We need to feel we’re moving forward in life to feel fully happy. But how do we do this? Where do we start? How do we face our fears, find motivation, courage and self-confidence? Here are 6 powerful advice to take back control of your life, step by step.

1 – Give yourself time to dream

Moving forward in life doesn’t mean doing what everyone else is doing. In other words, it doesn’t mean making the right choices, not at all.

That’s probably why you haven’t been able to move forward, keep your commitments or achieve your goals.

In fact, it’s quite possible that you’ve made choices by copying those of others, by not wanting to offend them or to make yourself admired by them. It’s normal, it’s human.

The problem is that it doesn’t make us happy, so we end up giving up and stagnating in our lives.

That’s why, if you want to get ahead in life, you have to dream and dream big.

What do you dream for yourself, for your life? Forget about other people, their lives, their choices, their desires.

What do you want? What do you dream of?

I wholeheartedly invite you to take something to write about, and for each area of your life (business, personal, relationship, passion, health, friendship), imagine what you’d like to live.

What’s your dream professional life, your dream couple life? Have fun imagining several scenarios and see which one appeals most to you.

Dream your life. Take the time to do this exercise, over a week for example. It’ll give you a good overview of all the areas of your life, and above all, it’ll give you more permission every day to dream without limits!

2 – Setting priorities to move forward in life

Once you’ve dreamed your life to the full, in all areas, it’s time to sort things out, or more precisely to prioritize certain things.

The more things you want to change in your life, the more you’ll procrastinate.

So keep just 2 or 3 priorities and move on!

To do this, go back to the sheet of paper on which you wrote your dreams and ask yourself: “If I had to keep only 2 or 3 things, what would they be?”

Your choice can be made in several ways: choose the things you enjoy most, or those that seem most urgent or easiest.

Trust yourself. Remember that you can change your mind at any time, and that once you’ve achieved one goal, you’ll move on to the next, and so on.

You just need to prioritize things so you don’t get so scattered and exhausted that you drop everything.

3 – Draw up an action plan to move forward in life

Now that you’ve got your priorities, it’s time to take action. The secret is to take things one step at a time. In other words, take small actions, day after day.

Because if you ask too much of yourself, if what you have to do seems too difficult, too time-consuming, then you’ll procrastinate.

So, take some writing paper and for each priority, list at least 10 ideas for small actions to take.

Example: You want to take up sport again.

Here are some ideas: Make an inventory of the sports gear in your dressing room. Research the sports you’re interested in. Look for places to take your first free class. Ask so-and-so if he or she is interested in doing sports with you. Think about the day you’ll take up sport.

Can you see how these small actions can help you move forward slowly but surely? Now it’s your turn.

4 – Put a lot of joy and passion

The secret to getting ahead in life is to nurture joy and passion. Too often, we are too serious and take things too seriously.

In other words, we turn ourselves into war machines who must achieve their goals at all costs.

The thing is, if we take things too seriously, we end up bored, tired and even disgusted.

That’s why, to really get ahead in life, you must always aim for your joy and put passion into it.

And, first of all, it depends on the goals you’re aiming for: do they make you happy? Yes ? Then keep going. No ? Change your goals or make them more joyful.

Finally, are you motivated by your goal right now, or are you a little bored? If you’re bored, then vary the way you reach your goal.

Example: your goal is to get back into sport. You’ve been running twice a week for 1 month now. But you’re starting to get bored. It’s only natural. So make a change. Go running with other people, in another place, on another day. You could even change your sport: do yoga for the next 2 weeks, then go back to running, for example.

Have fun! It really is the secret to getting ahead in life!

5 – Stop feeling guilty so you don’t give up

Then there will be times when you just don’t feel like it anymore. And that’s normal! Yes, it’s normal to stop doing sport for a period of time, to take a break from learning a language, to not feel like making new dishes for a while.

It’s all normal. We’re not machines. In other words, we have our ups and downs.

The problem is that instead of consciously living through our low periods, with no energy or motivation, we feel too guilty. And we come to believe that we’re useless and weak. And so we give up.

When all we really needed was a little break.

So stop blaming yourself. You’ve been working out for 3 months and now you’ve been off it for two weeks. Breathe and start again.

Think about doing another sport to boost your motivation. Vary the time, place or other.

Look for solutions instead of criticizing yourself.

In fact, to get ahead in life, understand that feeling guilty serves no purpose other than to destroy everything.

You’re a good person and you’re doing your best. So be more kind to yourself. In concrete terms, instead of blaming yourself, comfort and encourage yourself.

6 – Get support to really move forward in life

The problem is that we don’t know how to comfort and encourage ourselves.

Because we’ve learned to criticize and blame ourselves. We’ve learned to doubt ourselves and our abilities.

That’s why we need outside support, and it’s perfectly normal and healthy.

In fact, if you can’t get ahead in life, stop believing that you’re useless or weak. In fact, it’s simply that you need support.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to provoke destiny: 4 tips to force your luck
Discover Willpower: Top 10 tips for overcoming laziness

In addition, I recommend this inspiring book:

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
This novel narrates the personal accounts of Chinese-American immigrant families, delving into generational conflict, cultural identity and the pursuit of happiness and success.
I was so emotionally invested in this novel. I can’t hide the fact that I couldn’t stop crying while reading it.
I love this book about the mother-daughter relationship. I read it several years ago. I decided to read it again.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself.