Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 248

How to Accomplish Anything You Want

Have you ever wondered why some people are successful and others are not? Why is it that some people appear to be living their dreams and others only complain about not achieving the same thing. Have you ever thought about being on your death bed, looking back over your entire life and admitting that you have no regrets? 

Such a lifestyle is possible. But just like anything else, if you truly want to live in this way, it takes dedication, focus and, believe it not, a structured lifestyle. The best part, is that all of this can be accomplished while living sustainably and having very little impact on the planet.  

If you want to find out just how you can make this possible then join me for E248 How to Accomplish Anything You Want. 

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E248 which is called How to Accomplish Anything You Want. 

Most of the time I try to produce episodes that give practical advice, a thoughtful point of view or even discuss practical skills that focus on sustainable living. On occasion, I like to put together something that provides a bit of motivation and encouragement for people to truly live the life they want. I like to encourage people to make some changes, get out of their daily grind and just do something different. But at the same time I focus on doing these things in a sustainable manner.

This is something I was thinking a lot about just the other day. Although I feel as if I have accomplished a lot of things for myself, I am also trying to make some further changes in my lifestyle. At the same time, I also want to stay on the path of living sustainably and having a slower pace in life that is packed with peace and quiet and time spent doing all the things I enjoy. 

Good News Story of the Week

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the good news story of the week. 

Mostly likely the heat island affect that is experienced in cities is no big surprise. All the asphalt and concrete tends to collect and emit heat making the inner cites hotter than ever. 

But one developer has found an answer to that. A new planned community in Arizona is remarkably cooler due to a clever design that is makes it look more like a Greek island community instead of a place in Arizona.  

In a Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Culdesac is a 17 acre mixed use neighborhood that has been designed as a 15 minute city. Buildings are tall, thick and totally white. Building are close together creating narrow streets and alleys that are almost always shaded and tend to channel and accelerate air flow, creating a cooling effect. 

Building are also arranged to promote air flow from one to the other. No privately owned cars are allowed. Transportation is by electric biked, robotic mini taxis and a light rail. Consequently, ground temperatures are 50-60 degrees F lower compared to downtown Phoenix. 

The architects inspiration came from places such as Italy, Greece and Coatia where town centers were designed prior to the use of motor vehicles and air conditioning. So, as you can see, it is possible to deal with climate change in creative ways and make our lives more sustainable. 

So, with that said let’s move on to this week’s episode. 

There have been several times in my adult life when people have asked me how it is I do the things I do and maintain my present lifestyle. People wonder if I ever color between the lines, meaning staying within line of common exceptions for our society.  What most people do not realize is that my life is the result of some very deliberate actions. It is the result of forethought and planning. Perhaps on the exterior it appears that I walk around willy-nilly with this haphazard lifestyle with no plan at all. But the truth is the exact opposite. 

If you truly want to accomplish something for yourself, it takes focus, careful planning and some very deliberate actions. What I want to do in this episode is to give you a structured plan for building the lifestyle of our choice. It’s sort of a roadmap to help you go from vision to planning to daily living. The best part is that this is adaptable whether you’re aiming for sustainability, self-sufficiency, financial independence, creative freedom, or a blend of all of the above. 

When I think about such a plan I like to start asking myself a few questions. Top of my list is this: 

What is the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? In other words, what is the one thing if you accomplished it would change everything you do? So, this sets the stage for almost everything I am going to focus on in this episode. 

What I want to do here is to break down this blueprint into  defined manageable steps and then go through them one by one.  

1. Define Your Vision

• Clarify your values: Identify the top 5 principles that are going to be your guide for everything else that you do. (e.g. health, sustainability, personal freedom, financial freedom, family, creativity. 

Now if you remember, this sounds a lot like something else I have talked about before: simplicity. The quickest and easiest way to simply your life is to first list the top 3 to 5 things that bring you value, that define who you are, what you do, where you go, how you work and how you live. Once you have that list, focus on that and eliminate everything else. Now that is clarity. 

• Write your “ideal day”: From the moment you wake up until you go to bed, how does your day look? Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? How are you working? How are you spending your time? How are you making a living? 
• Set your lifestyle theme: Example: minimalist, eco-friendly, adventurous, community-based, self-sufficient, sustainability, travel, work from home, have your own business. 
• Clarify Your Dream: What this means to is to very specific. To say that you want to be successful is vague. To say that within 5 years you want to open a community cafe that supports sustainable agriculture and fair trade practices is very specific. 

2. Identify Core Pillars of Your Lifestyle

Now that you have a vision of what you want your life to look like, it is time to break that vision into several categories. Think of these categories as the building blocks or the basic foundation of your overall lifestyle. This is where the underlying structure of your lifestyle comes into play. Now I am going to suggest a few things but the reality is that these are going to be different for everyone. That said, I am going to suggest six different building blocks, or pillars that will round off your life. 

• Health & Wellness (nutrition, fitness, mental health) In other words, self care. How are you going to keep yourself on a proper nutritional plan? What efforts will you put forth to stay fit and keep a healthy body weight? How are you going to take care of your own mental health? 

In other words, take care of your body. Eat whole minimally processed foods. Getting regular exercise build energy, confidence and resilience. You should prioritize sleep because it strengthens your memory, your focus and your emotions. Build some balance into your life. Limit alcohol, smoking, eating junk food and other habits that drain your energy.

• Work & Income (career, entrepreneurship, financial independence) This can truly be a strong defining point in your life. Your life style will be completely different if you decide you want to be a doctor versus a scuba diving instructor, or maybe even both. Also, are you going to be an employee or have your own business? 
• Home & Environment (living space, location, sustainability) What type of environment do you want to live in: urban, downtown, rural, build your own house, or buy something. Do you prefer a hot climate, the cool mountains, the dessert or the thick forest. Do you want to live off the grid like I do or pay utility bills. 
• Relationships & Community (family, friends, local networks) What type of personal networks you have will be dictated to a great degree by where you live. Obviously there are more opportunities for such things if you live in an urban area versus living out in the middle of the forest like we do. How important is this to you? How are you going to manage your social life? Do you need to see friends several times per week or is once or twice a month okay with you? 
• Growth & Creativity (learning, hobbies, passion projects) This is something else that is extremely important. You need to be in an environment where you are alway learning. You need to have hobbies and positive ways to use you time. This keeps your mind sharp, focused and goes a long way toward preventing other health problems. 
• Time & Freedom (travel, leisure, personal flexibility) How much leisure time do you want? What about personal flexibility? Do you want to work from home, or work remotely in order to travel more. 

So, the bottom line to all of this is that you truly need to know yourself. You need to ask yourself what matters the most to you, personal freedom, financial independence, relationships and family, travel, sustainability, self sufficiency. Then take some time to understand your strengths and weaknesses, your passions, what really motivates you. Then set you vision. What kind of person do you want to be 5 to 10 years from now? What do you want to be doing this time next year? 

Up-to-date summary

So, at this point you should identified the top 5 principles that are going to be your guide for everything else that you do. Based on that, you should have simplified your life so that you have few if any distractions. Then beyond that you should have outlined and defined the pillars that will form the foundation of your life. The examples I used were health and wellness, work and income, home and environment, relationships and community, growth and creativity, and finally time and personal freedom. 

3. Set Clear Goals

The next step here is that for each of the pillars, or foundational building blocks that you have defined, set some clear goals. 

For each of these pillars:

• Short-term goal (next 90 days): What’s your first move?
• Medium-term goal (1–3 years): What’s the next stepping stone?
• Long-term goal (5–10 years): Where do you want to be? How do you want to be living? 

For example, on the health pillar: 

If you want to learn about gardening and start growing some of your own food, a short-term goal may be to start with 3 vegetables this season and track your harvest. A medium term goal could be to build a small raised-bed garden and learn about food preservation. A long-term goal may be to grow 70% of your own food. 

Time and personal freedom pillar:

Another example is for the time and personal freedom pillar, a short-term goal may be to limit your personal commitments in order to free up some of your time. Then take one day a week and focus only on what the most for you. A medium-term goal may be to take a nice trip somewhere once every 6 months. A long-term goal may be to work remotely so that you can within reason do whatever you want. 

At any rate, you should start seeing a pattern here. 

4. Build a Practical Action Plan

• Daily habits: First and foremost, focus on daily habits. Form some simple, repeatable practices (e.g., exercising, reading, cooking from scratch).
• Weekly commitments: Then make some weekly commitments. These are bigger steps that compound  you efforts over time. (e.g., community garden work, side-hustle hours). Maybe this is a side hustle that makes you a little extra money in order to accomplish a financial goal. 
• Monthly reviews: Then on a monthly basis reflect on your progress. Celebrate those small wins, and adjust  your course.

This is actually a good time to bring up something else that will be very helpful when it comes to goals. It is always important to begin with the end in mind. What do you want to achieve? To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you are going so you have a clearer understanding of where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. When you think of it this way, you realize that what you do now will affect your quality of life 5 years from now. When you know what is deeply important to you and keep that picture in mind, you manage yourself each day to be and to do what really matters most and this will hasten the accomplishment of your goals.  

5. Design Your Environment

Designing your environment means surrounding yourself with people and things that are going to help build your success. For example, if your passion is music, then you want to surround yourself with people who appreciate that sort of goal and have similar passions. If you want to live a sustainable eco-friendly lifestyle then surround yourself with people who feel the same way. In both cases, these are people you can learn from, gain inspiration, and maybe even be exposed to new ideas. 

• Physical environment: Declutter, reorganize, and shape your space to match your goals (e.g., kitchen for scratch cooking, home office for remote work).
• Social environment: Surround yourself with people who support your lifestyle, people who are positive minded and perhaps challenge you on some level. Build some strong positive relationships with people Even take the time to give back to the community. Join some local groups or online communities.
• Digital environment: Remove distractions, set boundaries, and follow content that inspires your chosen path.
• Train Your Mind: Develop the right mindset by being optimistic and resilient. If you meet up with any challenges see that as and opportunity to grow. In addition to that, read on a regular, basis, take course, explore new skills. And once again, reduce your distractions and be mindful about what you do on a daily basis. 

6. Build Resilience & Flexibility

• Plan for challenges: Expect to meet up with some setbacks whether that is your health, your financial situation or maybe even time constraints. These things are going to happen. As I like to always say, you will never learn anything in life if things always go well.
• Have fallback options: If one goal is delayed, know alternative ways to keep momentum. In other words, commit to a goal and focus on actions that are entirely changeable based on results. 
• Stay adaptable: Building the lifestyle that you want is a journey. Be adaptable. If something is truly not working then change it. Don’t just beat your head against a brick wall and keep doing it because on day your expect it not to hurt because you keep doing it. 

7. Track, Measure, and Adjust

Each person is different on how they do this. 

• Create a Lifestyle Journal: Track habits, goals, and reflections.
• Use a simple checklist: Daily/weekly habits tied to each pillar.
• Quarterly life audit: Ask: Am I closer to living my ideal day? What needs to change? How can I do things differently. 

8. Live the Lifestyle Now (in Small Ways)

Don’t wait until you’ve “arrived.” Start sampling pieces of your lifestyle today:

• Want to travel? Try local weekend trips.
• Want to live sustainably? Start composting or buying local food.
• Want creative freedom? Dedicate one evening a week to passion projects.

The key thing to remember here is that you can build any lifestyle you want. However, it is not going to happen overnight. It happens through consistent, intentional actions. It is about self awareness, growth, and living a life that is true to your personal values. 

It is not about perfection. It is about living with purpose. It is well known that when you live with purpose promote happiness, improves your mental health, makes for stronger relationships and just may make you live longer. 

Many years ago I quit what was at the time the best paying job I had ever had in my life. I had job security, excellent benefits, an 6 to 8 weeks off per year. But, I was unhappy. I left that job with the intention of going to veterinary school. Everyone I worked with laughed at me. But, 6 years later I graduated with my doctorate. All of this happened because I had a vision, a clearly defined goal, and I lived with purpose. 

In essence, you can accomplish anything you want if you clearly define your goal, build a structured plan, take consistent daily action, and stay aligned with your purpose. If you do that then years from now someone will be asking you how it is you live the way you do. 

And to close out this episode I have included in the transcript a brief outline that is a step-by-step guide to success that will summarize what I have presented. It will help you develop a clear vision for anything you want to accomplish. 

I hope you enjoy this and I also hope you will join me again next week. Until then, this is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future. 

🌟 Success Blueprint: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Define Your Success

• Write down your dream or goal as specifically as possible.
• Break it into milestones: daily → weekly → monthly → yearly.
• Identify your why—what deeper reason fuels this goal?

Daily Actions (Micro-success habits)

These keep you moving steadily forward.

1. Start with clarity
    
   • Review your goal each morning.
2.  
   • Visualize success for 2–3 minutes.
3.  
4. Take one focused action

• Do at least one task each day that moves you closer.
• Protect your best energy for high-value tasks, not distractions.

1. Learn something new

• Read, watch, or practice for at least 20–30 minutes in your field.

1. Track your progress

• Journal what you accomplished and what you’ll do tomorrow.

1. Self-care

• Move your body, eat well, and get enough rest to sustain energy.

Weekly Actions (Momentum builders)

1. Review & Reflect
    
   • Ask: What worked this week? What didn’t?
2.  
   • Adjust your plan if needed.
3.  
4. Plan ahead

• Outline 3–5 key actions for the next week.
• Schedule them in your calendar.

1. Connect with others

• Reach out to a mentor, peer, or accountability partner.
• Share progress and ask for feedback.

1. Celebrate small wins

• Acknowledge progress, even tiny steps—this fuels motivation.

Monthly / Long-Term Actions (Direction & growth)

1. Milestone check-in
    
   • Are you closer to your bigger goal?
2.  
   • Measure results, not just effort.
3.  
4. Refine skills

• Take a course, deepen knowledge, or practice mastery.

1. Expand network

• Attend an event, join a group, or connect with someone new who inspires you.

1. Big-picture review

• Revisit your why—does it still inspire you?
• Adjust your strategy if your vision or circumstances shift.

Long-Term Actions (Yearly and Beyond)

1. Stay patient and persistent
    
   • Remember: success compounds over years, not days.
2.  
   • Expect setbacks and treat them as part of the journey.
3.  
4. Evaluate alignment

• Ask: Is this still my definition of success?
• Make sure your goals align with your values and long-term happiness.

1. Give back

• Teach, mentor, or help others—you grow by helping others succeed.

✅ In essence: Success is built on clarity, consistent daily effort, weekly reflection, and long-term persistence. Follow this blueprint, and any dream becomes less overwhelming and more achievable.