In the LifeSpace Community, Greg Ausley writes:
In LifeSpace, we have diverse group of users trying to accomplish different things. Some are focused on a single, major goal such as running their first half-marathon while others are trying to stay focused in multiple areas of life by setting up goals in each key area. But there are also some who are struggling to even get started because they are overwhelmed with a long list of areas that they feel need major improvement. It can actually be quite debilitating if the list gets too long. We want LifeSpace users to have a rewarding experience while accomplishing great things in their lives. We don't want it to be an overwhelming experience. So here are some tips that will help you achieve success, especially when your list is long and starts getting too overwhelming.
Your worst critic. If you have a very long list of improvements for yourself, it is important to realize that you may be simply too hard on yourself. There is a fine line between wanting to improve your life and wanting to fix your life. Improvement comes from taking what's already good in your life and making it better. Focusing on improvement can keep you focused on what is good as you work to make it even better. On the other hand, fixing often comes from the less healthy position of something is wrong with you. From this perspective, each time you try to fix, you actually remind yourself something is wrong. That is much less empowering.
Focus on the future. Goals should come from a vision of your future self. Knowing who you want to be in the future helps provide you the specific steps to take today as you simply work backward from the finish line. But if you are coming from your past, it is not only unempowering, but also constantly reminds you of what you don't want to be. From this perspective, what's would be more empowering for you? Setting a goal to be "fit, healthy and full of energy", or trying to "lose 15 lbs". One comes from a positive future and the other constantly reminds you of what you aren't happy with.
Keep it simple. Some take on too much early on, only to find a large list of past due items only a few weeks later. This can be very discouraging and can be avoided. To combat this, we suggest that you keep your dreams big, but your early steps small and achievable. When using our goal templates, they can be quite detailed, so we recommend you choose just one or two goals and work them for a few weeks to gain some momentum. Only after you get into the proper flow should you add on an additional goal. This approach works great when taking on a few larger goals. But if are someone who can't help but tackle everything at once, we suggest another approach, which is to create all of your goals in the system using the manual goals and then add simple and achievable steps on an ongoing basis. This way you can create 5 or more goals in the 5 keys areas, but only add one or two steps to each until you make progress with them. When you complete any step you can then add the next one to the goal.
Get support. Finally, we strongly suggest you get at least one or more of your more positive friends on your side. Sharing your goals as well as your step-by-step plan of attack will help create a level of accountability and truly support you in staying on track. We recommend that you combine this approach with keeping it simple in order to have early success when involving your friends in. Nothing creates positive momentum more than having early wins and celebrating them with your friends. Whether you find a group to workout with, discuss healthy eating, talk about getting a better career or even working on having more fun with the family, sharing your goals and your proposed actions with a trusted friend can really go a long way towards ensuring your success.
We are excited to help you take your personal life to the next level and look forward to seeing some comments. We are also attaching a few basic templates that we recommend to anyone looking to get started.