Supposing you’ve contemplated The One Question to Ask Yourself Before Moving to Huatulco. Supposing you’ve thought about Step One of How to create your Mexico Lifestyle and your Ikigai. You’re ready to put pencil to paper and explore the practical details of moving your life to Huatulco, right?

In this article, I will share an easy-to-use tool to help with the definition of what exactly gets you excited and how to get there. At some point in this process, though, we have to address an important issue.

First, what is holding you back?

You must define what your fear is. As wise Yoda said,

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Indeed, it seems we all come to a stumbling block in our process where our doubts loom and sometimes even like to take over. People often say to me “I wish I could do what you did, moving and changing lifestyles.” Or “You’re so brave. How do you do it?” Or “I wish I could but I just can’t because (fill in the blank.)”

It is true that changing your life can feel like walking to the edge of a cliff. It is not for everyone. Taking the first step is the hardest. You don’t know what will come next. You can fall and you can fly. I definitely felt this. Some will never take the step out of fear.

But the absolute most stimulating factor about this entire process, is that you have yourself to depend on. 

Imagine: What is the Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen?

What is the worst thing that could possibly happen as the result of moving to Mexico? In order to conquer fear, we must first define the fear. If everything goes wrong, what steps can you take to get back on track?

I could lose my current job and not be able to go back to it. Of course if I’m considering this move, it must not be the panacea for my work life or I wouldn’t be considering the change in the first place.

If I rent out my home, I may not be able to get back into it quickly or renters may destroy my house. My bank account may tank. My car may not work when I get back.

As Erin and I worked through this exercise, we came to some liberating conclusions. If everything went wrong, it wouldn’t be that hard to get back on track.

At the same time, we worked through the “if everything goes right” scenario.

The potential positive impacts of the probable positive scenario outweighed the possible and only temporary impacts of a worst-case scenario. 

We decided there was practically no risk and moved ahead with our plans.

A Trial Run

What if you tried out the changes you are contemplating on a trial basis?

How hard would it really be to get back where you are now? Chances are it would not be too difficult. Chances are also that your trial run will be so invigorating and stimulating that you won’t want to go back to your previous situation. Nevertheless, you certainly could.

“Dreamlining” or What do you want?

“’What do you want?’ is too imprecise to produce a meaningful and actionable answer. Forget about it.” (Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week)

The better question is: What makes me excited? Or as Frederic Lenoir proposes in his book, The Power of Joy, “What makes me feel joy?” because joy may be more definable than happiness.

Using a worksheet like Tim Ferriss’ Dreamline worksheets, we set out to define: what we dreamed of having, being and doing. This brainstorming exercise was an incredibly helpful tool in helping us define our future in Huatulco.

If you get stuck on any of these, consider Ferriss’ advice again.

“What would you do everyday if you had $100 million in the bank?”

What would make you excited?

These worksheets guide you through the process of defining the costs of your dreams. These costs will assist you in defining a Target Monthly Income. How much do you really need to make the dreams happen?

The final exercise on the worksheets is to define 3 steps for each of the dreams. The first step must be taken now. This seemingly small action will set you on a path to getting what you want today. Sign up for one of our webinars. Post a question in our comments below. Do something.

Link to worksheets.

https://fhww.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/dreamline.pdf

Link to lifestyle costing.

https://tim.blog/lifestyle-costing/

Scroll to Dreamline Calculators and Worksheets. Instructions are also provided here to help guide you.

So how does all of this relate to my new life in Huatulco? This process makes you the actor of your life, the creator of your lifestyle. You are actively creating what you want and not merely passively seeing what is available. Continue with us to the next article in this series about being productive and driven to meet your lifestyle goals in Huatulco. If you’d like to explore real estate options in Huatulco, get in touch with us today. Take the first step! There’s work to do.