10 Steps to Create Your Dream Life (That Actually Feels Aligned)

Way too often, we convince ourselves that the life we dream of is out of reach. That belief alone is enough to keep us stuck. Does this sound like you?

It doesn’t matter why. For some, it’s fear. For others, it’s simply not knowing where to begin. I’ve been there too, until I realized that trying and failing would still be better than never trying at all.

In this post, I’m sharing the 10 steps that can help you create your dream life. The steps that helped me transition from being stuck in my 9-to-5 corporate job to aligning with my true purpose while living in Asia.

Everything is still unfolding, definitely messy, but it feels aligned, at least.

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How My Old Life Looked Life

I had a 9-to-6 job in the luxury industry, working in Monaco — one of the major luxury hubs. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and hadn’t found my calling until I returned to China.

That’s when I realized I wanted to come back to Asia and share everything I knew about China, a country that’s still so underrated. That’s how I knew I had to start a blog.

I rediscovered my passion for writing, found a new dream, and began working towards it while still holding my full-time corporate job.

Then, I visited Bali for the first time — and once I experienced how this place made me feel, I couldn’t go back to my old life.

I returned home, quit my job two months later, and did everything in my power to leave for Bali two months after that. No safe job, no solid plan — just an unstable freelance gig, a gut feeling that June was the moment, and many mindset shifts that helped me finally find the courage to jump.

How My New Life Looks

I’ve been living in Ubud for the past month (depending on when you’re reading this), enjoying sunny, tropical weather — aside from the first two weeks of pouring rain.

I’m working full-time on building this blog, a very unstable freelance gig, while finding time to explore Bali.

I get to wake up and go on my morning walk surrounded by rice fields, live in a lovely residence that feels like home, and meet people who inspire me with their stories and knowledge.

I’m not rich, guys. My life is very simple; I try to save wherever I can while building a business, and the reality of moving to Bali is not what they sell on TikTok.

But all things considered, I can honestly say I’m living my dream life — simply because I gave myself enough credit and trust to at least start trying.

And if I did it (believe me, I never thought I’d find the courage), you can do it too. Below, you’ll find the exact steps I took.

And no — it’s not about how to make money online. You’ll find plenty of other posts about that.

I believe this is more important. It’s about letting your vision, your actions, and your trust in yourself pave the way and giving yourself a real chance.

1. Audit Your Current Life Situation

What’s working? What’s not? Not through society’s standards — ask yourself how you truly feel about it.

You can divide your life into different categories: career and purpose, health, relationships, money, personal growth…

Then rate each area from 1 to 10. But more importantly, ask yourself: what truly matters to me in this moment of my life?

Because let’s be honest — we can’t work on 3,000 things at once.

For me, the biggest issue was career and purpose. I used to wake up and do something I couldn’t care less about, without being able to give any real meaning to my life.

Everything started to shift the moment I found a new dream.

And that’s what I suggest you do here: Find a dream, something to work towards (if you don’t have one), and start building.

2. Define Your Core Values and Priorities

This is where you get honest with yourself about what matters to you. Right now, in this season of your life.

For me, it was freedom and connection. More than a stable paycheck, more than the comfort of my little countryside village, more than the safety of a still, predictable life.

It was about having the courage to explore my true talents, rather than settling for a job I never truly chose.

So what about you?

What are your non-negotiables in this phase of your life? What values are you ready to honor, even if it means stepping into the unknown?

3. Get Clear On What You Want

Now that you defined your priorities and values, what does it look like to honor them everyday? How does this life look?

Here, you can get detailed: where do you live, what’s your ideal daily routine, and what do you do in your free time? Who surrounds you?

For me, it was all about having the freedom to explore, travel and write.

I wanted to live in a place connected to nature and spirituality, where life isn’t too expensive, the weather is nice, it’s close to the beach, and, of course, in Asia.

It was about having the possibility to move freely, walk around, eat whole foods, and practice what I love, like yoga, Pilates, and dance.

4. Meet Your Future Self

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year, it’s that aligning with the highest version of yourself brings you closer to what you truly want.

Because, as they say, we don’t manifest what we want, we manifest who we are.

We usually know what would move us closer to that best version of ourselves — whether it’s sticking to a consistent workout routine or committing two hours a day to that side project we can’t stop thinking about.

In the end, it all comes down to one simple principle:

Doing what we say we’re going to do builds self-respect, self-love, and deep self-satisfaction.

And once we start feeling that, we keep going, because it’s addictive.

Who is your Future Self?

Take a moment to get in touch with her. The more detail you bring in, the easier it becomes to tap into her energy and feel what it’s like to already be her.

• How does she move through the world?
• What does she wear?
• What does she believe about herself?
• How does she speak to herself?
• What’s her daily routine?
• What lights her up inside?

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Want to go deeper in connecting with your future, higher self?

In my free guide, I walk you through the next two steps — including how to create a “mind movie” and journal a powerful future victory moment.

These practices made a huge difference for me in tapping into the emotions of living my dream life.

Because, as Dr. Joe Dispenza says in Becoming Supernatural, if we’re able to make our body feel the emotions of those future moments, we subconsciously start preparing to receive them.

💌 Grab the free guide by subscribing below.

5. Create Your Dream Life To-Do List

What would your Future Self do if she had to do it all over again?

No matter what your dream is. Whether it’s building a soul-aligned career, improving your health, or creating financial freedom, your Future Self already knows the path.

And here’s the truth:

To get from A to Z, you need to pass through a whole alphabet of micro-steps.

The small, daily (and yes, unglamorous) actions are what create the big, life you’re meant to live.

So, choose your pillars and ask yourself (or ChatGPT) what the small, actionable steps are that can get you from A to Z.

Below you have some inspiration for your pillars:

• Health
• Finances
• Relationships & Connection
• Spirituality & Inner Growth
• Career & Purpose
• Lifestyle & Freedom
• Confidence

6. Cross One Item Off Your List

If you’ve created a checklist made of small, actionable steps, you can probably cross at least one item off your list today, maybe even one from each area you’ve defined.

It could look something like this:

• Career & Purpose: Apply to one job or open a new TikTok account
• Health: Drink water right after waking up
• Personal Growth: Read one chapter of a self-development book

It doesn’t have to be something big. Even the tiniest step can put you in motion, and that feeling of movement and progress is what will keep you motivated.

7. Build a Routine That Supports Your Vision

Some of the items on your list will likely need to be repeated daily to achieve real results: keep posting, keep writing, and keep working out. Keep showing up for yourself.

This is where connecting with your future self can help: what’s her daily routine? How does she live, and how can you start being her today? Take inspiration from that vision and your checklist.

What are the actions you need to repeat consistently? Start creating a routine around them.

Consistency is the hard part, but if you manage to build a routine that reflects who you are — one that keeps you productive, active, energized, rested, and aligned, it’ll be much easier to stick with it.

8. Let Go of What’s No Longer Aligned

The more you tap into the energy of your future self, the more you’ll start to notice the friction with what’s no longer aligned — relationships that don’t support your new vision, habits that make you feel lazy, and beliefs that keep you stuck in a lack mentality.

Letting go is one of the hardest things to do, because it often means releasing what feels comfortable but no longer supports who you’re becoming.

And the truth is: we’ll never get to what’s next if we don’t make space for it—space for new people, new habits, new hobbies, new energy.

I also believe that sometimes life creates space for us when we refuse to do it ourselves, through breakups, endings, or lost friendships.

9. What’s Your Bare Minimum to Jump?

Here’s another truth: things will never be 100% perfect for you to jump.

Our dream life isn’t delivered to us without learning how to be brave and trusting our talents enough to leap, even if the reality around us hasn’t yet caught up with our vision.

We wait for the perfect opportunity:
To quit the job that’s draining our life force. To have “just a bit more” saved before backpacking around the world.
To feel completely ready before going all in on that side business.

I’m not telling you to jump without any support, but that support might not look the way you planned. Sometimes, it’s the bare minimum. And that’s okay because you just can’t wait anymore.

So, what’s your bare minimum?

Mine? My savings and a very unstable freelance gig (and of course the deep belief that I was meant to go). That’s what I had before I moved…and yours?

10. Sometimes You Have to Trust & Surrender

Here’s another truth: you can’t control the outcome. You can’t force timelines or make things happen out of fear.

You don’t know when things will unfold — and that’s precisely why you have to trust. The right ideas, intuitions, and next steps will come when you’re ready for them.

Yes, you’ll make mistakes. But often, those “wrong” turns lead to unexpected clarity or new inspiration.

That’s what surrendering timelines means: letting go of control while trusting that everything is unfolding for your highest good.

What is in your control? How you show up every day — the small actions that align with your vision.

And how do you know if it’s the right vision?

This past year taught me what having a calling feels like, after so many years of not knowing what I was meant to do.

I still don’t have all the answers. But I know I’m here to write, to create, and life keeps opening doors for me to do just that, here in Bali. So I trust that’s the right direction.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that to create your dream life, you don’t need to have all the answers (it will be impossible to have them—especially at the start). But you do need to choose yourself, your vision, and start acting toward it—even if the steps feel small at first.

Hopefully, these 10 steps provide a simple blueprint to help you get started. And when you give yourself the chance to try? It’s much harder to step back!