How to Plan Your Life (Interactive Exercise)

It's 2018! Ready to plan out your life from your big dreams & goals down to the nitty gritty details? This is an interactive video to help you plan your life, year, quarter, months, weeks and days - so feel free to follow along and pause to do the exercises as I share them!

// ARTIST OF LIFE WORKBOOK GIVEAWAY [CLOSED]
🌞 UPDATE | Congrats to our winners: Jennifer Marie, Katherine Lin, & Elleine San Andres!

// more resources

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// F O L L O W

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// R E S O U R C E S

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Filmed & Edited by Aileen Xu

// M A I L B O X

Aileen Xu
PO Box 296
Brea, CA 92822

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// A B O U T

I'm Aileen, a lifestyle blogger sharing knowledge and inspiration on creating your dream life.

Lavendaire is my blog about personal growth + lifestyle design. Follow along and learn how you can create a life you love.

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Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored video. All opinions expressed are wholly my own. Some links I share are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them. Any PR samples or gifts are marked with an (*).

[TheJane]

My goal is to be more present. To live here and now. I have tendencies to go back and contemplate on the past, over analyse it and overthink everything. I'm also afraid of the future, I'm often filled up with worries about what future holds. Again, overthinking. But I'm fully aware about that now so I've made a conscious decision to stop that destructive habits. I'm learning how to meditate, be more mindful and calm. I try to stick with my little morning routine which contains short sessions of meditation and reading motivational books. I know it's worth it because as Thich Nhat Hanh once said: "Your true home is in the here and the now".

[seoulologyy]

Progress not perfection is my focus. I’ve been sick for the first two weeks of January so my goals haven’t been making much progress, so I’m giving myself time to recover and get back at cultivating my goals. Although taking care of my body/health is a goal, I didn’t think I would be forced to progress in that. Lol. That’s also my motto and constant reminder to myself- slow and steady wins the race. My focus is on my own journey even if the pace is slow towards my goals, I’m learning to celebrate that. Little by little progress adds up.

[storyalchemist_]

🌸 My focus for this quarter 🌸
➡️ landing my dream job which will allow me to work remotely and be more flexible
➡️ meditate everyday
➡️ do yoga 4 times a week
➡️ do research on starting my own side business
➡️ educate myself on things I am passionate about: design, creatovity, productivity, conservation and sustainability 🌿🌍
Can't wait for the process of making all of this come true 🌸❤

[potnurukeerthana]

FIRST QUARTER GOAL: Landing my dream job that I have been actively seeking for an year now. My patience and perseverance have radically increased and I had the opportunity to change my life drastically with this long tedious process. I have made major changes in my routines, approaches and most importantly my mindset. I have already visualized my future and I know I have it already. Thanks to your videos, I worship them daily.

[cassylk]

My goal is to face my fears and cure my social anxiety, and to always look on the bright side of things ❤

[taylorw]

My theme for the year is to be more bold. So, my quarterly goal is to figure out how to be bold in the different aspects of my life, and then implement those ideas throughout the year. For instance, so far my ideas are, in school I plan to be bold by trying new study techniques and talking to professors more. With friends I plan to be bold by reaching out to people I haven’t in years. In love, I’m being bold by going up and talking to people I never would have talked to before. And with myself I plan to be bold by doing something that takes me out of my comfort zone weekly!

[sanaolatanzem]

First, I wanna thank you for giving me hope by the effort you do in every single video. It changed me to a better version of myself 😊.

This year I focus on improving myself mentally, spiritually, physically, socialy beside journalling. First quarter will be for physical and cherish good moments by achieving the following 3 goals (habits).

* drink 1 litre of water daily
* workout 10min daily
* write down 3 good things happened daily (creating gratitude journal)

[lucygilmour]

My main goal is to stop being so anxious about everything and I also want to focus on studying effectively for my exams without wasting time and procrastinating! Your channel is honestly amazing and you are such an inspiration! xxxx

[lavendaire]

🌻 UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED! Congrats to our winners Jennifer Marie, Katherine Lin, & Elleine San Andres!

[KitsuYasha]

Life gave me a very rough start from the beginning. And I've been riding out a sub-par life for so long with a severe lack of motivation coming out of high school 10 years ago. But after finding you and watching your videos you've ignited the spark I used to have. How organized, timely, and positive I could be by breaking down the big picture. And above all, staying positive. The world is not out to get me and I need to just breathe. I'm human, I'm allowed to make mistakes, and I'm allowed to learn from them.

So for the first time in years, I walked away from my pc, sat in a quiet room, and thought about what I want to accomplish this year. Not just the overwhelming pile or responsibilities I can't seem to get a hold of and give up on halfway through.

For 2018 :
I WILL move up in the company I work for or move on to something better. I've been in the same place for years and I know I can better myself more than this. I'm even updating my resume and cover letter as we speak before submitting them to management.

I WILL learn to drive. I've never owned a car. Silly I know. My folks never had one to give me so I was discouraged with the knowledge that I have to save up for my own as well as my fear of getting in an accident. But I'll never be a safe driver if I'm never a driver at all.

I WILL go back to school! I'm still in debt from dropping out years ago because a financial hardship forced me into the workforce straight out of high school. I couldn't keep up with juggling work and online classes. "I'm embarrassed to go back after these years and I feel like I just won't have the time." will no longer be my mantra.

I WILL maintain a healthier lifestyle! You've heard of stress eating? Will I'm a stress starver. And when I do eat it it's nothing but carbs. And with my full-time job I just don't go out, I used to go to a gym, I used to enjoy making healthy meals. This year I'm going to plan out EVERYTHING! Things are more achievable broken down on paper as you said. And I'm going to STICK WITH IT!

Apologies for the long response, the giveaway aside I'm just excited and scared and starstruck with how I'm feeling right now. Motivation has been something impossible to grasp for so long and I've gone through dozens of websites and self-help videos and tapes but you're just so genuine in what you say, and how you say it, and how you carry yourself. You feel down to earth, not on some pedestal of self-improvement that we can ever hope to be on. And it's the most comforting thing I've experienced in a long time. So thank you for doing what makes you happy, and thank you for helping people like me.

[OceaNe]

My goal for the year is to plant the seeds for success. For example after my degree I want to travel for a year and so I need to plan my budget, spare money and learn a new language ! I also want to have a successful career in natural science, so I want to get good grades and connect with passionate people in my field.
For the first quarter of 2018 I want to be more organised and develop a routine. It includes weekly yoga sessions, reading more books (both for fun and for personal development) and practicing Mandarin regularly. I also want to wake up earlier to have slow mornings and begin my day on an happy and productive note.
Okay it got very long but you inspire so much to think and believe in myself and unlock my potential so yeah, thank you ! Hope your year will be bright, sending you love from Switzerland !

[elaynaparandi]

And also my quarterly goal is to create more and consume less. I got the idea from Rowena Tsai. I always use consuming things like youtube and netflix to run away from responsibilities. If I stop doing that I will have more time and I can use that to work on personal projects and show my work to others. So far it has worked well for me. I've won two awards on one of my projects!
I specifically want to create more poems, stories, short films, etc. I really love creating those types of things. I'm usually very scared to show my work to others at first, but after it feels great and helps me grow. I find focusing on this helps me grow in my hobbies the most out of what I've tried.
Like always thank you for your videos Aileen.

[gabrielleholt]

My 2018 goal is to establish myself as a writer and build up my website from scratch! My content is focused around the self and societal oppressions facing women of color and how we can overcome our psychological struggles. I suffer from Bipolar Depression so I dream of becoming a fierce feminist writer and mental health advocate for black and brown women everywhere!

My action steps:
1. Freewrite for 30 minutes a day to get the juices flowing for creativity
2. Take a Skillshare class or two on how to market my website on social media
3. Make a habit of meditating to calm my spirit by starting with one minute everyday

(Also, I just finished reading one of the books you suggested to us "The War of Art" and the concept of Resistance resonated so deeply with me that I plan to revisit the book for inspiration throughout the year! Thank you!)

[shardjosemito]

Last year I had one word as my focus: Happiness. This year I've decided on a sentence: I am the creator and creation. Meaning I can manifest anything I put my mind and heart to. That I am God. Feeling and gratitude, opening my heart. This is my focus for 2018. Love your videos btw, xoxo

[alisonfisher]

My quarterly goals are:
1. To save for a portable piano
2. To focus exclusively on technical work during piano practice
3. To attend church at least once per fortnight

I love the way you had us break down the goals gradually because I often have trouble connecting my day-to-day actions with my larger goals. With these 3 points of focus for the quarter, I can see that I am working on my bigger goals, such as: becoming a piano teacher, developing self-discipline, developing patience, conquering my extreme anxiety, and living according to my values - just to name a few! I am so thankful for your genuine desire to see others succeed in life.

[Yourmeg]

My goal is to be happier than I used to be and make more friends. Often times I just feel so lonely, I'm not good at making friends and I'm always to afraid to start a conversation, I'm afraid that they find me weird.
I liked to stay at home, watching movies, read books, listen to musik etc, I'm just feel uncomfortable to go outside.
Yeah I'm weird

[DiaPa]

Hi Aileen, my main focus this year is to love my self. I was thinking of my quarterly focus and goals and it would be:
1. Start with my health, since I had some health issues last december I want to continue taking care of my self by going to the doctor and with a nutrisionist.
2. Selflove, I want to work in your Artist of life workbook, start dancing salsa, get a massage, give myself the time to visit my friends, reed amaizing books, etc.
3. Travel, i think traveling is an amazing experience for personal growth.
Thanks for reading, I hope to win <3

[Gavriela.]

this year I decided to move to the Netherlands. I just finished my Master degree and i am open to new adventures. Hopefully 2018 will be I love you videos . greetings from Greece!!!!

[PurevsurenByambasaikhan]

Thank you, Lavendaire, for the awesome job you do. I take care of my brain damaged daughter and time is a precious resource I must plan carefully. Last year I was able to get my head out of the whirlwind of my responsibilities and look around to see what I can do for others in my country, Mongolia, especially those with similar burden. I started YouTube channel sharing what I learned about planning bilingually with focus on Mongolian language content as it is scarce at the moment. This year I decided to help at least ten mothers with disabled children. Your ideas have helped me to grow so much, I wanna do the same for other mothers. Keep inspiring!

[sourlemons]

Q1: Rejuvenate my adventurous self(* release modern dance), So much self love that I'm overflowing (*brushing the long hair that I have now), Daily gratitude (* take a moment to draw something around you, study its awesomeness). Thank you Lavendaire!