The secret to successfully navigating the search and move to your dream location is to maintain the right frame of mind. Try these 5 mindset strategies to ease your search and move, and you’ll be able to handle whatever curve balls life throws your way!
Mindset strategy #1: Be adaptable.
It’s important to map out a plan to guide your search and move. At the same time, your plan needs to remain flexible – simply because life can be sooooo unpredictable!
For example, back in 2019, I used my signature Spark System to identify my top 10 places to live. Eugene, Oregon held the #1 spot. So, that October, I went on a scouting visit of Eugene – and fell completely in love!
The plan was to move in the spring of 2020, but we decided to hold off when COVID hit. In 2021, we were getting ready to move when an electrical fire gutted our main bathroom. Repairs took nearly a year.
In early 2022, we again started gearing up for our move to Eugene. Except that a lot had changed in the two and a half years since my scouting visit.
Housing costs had gone even further through the roof. Even more troubling, the annual wildfires had spread to Eugene. The prospect of living in a valley surrounded by burning forests and smoke was enough to make us rethink our strategy.
Rather than plow ahead with our original plans, we decided to adapt to the new reality.
So I put The Spark System to work again to identify a fresh batch of prospective locations to investigate. Based on the most up to date research, our new short list centered on the Puget Sound area of Washington state.
I researched and developed detailed scouting visit plans for our top prospects: Tacoma and Olympia. Within a few weeks, I flew out to explore the two cities in person.
The results? I fell in love with Olympia’s quirky charm. Now we are getting ready to move and start our new life in Olympia!
For more tips on finding, planning and moving to your dream location in midlife and beyond, join me on Instagram @yourplacefinder! Watch daily accounts of my scouting visits of Olympia and Tacoma, WA (April 19-29, 2022) along with weekly Freelocation Friday updates on my move to Olympia!
Once you’ve committed to taking a certain course of action, it can be difficult to switch gears. But, if you adapt to circumstances as they arise, you may discover the new plan that emerges is even better than your original one!
Mindset strategy #2: Use your intuition.
Your intuition is invaluable to your search and move because it allows you to tap into subtle clues, both within and around you.
For example, I kept my antennae on high alert during my scouting visits of Tacoma and Olympia – and the messages I received were loud and clear!
I really wanted to like Tacoma. I tried to like it. Except that I felt like I was being held at arm’s length. People weren’t unfriendly – but they weren’t exactly warm either.
After living for years in a surly small town, the last thing I wanted to do was move to a city that did not feel welcoming.
It wasn’t long before my intuition was telling me to stop wasting time in Tacoma. While the city looked good on paper, it just didn’t measure up in person.
So, I decided to activate my backup plan and turn my focus to Olympia, the state capital, and just a short 25-mile drive from Tacoma.
The experience was like night and day!
I immediately felt at ease in Olympia. Although the city is much smaller than Tacoma, there’s a lot going on. I also found Olympians to be more down to earth and friendly.
After spending several days scouting out the city and talking to lots of people, I knew – both intuitively and rationally – that Olympia was THE ONE.
Before I left on my scouting visits of Olympia and Tacoma, I wondered if I would find a place I loved as much as Eugene. But, with a little help from my intuition, I found a place that’s even dreamier!
Trust your intuition. It can help guide you to the place you’re meant to be.
Discover 10 strategies to help you crush distractions and achieve ninja-like focus with the search for your dream location. Grab the free PlaceFinding Primer today!
Mindset strategy #3: Seek out people who can help you.
Navigating the logistics of moving from one city to another can get tricky – especially when it comes to housing. That’s why it’s important to seek out people who can help you.
Even in a city where you don’t know anyone, you can find helpers by staying alert and open to opportunities.
For example, I had never been to Olympia before my scouting visit. I didn’t know anyone who lived there. But a crazy twist of fate led me to a Mexican restaurant where I ended up sitting next to a woman at the bar. We started chatting, and I learned that she had just bought a house after her divorce and that she loved her realtor.
It was serendipity!
I asked for her realtor’s contact information, and now we have an amazing realtor in Olympia working on our behalf to find the right house. All I did was keep my ears and eyes open on my scouting visit for people who could help me – and you can too!
Can’t decide whether or not to move? Ready, Set… Move? is a one of a kind tool that will help you decide with confidence if it’s time for you to move or stay! Learn more about Ready, Set… Move? here!
Mindset strategy #4: Accept there will be bumps along the road.
In an ideal world, the search and move to your dream location would go off without a hitch. But, as we all know, life happens.
Whether it’s a pandemic, a house fire, a whacked-out economy, or personal circumstances such as caring for an aging parent, any number of events outside your control can delay or challenge your best-laid plans.
The important thing is to try to roll with it and keep an eye on the big picture.
For example, our move is complicated by the fact that we have to sell our house in Iowa before we can buy a house in Olympia. But we need to get qualified for a loan first. Which sounds easy, except that the qualification process is taking forever.
Meanwhile, we are living in limbo. We have packed up 95% of our belongings and cleaned and staged our house to get it ready to sell.
Talk about being all dressed up with nowhere to go!
But, one thing I do know from experience is that the road to your dream life in your dream location is not always a walk in the park.
The secret to success is to put mind over matter. If you accept that obstacles will be thrown in your path, you will be in a much stronger position to manage and overcome any challenges you encounter along the way.
Looking for a road map for your online research? Grab the free PlaceFinding Cheat Sheet here and get an exhaustive reference list of community data points to guide and inspire your search!
Mindset strategy #5: Do not give up, no matter what.
Change rarely happens effortlessly. If you really want to make a big change, like starting a new life in a new location, you need to be willing to fight for it.
You have to want that change enough to see it through to completion. There will always be factors outside your control. You can’t let them deter you.
For example, even though circumstances derailed my move two years in a row, I have not let that stop me. I am determined to move and start our new life in Olympia, WA.
Living in the small town we moved to by mistake six years ago is not so much living as existing. Knowing that moving to Olympia will allow us to live our lives to the fullest gives me the strength to keep pushing forward, no matter what.
Keep your eye on the prize, never let up even when life knocks you down, and you will reach your goal!
Save time and money on your search – and avoid a moving mistake!
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