Your life is built up entirely of your actions, thoughts, and emotions. You have much more control of all of these than you realize. Plan for them being realistic but daringly optimistic and always with the big picture in mind. Action by action, thought by thought like bricks building a fortress.

Act how you would want your children to see you, and how you would want them to be as adults.

Treat people the way you would want to be treated.

Think of actions from others that you dislike. Don’t do them.

Think of actions that you regret doing. Stop doing them.

Think of actions that you never regret doing. Do it more often.

Think of situations you have trouble dealing with. Work on a better way.

Identify which relationships are dragging you down. Re-invent them or remove them. No matter how important they were in your past, nothing is allowed in your future without your permission.

Identify your pet peeves and other triggers. Nearly all bad actions in the world stem from these childhood traumas. Label them as small potatoes and never confuse them for the big stuff. Overcome them and accept them as imperfections in your story. Minimize the attention you give them, eliminate them if possible.

Be like your role model. Don’t have one? Then create one. Pick the most admirable qualities from anyone in history, even yourself at your best moments. Combine this with all of the above to create your future avatar. Engineer all your actions, thoughts, and emotions using this avatar as your compass.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of unapplied self-care. Feeling good and inspired is all and well, but life’s rewards and challenges don’t come when you’re sitting comfortably reading a book. Walk the walk, not talk the talk. Use the tools you acquire to plan your goals for the strongest version of you. Your version of yourself… not the version your parents, culture, or social environment projected on you. Plan for happiness, plan for abundant energy, plan for fulfillment, and even plan for imperfection at times. Build your future with the perspective of an elevated but realistic lens.

Make sure all of your actions are geared towards this new life and minimize all thoughtless, unproductive, and knee-jerk motions.

Last but not least, feel as good as possible at all times. Life is a roller coaster and will berate you with both the good and the bad. Allow the highs to be as high as possible, but force the lows to also be as high as possible. Joy and happiness are infinite and are not in a zero-sum game with sorrow and pain. Battle for your dream life and feel amazing about it.