Yeah. I’ve tried the “map my life” thing a few times. Never worked once I got past a certain level of detail.
Best surprise success was this short true story: I decided to detail my ideal income. This was in 1993 at 21 yrs old. Factored in everything I knew, including what I knew of inflation, job rates, etc. I asked, “How much do I need to be happy and be able to accomplish future unset goals?”
Calculated it all out. It was around $60,000. Had a retail job at the time making far far less – this was 1993 and it was a part time job at Radio Shack.
So, promptly put away the stenopad and forgot about it.
1999 comes along. I’m in a temp job at a pharmaceutical industry. Started getting bored with it. Started taking college classes 4 hrs a day, doing all of my work in 4 hours. I stopped caring about the money because it sucked.
But I had done some excessively valuable work there; I apply myself entirely at a job, and I turned a data-entry position into an Excel/VBA systems analyst position because I hate repetitiveness.
So, they decide to hire me. I researched proper pay scale. They went through the hiring process, putting out employment stuff out there, and got hundreds of resumes from people who had no idea that the job was already spoken for.
New boss guy they hired for a new IT division tries to convince me during my interview that my chances of getting it are slim, because “look at these college graduates” etc, but I had three things he didn’t know:
a) I knew how much I should get for the job, which was $60,000
b) I knew they made the job for me.
c) I didn’t care if I got it or not.
Anyway, I got it and what I asked for. I came across that notebook a year later (I still have it) and laughed my ass off.
Point is: You can throw a dart far off into the future and forget about it and end up making little decisions that lead your life in the direction of achieving it, without really trying.
I have other examples, but that’s my favorite because it involved money.