I say all of the time that you can’t have a backup plan for your dreams. If you do, you’re automatically dooming yourself to whatever backup plan you’ve come up with, because by having a backup plan, you won’t push yourself to do what it takes to achieve Plan A.
Sure, you might tell yourself that you’re giving it a go… for a few years or a few months or whatever. And if it doesn’t work out, you’ll just fall back on your backup plan and then spend the rest of your life talking about and thinking about what might have been.
If only you hadn’t given up.
If only you had fully gone all in on your dream life.
If only you didn’t have a backup plan.
But here’s the thing when it comes to having your dream life… your dream life showing up (or not) is a byproduct of who you are as a person. It’s who you’re being in any moment that will determine what the future holds for you.
So how can you have a backup plan on being who you are?
That’s like saying there’s a replacement for you, in case you don’t fully show up in the world and do the work you’re being called to do.
Except there isn’t. There’s no backup version of you. Because there can never be another you.
You came to this world with unique skills, talents and gifts that need to be shared.
Which is why you must fully show up, every single day, as the person you want to be. Not as the person you’ve been up to this point or the person you think you should be, but the person you want to be RIGHT NOW.
The truth is, you can act your way into anything you desire. You can choose in any moment to BE the person who has the dream life you want for yourself. You can decide that you will be that person inside and out and then shift your beliefs, thoughts and physical reality to reflect that decision.
Want to know how I started selling more books and making more money in my writing business than ever before? You may want to grab a seat for this one, because what I’m about to reveal may just throw you for a loop.
Here are the main things I did that helped me start selling more books and making more money…
1. I allowed myself to want what I really want
For a long time I’d dream of making $50,000 a month in my business, a big chunk of which would come from my book sales. But because I had no clue how this could happen, I never allowed myself to want it. Until a year ago, when I met a mentor who pushed me to finally allow myself to want what I really want, even if I have no clue how I’ll get it.
So I started saying I wanted to make $50,000 a month in my business.
Allowing myself to want and to ask the Universe for what I really wanted got the ball rolling in that direction, and more money started coming in.
2. I started tracking my income and my book sales daily
Yes, daily. Even when at first I was only writing down 3-4 book sales a day. But I kept at it. I kept checking the numbers and tracking them every day. And the numbers have grown and keep on growing. Why?
Because what you focus on expands.
So if you want to grow your income and/or your book sales, you have to PAY ATTENTION to them!! You’ll never make the book sales you want to make by sticking your head in the sand because you don’t want to see that you’ve sold 0 books or only 2 books or whatever.
Every author has a 0 book sales day (usually many). Every author starts out with low sales and grows from there.
But the authors who keep track of their book sales with intention will see that number grow.
3. I got rid of all the clothes in my closet that the $50,000 a month version of me would never wear
When I looked at my closet, there was so much junk in there—stuff with holes, clothes I’d had since college that didn’t quite fit me anymore, etc., and so I went through my entire closet and asked myself, if I was already making $50,000 a month, would I wear this?
For anything where the answer was “no,” I put the item into a bag for donation. At the end of the clean out, I had 5 huge trash bags of clothes I was donating, and a closet that didn’t have a whole lot of stuff left in it.
But the stuff that was left made me feel like who I imagined I’d be if I was already making $50,000 a month. And stepping into being that person now, rather than waiting ’till I was already making $50,000 a month to be that person, allowed the money and book sales to flow.
4. I subscribed to StitchFix and got a delivery monthly
StitchFix is a clothing delivery site where you choose the styles you like and then a personal stylist picks 5 items a month for you to try at home. You try it on, keep what you like and send the rest back.
I signed up for this because the $50K a month version of me would wear higher quality name brand clothes.
At the time when I signed up for this I had no idea if I’d actually be able to afford it each month. But I just trusted that this was a major act as if moment for me to show the Universe who I wanted to be.
Not only did the money show up to pay for my Fix every month, but I also now have 12 new high-quality items in my closet that the $50,000 a month version of me would definitely wear.
5. I started writing and publishing more books
The ‘dream life’ version of me is an author who has hundreds of books out in the world. So if I was going to be that author now, I had to start writing and publishing more books.
Which is exactly what I did in 2016. I wrote 9 books and published 7 of them, and my book sales numbers and the money I’m making from my books has grown every month.
I haven’t yet made $50,000 a month, but ever since doing these 5 things, I’ve consistently made $5,000-7,000 a month (give or take a random month). Before that I was all over the map, money-wise.
Now I will add that doing the stuff that I did definitely requires a level of trust in the Universe and in yourself. But for me, I’ve found acting as if to be the most powerful way to manifest anything that you want or need.
If you can just figure out who you want to be—or who you would be if your dream life was already your real life—you can start acting your way into living that life right now, today.
That’s what I do. Every single day. I ask myself CONSTANTLY what the ‘dream life’ version of me would look like, act like and be like on a daily basis. I have lists of the actions I’d be taking daily and I’m constantly comparing my current life and my current ways to being to the actions that are on that list.
When things aren’t aligned, meaning when I’m not acting the way the ‘dream life’ version of me would act, I adjust course where necessary until I am.
Sometimes that means creating new habits, sometimes it means sustaining old ones, sometimes it means changing the way I’m doing something (like eating or exercising), sometimes it means getting rid of or letting go of stuff that no longer aligns with the ‘dream life’ version of me.
It’s a constant process. Alignment is something you have to be mindful of every day. It’s something you need to be asking yourself about on a regular basis: Am I doing things that will get me where I want to go? Or am I sabotaging myself and getting in my way?
By committing to alignment and to being the ‘dream life’ version of you right now, you can act your way into any life and any success that you desire. You can become the smarter, richer, hotter, better version of yourself—the person you see yourself as (or want to see yourself as) in your head—right now.
But you have to decide, once and for all, that you will go all in on being that person. That you will keep yourself aimed at the ‘dream life’ version of you and that you won’t stop ’till you get there.
Because there’s no backup plan for being you.
Write with a purpose, live with intention,
#DailyThinkDifferent #DreamLifeOrBust
Exactly what I needed to hear! Loved your article. Would love to join your email list.
@Madison You can join my email list here: http://www.jenniferblanchard.net/newsletter or by signing up in the sidebar of the blog.