My Story: How I got a hot tub & became a dance teacher…

Imagining Myself in 10 Years

Five years ago I turned 40 and threw myself a party called Imagine Yourself in 10 Years, where I asked everyone to come dressed as themselves 10 years in the future.

To prepare for the party, I wrote a vision of my future self in 10 years. It talked about my future from two different aspects: what I would have acquired & accomplished and what I would be doing & feeling.

At the time, I was living in my girlfriend’s apartment, working in a business that I was no longer passionate about. In my vision, I wrote:

We will have a 3-bedroom house in Asheville walking distance to downtown with a hot tub and a guest room.

My First Life Portfolio

A few months later, I created a tool called a Life Portfolio that allowed me to visualize my life and where I was spending my time. It helped me realize what in my life I needed to get rid of and what I needed to nurture.

I started making changes in my life.

I put projects on hold that I didn’t have time to dedicate to. I transitioned out of responsibilities I was no longer passionate about. I focused on foundational activities that gave me time and energy to do the things I valued.

A year later, we bought a 3-bedroom house in Asheville, walking distance to downtown, with a guest room and an extra sun room.

But still no hot tub—and I still felt trapped in a business I had created, but had no passion left for.

Writing a Personal Annual Plan

Two years after we bought the house, I wrote a Personal Annual Plan that looked at my goals from three aspects: themes, objectives and key results.

My plan included my priorities, which included selling my business, and strategies for achieving my goals. One of those priorities was—you guessed it—getting a hot tub.

A few months later, I signed the papers to sell my business, and that fall we were installing a hot tub in the backyard of that 3-bedroom house I had only dreamed 3 years earlier.

Starting to Teach Dance

Back when I created my 10 year vision, I wrote in it:

I will teach swing and hizzop dance once a week, and go out dancing several nights a week.

But when I wrote out my Personal Annual Plan, the idea of teaching dance was still a distant dream. I had only planned to add more dancing into my life.

That summer, one of the top bandleaders in town approached me and asked if I would teach a short 30 minute dance lesson every Monday night before his band played.

I had a lot going on at the time and wasn’t “ready” to start teaching. Normally, I would have told him no or that I needed to think about it, potentially missing the opportunity.

Instead, because it was in my vision, I immediately said yes and rearranged my life to make it happen.

The vision wasn’t a plan for how I was going to change my future, but gave me the clarity to know when to jump on an opportunity.

Why I Started Strategic Life Tools

After my last company was acquired, I started working for the acquirer. It gave me time and space to think about what I wanted to do next.

One day, I wrote the following short tool:

In my   work, personal or volunteer    life, I help   who do you help?   to   what do you help them do?  .

While my new job was interesting and I was working with great people, this is how I filled this exercise out:

In my work life, I help online retailers to sell more stuff.

This helped clarify for me that I wanted more meaning in my work. I wanted that tool to read:

In my work life, I help people to live more fulfilling lives.

And, with that, the idea for Strategic Life Tools was born—to take the tools I used myself, that had helped me change my life, and that I was sending via e-mail to people I mentored informally, and make them available to many, many more people.

I hope you join the site and that I can help you too to live a more fulfilled life.