🏃‍➡️Translating Vision Into Action

🎯 This Week’s Focus

Last week, we explored defining your North Star—the guiding vision that aligns your decisions with your core values and aspirations. This week, we focus on turning that clarity into tangible progress by setting intentional goals in six key life areas.

Goals matter because they connect your aspirations to your daily actions, creating a clear path from vision to reality. They provide focus, momentum, and measurable progress, helping you live intentionally and in alignment with your purpose.

Your brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) plays a pivotal role in this process. Acting as a personal filter, the RAS helps you sift through endless information and spotlight what aligns with your goals. For example, when you decide to improve your fitness, you may suddenly notice gyms, workout routines, or fitness groups everywhere. This isn’t coincidence—it’s your RAS highlighting what matters most to you. By clearly defining and regularly revisiting your goals, you prime your RAS to recognize opportunities, solutions, and resources that can help transform your vision into reality.

Before we dive into Week 2, take a moment to reflect:

• What did you discover about your vision last week?

• How can you use goal-setting to turn that vision into a reality?

Get ready to explore practical strategies and frameworks that will make your vision actionable. Let’s set goals that inspire, motivate, and create real momentum in your life. 🏃

💼 Career

Crafting a Purposeful Path

Crafting your career isn’t just about titles or salaries—it’s an opportunity to design a professional path that leads towards your long-term aspirations. Moving from aspiration to action requires breaking down big goals into smaller, tangible steps that you can act on now. Each step should align with your purpose while building momentum and incrementally moving you towards your vision.

Instead of chasing arbitrary milestones or promotions, focus on SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). For example, if your career vision includes leading a team or transitioning to a new industry, start by identifying immediate actions, like signing up for a leadership workshop or scheduling informational interviews with people in that industry. Each small win brings you closer to your broader goals and makes the process feel achievable.

✅ Key Takeaway: Purposeful career goals act as a milestone markers, guiding your growth in alignment with your values.

🚀 Quick Win: Create a “Development Path”

1. Reflect on your values from last week.

2. Define a SMART career goal that aligns with these values, such as completing a certification or leading a new project.

3. Break down the goal into specific, actionable tasks with deadlines. Track your progress and achievements to share with your manager, mentor, and others along the way.

📚 Essential Reading: Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader by Herminia Ibarra – Discover how experimenting with your professional identity can help you find clarity and purpose.

📖 Further Reading: What Are Professional Development Goals? 10 Examples – Learn how to set and achieve career goals that align with your aspirations and values.

💝 Relationships

Cultivating Intentional Connections

Amid busy routines, it’s essential to prioritize deep connections to prevent them from becoming superficial or neglected. Moving from envisioning the type of relationships you want to cultivating them requires intentionality and clear goals.

This means reflecting on the people you want to grow closer to and setting specific actions to connect with them intentionally and regularly. It could involve reaching out to mentors or loved ones, creating new connections in a new environment, or deepening self-awareness to better support those you care about. As the saying goes “we are the sum of the five people we spend the most time with.”

✅ Key Takeaway: Strong, intentional relationships require thoughtful care and deliberate effort. By setting actionable goals for connection, you can cultivate bonds that reflect your values and support your journey toward your North Star.

🚀 Quick Win: Create a Connection Calendar

1. Reflect on one relationship you want to improve. Bonus points if you pick a relationship from different circles of life (e.g., familial, professional, social).

2. Define one clear goal for how you want to improve the relationship, such as initiating deeper conversations, being more present, creating a shared experience, or offering support. Make sure this ties back to your vision.

3. Start with one small step, like scheduling time with that person and telling them about your goal. Be sure to track your progress over the next week.

📚 Essential Reading: Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by Jennie Allen – Discover actionable strategies for creating meaningful connections and fostering a sense of belonging in today’s fast-paced world.

📖 Further Reading: 5 Keys to Creating Conscious & Intentional Relationships – Explore actionable strategies to foster authentic, growth-oriented relationships.

🧘 Wellbeing

Starting Sustainable Health Habits

Your wellbeing—physical, mental, and emotional—is the foundation for achieving your goals and thriving in daily life. While life admin tasks help you maintain a baseline by meeting basic needs like sleep, wellbeing habits enhance your quality of life and resilience. Tangible goals in this area can elevate your mood, focus, and energy levels, enabling you to pursue your vision with renewed strength.

Often, wellbeing goals fail because they’re disconnected from a larger purpose. As James Clear explains, habits tied to your identity or values—like wanting to be a pickleball champ or feel energized for loved ones—are more sustainable and meaningful. Break down your wellness goals into small, consistent actions that feel achievable and empowering. Whether it’s adding a short walk to your day or practicing gratitude journaling, these habits compound over time, creating a strong foundation for other life areas.

✅ Key Takeaway: Sustainable health habits are achieved through clear, actionable goals that align with your overall vision for wellbeing. By prioritizing small, realistic goals, you can create habits that multiply your energy and resilience.

🚀 Quick Win: Develop a Wellness Routine

1. Identify Wellbeing Priorities. Choose one focus area, such as meditation, exercise, or mental health.

2. Anchor the priorities in a tangible, SMART goal. For example, “Walk 30 minutes daily, three times a week, for the next month.”

3. Track progress using a journal or app (like Daylio) to monitor consistency and adjust as needed.

🎧 Essential Listening: Huberman Lab Podcast by Dr. Andrew Huberman – Discover actionable science-backed habits for optimizing health and performance.

📖 Further Reading: The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner – Discover how lifestyle habits and community impact well-being and longevity.

💰 Finances

Setting Money Milestones with Purpose

Your finances are a reflection of your values and priorities. To create your "rich life," define what “being rich” means to you—whether it’s traveling the world, supporting a creative passion, or building financial security. Getting specific allows you to be more targeted in how you spend and save so that you can take more active steps towards your “rich life.” Whether saving for a trip to Italy, paying off debt, or building an emergency fund, aligning these goals with your values makes spending intentional and empowering.

✅ Key Takeaway: A rich life is personal and purposeful. By focusing on meaningful goals and aligning your resources with your values, you create a clear roadmap to live intentionally and pursue fulfillment.

🚀 Quick Win: Set a Financial Goal for Alignment

1. Based on the values you identified last week, define your “Rich Life” by writing down your top financial aspirations (e.g., travel, career flexibility, or homeownership).

2. Create Specific Money Goals. For instance, "Save $10,000 for a sabbatical over 24 months by setting aside $417/month."

3. Identify one immediate step, like automating savings for that goal or reducing an expense that may not bring as much value to you.

📚 Essential Reading: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez – Learn how to transform your relationship with money by aligning spending with your values and focusing on financial independence.

📖 Further Reading: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel – Explore how mindset and behavior influence financial success.

🎨 Hobbies & Interests

Nurturing Your Passions

Hobbies enrich your life by fostering creativity, curiosity, and joy. Yet, they’re often the first to be pushed aside when life gets busy. Setting intentional goals around your hobbies ensures they remain a fulfilling part of your routine and contribute meaningfully to your vision.

By creating goals and dedicating time and energy to nurture your interests, you can create space for joy and unlock new skills, experiences, and relationships that enhance other areas of your life. One way to make time for hobbies is to treat them as non-negotiable appointments. Whether it’s painting, writing, or gardening, aligning your creative pursuits with your vision ensures they add meaning to your life rather than being an afterthought.

✅ Key Takeaway: Hobbies are a bridge between your passions and your goals. By intentionally integrating them into your routine, you can discover joy, strengthen your identity, and create opportunities for growth that align with your vision.

🚀 Quick Win: Plan Your “Creative Block”

1. Choose a hobby that resonates with your vision (e.g., painting for creativity, joining a hiking group for connection).

2. Commit to a specific, tangible goal—such as attending a class for one month, completing a project, or dedicating two hours weekly.

3. Regularly reflect and evaluate how your hobby contributes to your wellbeing and growth.

📚  Essential Reading: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert – Learn how curiosity and creativity can lead to clarity and courage.

📖 Further Reading: The Intersection of Art and Health: How Art Can Help Promote Well-Being – Learn how creative activities can enhance overall well-being and quality of life.

🗂 Life Administration

Designing Paths to Productivity

How many of us are guilty of putting off errands, leaving dishes in the sink, or staying up for just 30 more minutes? It happens to the best of us. Translating your vision for everyday tasks into specific, actionable goals ensures these essential activities are not overlooked. These tasks form the backbone of daily life, such as organizing your space, managing your schedule, or planning meals, and are critical for achieving balance and focus.

For instance, if your vision includes feeling well-rested and becoming an early riser, you might set a goal to establish a consistent bedtime and create a calming evening routine. Similarly, if your goal is to maintain a cozy, welcoming home, breaking down the vision into manageable steps like daily tidying or a weekly deep clean ensures you stay on track. With clear, intentional goals, life admin activities become opportunities to create balance, rather than chores that compete with your priorities.

✅ Key Takeaway: Life administration is a tool for aligning your daily habits with your vision. By designing efficient systems and intentional routines, you create a foundation for growth and productivity.

🚀 Quick Win: Set Up a Life Admin Goal

1. Choose one area to improve, like decluttering your workspace or simplifying your weekly schedule.

2. Set a SMART Goal. For instance, "Dedicate 15 minutes daily to organizing my workspace after finishing work for the next two weeks," or "Spend 10 minutes each evening before getting ready for bed planning the next day to ensure a focused and productive start."

3. Implement a System: Automate or streamline the task to make it easier to maintain (more on this next week).

📚 Essential Reading: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman – Explore how to make the most of your time by focusing on what truly matters.

📖 Further Reading: The Eisenhower Matrix: Prioritize Your Tasks Effectively – Discover how to identify and focus on what matters most.

📝 This Week’s Challenge

🎯 Goal: Take one area of your life and set a SMART goal that aligns with your North Star.

Steps:

1. Reflect: Choose one of the life areas (career, wellbeing, etc.) where you feel ready to make progress.

2. Set Your Goal: Use the SMART framework to define the goal. For example: “I will schedule one coffee chat with a mentor this month to gain insights on professional growth.”

3. Plan Your First Step: Identify a small, actionable step you can take this week, like drafting an email or setting up a calendar reminder.

📅 Next Week’s Preview

Next week, we’ll focus on designing systems to streamline decision-making and make progress inevitable. We’ll explore how creating frameworks can help you stay organized, reduce chaos, and align your life with your vision and goals.

Ready to build an intentional life?

🔗 Be on the lookout for our website that will launch later this month to learn more about coaching and to see if it’s a right fit for you!

📱 Follow The Wonder Project on Instagram and X for quick reminders, stories, and practical advice to keep you on track throughout the week.

About Kevin

Kevin Earl Tan helps people to design their lives through evidence-based coaching and systems thinking. He is pursuing his International Coaching Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certification. Kevin combines academic insights from his Masters in Human Resources from the University of Southern California along with practical application from 10+ years in change management and leadership to make behavior change simple and approachable.