of emotions to create that
will help you achieve your 1-year
goal and that support your well-being
and happiness.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
9. Make a list of 5 things you love about
yourself this week.
5 Things you love about yourself this week
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
To u se, li st h a bi ts yo u wa n t to f o cu s on f or th e week i n th e l ef t col umn
u n d er th e “H abi t” h ea di n g. Th en, ever y da y o f th e week th a t yo u do th e
h a bi t, m a r k a n X u nd er th e d a y of th e we ek yo u do th e h a bi t.
Habit S M T W T F S
11. Track your weekly progress (well-
being, happiness, and goal
progress).
Progress
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
12. Make a list of your accomplishments
for the week.
Accomplishments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
13. Make a list of the failures you had
this week.
Failures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
14. Write down the top 3 emotions you
felt this week.
Top 3 emotions
1.
2.
3.
being, happiness, and progress
toward your goals this week.
16. Rate your satisfaction with this week

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
the WEEK WORKBOOK
CHEAT SHEET
1 major accomplishment you want to achieve in your

life
Your “why”
Your 1-month goal for achieving your 1-year goal
Actions you expect to take this month to accomplish

your 1-month goal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Track your habits
Habit S M T W T F S
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Thoughts to think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Emotions to create
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Accomplishments and progress made this week
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Failures from this week
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Rate your satisfaction with this week on a scale from 1

to 10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Success is not
final. Failure is not
fatal: It is the
courage to
continue that
counts.
- Winston Churchill
PART III
DREAM YEAR
EXTRAS
W ELCOME TO P ART III OF
D REAM YEAR!
In Part III of Dream Y ear , I’ve put together some extras for you
that will help you along the way.
Here’s a list of the extras in Part III :

1. Bonus Tips
2. Sample Questions
3. Sample Thoughts
4. Sample Emotions
5. Journal prompts
The bonus tips w ill help you steer clear of common traps I see
so many people fall into that sabot age their success.
The sample questions w ill give you a list of questions to use for
inspiration if yo u’re struggling to co me up with the types of
quest ions that w ill hel p support your well -being, happiness, and
success.
The sample thoughts sect ion lists ide as for generating new
thoughts that move you closer to an abundance m indset . With
thought work, it’s important to mov e incrementally from the
negative thought to the posit ive thought so you act ually
believe the thought. This list should help you see in real
examples how to do that.
The sample emotions list includes m any different emotions so

you have a broad idea of the possibil it ies when it comes to
creat ing emotion s for yo urself .
The questions, thoughts, and emot io ns list s are merely

illustrative . Use them for examples and inspiration. Don’t feel
lim ited or con strained to my list . An d certainly only use them if
they’re useful in your situat ion.
You can achieve any goal you want using this framework. It
works if you do the work.
Discipline is the
bridge between
goals and
accomplishment.
- Jim Rohn
BONUS TIPS
The bonus tips section is designed t o help you avoid the most
common mistakes I see people make when they set goals.
1. No saying "I don't know"
Rule #1 – there’s no more saying “I don’t know.”
I mentioned this already in the LESS ONS se ct ion, but it is such a

common problem that people share with me, so I included it
here too.
Say ing “I don’t know ” is an excuse. I t keeps you st uck. I t’s a

dream killer.
If you truly believe you don’t know, take act ion to f igure it out .
For example, practice asking your brain “What do I need to do

to know?”
Expect your brain to seek solut ions. It will. Y ou just have to ask
the right questions.
2. No "hoping"
Rule #2 – no hoping.
I don’t want you to “hope” for anything.
Pract ice say ing “I expect to achiev e this goal” versus “I hope
to ach ieve this goal .”
These sentences should feel very dif ferent.
Hope im plies yo u have no control over your outcome s. I t

impl ies ach ieving your goal is go ing to happen to you in stead
of you making it happen .
Instead of “hoping” start ing “expecting .” Feel the difference.

This is so powerful.
3. No scarcity thinking
Rule #3 – no scarcity th inking .
Scarcity means there is never “____ enough ” (f ill in the blank).

Never good enough, never enough money, never enough time,
not enough sleep.
Scarcity is the never enough problem.
Scarcity th inking is when you think from a place of fear (using

your prim itive brain ). I t’s thinking yo u should be worried, and
it’ s th inking that there is a lot to be afraid o f .
Scarcity th inking isn’t useful when it comes to happiness, well -

being , and success.
Any t ime you say “ Th is happened to me so I can’t do XY Z,” or “I

can’t afford that ,” yo u are com ing from a scarcity perspect ive .
Instead of say ing you can’t do som ething or can’t afford

something , frame it as “ This happen ed for me and I could do
XY Z, but I ’m choosing not to ,” or “I am choosing to pay for my
mortgage instead of splurg ing on so mething I don’t need right
now.”
The way you f rame your de cision s should always suppo rt the
power you actually have in your life.
Scarcity th inking creeps up on you so be careful to keep it in
mind when you’re making decisions. Y ou have more power
than you think you do .
4. No reacting to irrational fear
Rule #4 – no reacting to irrat ional fear.
Fear comes from the prim it ive part of your brain , and it is very
useful when you need it (e .g .: someone is about to attack you).
However, it is completely useless when it comes to yo ur
happ iness, well -being, and success – this is irrat ional fear.
Instead of resisting , avo iding, or react ing to this irrat ional fear,
acknowledge it. S ay , “I see you , fear. And yo u’re not useful
here. I’m going to act anyways.”
The key is to act in spite of yo ur fear because this type of fear

isn’t useful (and is harmful ) to your happiness, well -being, and
success.
The more you practice act ing in spit e of your fear, the easier it
gets.
5. No perfectionism
Rule #5 – no perfection ism .
Perfection ism is a dream killer.
If you suffer from perfect ion ism , yo u are hard on yourself, you
fear failure , and yo u are not taking act ion . Y ou’re selling
yourself short and the problem is only going to be fixe d if you
addre ss the deep emotional work at the root of the p roblem
(your thoughts and feelings).
The best way for you to work on perfection ism is to watch your
mind and question your thought s. Do the thought work to
create new belief systems.
Know that your perfection ism is yo ur prim it ive brain t ry ing to

protect you, but actually it’s hurt ing you.
Y ou need to address and f ix yo ur perfection ism problem or else

it w ill sabotage everything in your lif e – from your happiness to
your goals to your relationsh ips to everything in between. I t’s
no joke !
6. No people pleasing
Rule #6 – no people pleasing.
People pleasing is another dream killer.
With perfection ism , you are afraid t o act because everything

you do must be perfect. With people pleasing, yo u act but you
do it for other people. Y ou want everyone else to be happy
and successf ul.
As Brooke Castillo says, “people pleasers are liars.” Wh en you

people please, you go again st what is true for you. Y ou do
what is true for other people. Therefore, you are out of integrity
with yourself.
If you are a people pleaser, work o n your confidence and your

relationsh ip w ith yourself.
The more you l earn to love and appreciate yourself, the

stronger you’ll be from within , and o ver time , the people
pleasing w ill subside .
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Questions take over your brain’s thought process. Therefore,
quest ions treat the cause of your problem because they get to
the thoughts you’re having . By gett ing to the root of your
thinking, que stions are key to beco ming aware of your
thoughts and chang ing the results y ou have in your l ife .
Here are sample question s to use in your life .
Questions for increased awareness ( “why” questions ):

1. Why do I make XY Z amount of money ?
2. Why do I weigh ABC lbs?
3. Why do I have the results I have in my life ?
4. Why am I choosing to com plain ?
5. Why do I let fear get in the way ?
6. Why do I have DEF circumstance in my life?
7. Why am I hard on myself?
Remember, e xternal reasons are not the reason why – you are
the reason you have what you have in your l ife. Th is is good
news because it mean s you can ch ange it .
Here are some q uestions that can help you create new results
in your life that support your happiness, well being, and
success :
1. What does th is circum stance m ake possible?

2. How can I 10x my results?
3. What can I give?
4. What can I learn from this?
5. How can I feel better?
6. What can I do to save more money?
7. What is the solution to this pro blem?
8. How can I enjoy my job more?
9. What is good about to day?
10. How can I love more?
11. How can I serve my audience more ?
12. How can I lose more weight?
13. What do I love about my life?
14. How can I be more generous?
15. How can I find time to work on my g oal today?
16. Should I do A or B?
17. How can I get more organized in m y life?
18. What is the solution to this obstacle?
19. How can I create more of result AB C in my life?
20. How can I practice loving myself more?
21. How can I eat healthier?
22. What do I love about my kids?
23. How can I be better at sticking to m y calendar and
following through with my plans?
24. How can I be happier today?
25. What do I love about my boss?
26. How can I love my spouse more?
27. How can I make more money?
28. How can I have more fun?
Questions you should NOT ask:

1. What is wrong with me?
2. How am I going to get through this?
3. Why is this happening to me?
4. Why can’t she do XY Z?
5. Why can’t I lose weight?
6. Why can’t I be rich?
7. Why did they do that to me?
8. What w ill they think of me?
9. Why is it taking so long?
10. When will it get better?
11. Why am I so broke?
Notice how the second set of quest ions are disempowering and
will create negative thoughts and f eelings in your l ife. These
quest ions don’t serve you.
Ask the right questions and see your brain go to work. It’s
magic.
SAMPLE THOUGHTS
The thoughts you believe are the reason you have the results in
your life . Y our thoughts are the root of the problems you have.
Change your thoughts and you’ll change your life. The trick,
though – and it’s a big one – is that you have to believe the
new thoughts you create.
To change your thoughts, move incrementally from your current

thoughts to neutral thoughts and then from neutral thoughts to
positive thoughts.
Negative Thoughts Neutral Thoug hts Posit ive Thoughts
Here are 12 examples of negativ e thoughts and the ir

corresponding neutral and po sit ive thoughts.
Negative Thoughts
1. I’m always late

2. I never have enough time
3. I’ll never have the money
4. I can’t afford that
5. I hate my job
6. I’m so stressed
7. This always happens to me
8. I’m fat
9. I hate my body
10. She has everything and is so lucky
11. I just feel like blah today
12. My life is hard
Neutral Thoughts
1. I have been on time before

2. I feel like I never have enough time and that’s okay
3. I make money from my job and pay my bills on time
4. I have a certain amo unt of money
5. I have a job
6. There are moments when I am not stressed
7. This happened
8. I weigh 175lbs
9. I have a body
10. She is a person , just l ike me
11. There are days when I don’t feel like blah
12. My life is hard and that’s okay
Positive Thoughts
1. I can be on time
2. I am in control of my schedule and can make t ime
3. I can make more money if I want to
4. I can afford that but I am choosing to spend my money
on something else
5. There are things I like abo ut my job
6. Stress is part of the contrast of l ife, and I can choose not
to be stre ssed by manag ing my m in d
7. This happened for me
8. I love myself no matter what size I am
9. I love my body
10. I am lucky
11. I feel like blah today because I ’m choosing to feel this
way, and I have the power to change it
12. I am strong – bring it on
More likely than not , there are goin g to be many steps in

between your negative , neutral, and posit ive thought s – not
just the 3 thought steps I made for purpose s of this example.
Keep that in m ind as you create your thoughts that yo u may
need to use smaller increments.
Notice , too, how the negative thoughts come from a

scarcity/v ictim m in dset, whereas the positive thoughts come
from a place of abundance and responsibility .
The most important po int to remember is you have to believe

the thoughts for you to create the results in your life .
SAMPLE EMOTIONS
Everything you do is because of a f eeling you have. Thoughts
create feelings. Feelings create act ions. Act ions produce
results. Y ou can feel anything you want to feel without
changing the unchangeable (aka y our circumst ances, yo ur
past , or other people). Y ou have to change your belief system s
to change how you feel. But first , decide what you want to feel
in the first pl ace .
Here are sample emotions that yo u may decide you want to

feel.
Happiness Emotions
Happy Delighted
Joyful Elated
Excited Adm irat ion
Loving Enthusiast ic
Cheerful Blissf ul
Well-Being Emotions
Generous Opt im ist ic
Content Accept ing
Al igned Peaceful
Grateful Open
Serene Carefree
Success Emotions
Confident Powerful
Capable Steady
Driven Successf ul
Focused Inspired
Determined On fire
RESOURCES
Visit Natal ieBacon.com for my latest blog posts.
Podcasts
The Life Coach School Podcast w ith Brooke Cast illo

The School of Greatness with Lew is Howes
The Brendon Show with Brendon Burchard
Y our Move with An dy Stanley
10% Happier w ith Dan Harris
Books
Awaken The Giant With in by Tony Robbins

As A Man Th inketh by Jame s Allen
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
The 15 I nvaluable La ws of Growth by John Maxwell
The Life Changing Mag ic Of Tidy ing Up by Marie Kondo
How Good People Make To ugh Choices by Rushworth
Kidder
The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Designing Y our Life by B ill Burnett & Dave Evans
For my complete book list v isit :

NatalieBacon .com/books- i-recommend/
Journals
The Five Minute Jo urnal

Productiv ity Planner
The Artist Of Life Workbook
The Law Of Attraction Planner
Q& A A Day
The Daily Stoic Journal
Apps/Websites
Evernote
gCalendar
Trello
Day One Journal
Wunderlist
Six months from now
you can be in a
completely different
place mentally,
financially, and
spiritually.
Keep working and

believing in yourself.
- Unknown
THANK YOU
I can’t wait to see what you create in the

world and how you grow as a person along
the way!
Cheers!
One day, in
retrospect, the
years of struggle
will strike you as
the most
beautiful.
- Sigmund Freud

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D ISCLAIMER | D ISCLOSURE | C OPYRIGHT

All the content provided in this eBook is general information .

Wh ile I try to provide accurate general informat ion, it may not

There is no guarantee and there is no warranty with respect to

I disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this

I am part of affiliate advertising programs . Th is means if you

Copyright © 2018 by Natalie Bacon

For que stions or concerns please co ntact me us ing my contact

i. W HAT I S D REAM Y EAR ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

P ART I: THE L ESSONS

i. L EARNING HOW TO FEEL BETTER . . . . . . . . . . 14

H OW TO USE the WORKBOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

B ONUS T IPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

I’m so excited for yo u to get started.

After years of study ing personal development techniques and

Dream Year is different.

I t focuses on deeper work (yo ur tho ughts and feelings) to get

If you set and work toward yo ur goals while managing your

For now, I want you to g et super excited for what’s about to

Let’s get started!

Dream Y ear is div ided into three parts:

Part I : the LESSONS

Y ou’ll learn how to manage your thoughts and feelings so you

Once you’ve learned how to set goals, yo u’ll learn how to

Part II: the WORKBOOK

The WORKBOOK section of Dream Year is your template for

The WORKBOOK has three sect ion s:

Each section incorporates tradit ion al goal -setting (act ions)

Y ou should always use the YE AR WORKBOOK along with one of

Part III: the EXTRAS

The EXTRAS section of Dream Y ear is made up of useful tools for

Here’s a list of the kinds of tools you’ll find in Part III :

These sample question s, thoughts, and emotions w ill help you

Dream Y ear will help you feel better .

Dream Y ear will teach you how to set goals .

Dream Y ear will teach you how to plan like a n in ja.

Dream Y ear will help you increase y our productivity, manage

Mo st importantly, Dream Y ear will show you how to achieve

Y ou’ll learn how to do the internal work required to act ually

You’ll learn how to set goals by following my 16 step goal -

Y ou’ll learn about burno ut and how to avoid it.

Finally, you’ll learn about the most important skills for

I t’s important that you read the LESSONS before moving on to

Here’s to making this your best year yet!

The only reason you want anything is because yo u believe

The biggest secret to the un iverse (and to your happiness) is

Thoughts Feelings Actions Results

Y our thoughts create your feelings.

The circumstances that exist in your life do not have to

This is why most goal setting doesn’t work. It only focuses on

Circum stance s are f acts that could be proved in a court of

Everyone agrees. There are n o thoughts or judgments. Just

Any t ime you add something to de scribe a circum stance , you

These are NOT circumstances:

The second set of statements only expresse s opin ions. People

Circum stance s can be proved in a court of law as fact s.

Thoughts are sentences in your m in d. They are what you th ink

All of your thoughts are choices.

Y ou have a choice to think any way you want to about yo ur