Life at the Target Stages: How Good Can It Be?

Sometimes I find that it’s helpful to have a glimpse of what’s in it for you to work on your Stage Climbing process. The mission of Stage Climbing is simple: To help you live any aspect of your life at the target stage(s) you have chosen. Your target stages represent the optimal life that you either are living already or can be living very soon. You are in the target stage zone whenever you are operating at your highest potential. For most aspects of life, you will most likely aspire to Stages Six and Seven. Those stages also represent your unique and most authentic self. They are you at your best and happiest, because at Stages Six and Seven, you are guided by your passions, living beyond your ego, and solidly aligned with your purpose. Your target stages define you as a “grown-up.” They are where your heart is, as opposed to where you or someone else thinks it should be. In that sense, your target stages can even define why you are here.

Remember, any success, victory, or windfall can trigger great feelings in you—temporarily. However, as you have probably noticed many times, a frame of mind that depends on external factors does not last since you are always subject to the next life event or occurrence, and then the next one, and the one after that. The good news: As humans, that state of fulfillment characterized by your target stages is in fact part of your natural state of being―a state that will not fluctuate with external events. In other words, you have inside of you all you will ever need to live a gloriously fulfilling life right now … No batteries are required. Getting there is where Stage Climbing fits into your life.

To the extent that you commit to living your life at the target stages, this could be a laundry list that defines your state of mind. Some of these items may not resonate with you but chances are that most of them will. Therefore, the first step is to decide if you are you ready to:

  • Never again allow the expectations of others to govern you, except when they truly match those you have for yourself―in the privacy of your own mind.
  • Have a strong and certain sense of self that allows you to overcome (and not be governed by) your confusion, self-doubts, fears, anxiety about the approval of others, depression, and frustrations. Your own judgment and sense of what is right is no longer undermined or overpowered by the judgments of others. You no longer fear the future or death and you have a layer of emotional muscle that insulates you from the pain of feeling the negativity of others, even when it is aimed directly at you. You accept and never berate yourself. You are at peace, free of inner conflicts, and feel best about yourself. Thus, self-defeating behavior is an unnecessary thing of the past. It simply no longer serves a purpose.
  • No longer blame your parents, former love relationships, bosses, work associates, or anyone else, including yourself, for the state of your life; are not troubled by the past or hung up on expecting things from people that they will not or cannot deliver. Forgive all of those toward whom you still have anger or other negative feelings—including, and perhaps most importantly, yourself.
  • View your self-confidence/self-esteem separately from your achievements. That is, think of them as two parallel lines that do not meet and are never dependent on each other. Thus, your successes and failures no longer influence your opinion of yourself in any way.
  • Be aware of the infinite number of life choices available to you. Feel empowered to make them and have an almost childlike openness to new experience.
  • Live by your passions, desires, purpose, and strong determination. Recognize that your will and inner wisdom are the forces or engines that drive and motivate your life. Be passionate about your chosen activities and allow work and play to be equally joyous. Your motivation now comes from within yourself. External rewards are still nice, but secondary.
  • Experience life as easier and not a struggle. With much less effort than you may ever have imagined, be able to find a way to manifest almost anything you truly need.
  • Understand just how to relate to almost anyone you encounter, no matter how wise or wisdom-free he or she may be. Be able to accept the right of someone else to have an alternative viewpoint, no matter how much you may disagree with it. At the same time, however, allow yourself to automatically and effortlessly discontinue or emotionally downgrade relationships with other people that are not harmonious and fulfilling. Attract―but never, need to demand―the love and/or support you want from those who matter most in almost any situation.
  • Have a deep and cherished internal commitment to use your natural gifts to the fullest. Know what your assets are and know how to maximize them; understand too your areas of weakness—accept them and no longer allow them to lead you in the direction of failure. Thus, you can make the most of all you have.
  • Watch your potential keep rising higher and higher and your best keeps getting better and better with only you determining the limits.
  • Connect to and leave your footprint on things much bigger and more important than yourself.
  • Be open on a spiritual level with purpose and gratitude your guiding forces providing direction whenever you need it. Connect directly with God, your Higher Self, or whatever you may call your source of higher power―perhaps, but not necessarily through religion. However, know that you have the ability to bypass religion and go directly to that source.
  • Be uniquely your own person and realize that your own happiness and destiny are in your hands exclusively.

If these characteristics seem farfetched or grandiose, remember that they all have one thing in common. They are each traits that you are free to develop all by yourself, within yourself regardless of your status or station in life, how others see or approve of you, your standing in the community, your annual income or net worth, who you know, your educational status, or anything else out of your ultimate control at this moment. That is how good your life can be at the target Stages Six and Seven. You can choose to own any or all of these traits and keep them forever, beginning now.