Who Do You Want to Be? How One Decision and Daily Intentions Can Change Your Life

I was standing at my kitchen counter, coffee gone cold, when one line from Alina Shahnazari’s Who Do You Want to Be? rang in my chest like a bell. “Decide what kind of life you truly want, use the power of your imagination and start becoming the person that matches your vision… beginning today!” In that moment, I understood why this book matters. It is not about pushing harder. It is about lining up who you are inside so your life can move with ease toward what you truly want.

The One Decision That Starts Everything

Many of us chase someone else’s dream. We were taught to perform, not to choose. Shahnazari invites you to stop and ask, What do I actually want in all areas of life? When your deepest desires align with who you want to become, happiness feels like progress and peace, not a checklist. Inner alignment is the real secret of joy.

She wrote this book after leaving NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in 2018 to study how happy, successful people live. She connected the dots into eight clear steps and wrote it as a gift to her daughters and to you. The pages are simple, warm, and direct, so you can act now.

Plant the Seed, Protect the Roots

Your vision is a seed you plant inside. Seeds need the right soil and steady care. In the early days, keep your idea safe from strong winds. Do not hand it to people who will crush it before it sprouts. Water it with positive feeling, because your body moves on emotion. Roots first, then sprout.

If your idea keeps failing, check the soil. You may need a new environment. Clear out negative noise. Choose people and places that support your dream. Creation happens in the now, not in the past and not in worry about the future.

Use Your Imagination With Care

Your subconscious does not know the difference between real and imagined. Thoughts, when mixed with emotion, become instructions. Your body follows those instructions. This is why you must think thoughts that help your future, feel them, and repeat them. As the book says, “Until you change your thinking, you will always recycle your experience.”

Here is how to use that, in the simplest way:

• Daily visualization in the magical moments of your day. Right after waking and right before sleep, your mind is quiet and open. Close your eyes and see your vision as done. Feel it. Then let it go and rest. Your subconscious never sleeps and will look for paths to your goal.

• Self-hypnosis to remove limiting beliefs. Relax your body, breathe deeply, and feed your mind the truths you choose, like I am calm or I am a good communicator. Do it for 15 minutes a day for at least 30 days. You are updating the system that runs your actions.

Become That Person Now

To get the results you want, you must match the energy of the person who naturally creates those results. If you want to own a thriving business, think like a business owner, move like one, plan like one, sleep like one. Study people who have what you want. Learn how they think, speak, and spend their time. Emulate the specific skills you need and practice them daily.

Integrity is nonnegotiable. Choose skills, not idols. The book is firm here. “When someone shows you once that they are faking it, believe them!” Do not lie, pretend, or manipulate. That path breaks the soul and never lasts. Become the person now, from the inside out.

Design Your Attitude and Your Environment

Why do some people seem lucky? Attitude. It is how you think, feel, and act in response to life. You cannot control the weather or other people, but you can choose your attitude. Shahnazari found that joyful, successful people live with an “attitude of gratitude.” They set clear boundaries. They say yes to what aligns and no to what distracts.

Write your attitude on paper. Who do you want to be with your family, coworkers, and when no one is watching? Name your nonnegotiable values. Practice them. Remember, “We are the co-creator of our lives.” Help the universe help you by showing up as your best self.

When Failure Visits, Read the Message

Failure is not the end. It is data. If you keep stumbling, it usually means one of four things:

1. The goal is not your true desire.
2. Your approach did not work.
3. The environment is wrong for the seed.
4. Limiting beliefs are blocking you.

Each one is fixable. Step back. Breathe. Reflect honestly. Adjust your method, clear your environment, or do the inner work to remove the belief that is in the way. There is growth in each stumble if you pause long enough to learn and try again.

Live With Daily Intentions, Keep It Simple

From morning to night, live on purpose. Set a clear intention for how you want to feel and how you will show up today. Take a small new risk. Ask, what is the worst that can happen, and can I recover? If yes, try it. Do not overload your day. Easy does it. Save big pushes for short sprints near the finish line. Sustainable joy carries you farther than force.

Start Here, Today

Here is what I tell a friend over coffee:

• Write three deep desires. Not stepping-stone goals, but the outcomes that bring lasting joy. Look at them morning and night, and feel them done. Let your subconscious plan the path.

• Design your attitude in a few lines. Choose your values. Decide who you will be when life is easy and when it is not. Practice it today.

• Try the 15-minute self-hypnosis tonight to clear one belief that keeps stopping you. Repeat for 30 days.

• Take one small risk that aligns with your vision. Learn from the result, then take the next small step.

When I share Who Do You Want to Be? with someone I love, I am offering a key. Not to everything, but to the door that matters most, the one inside. Decide, imagine, and begin. You do not have to push the river. Become the person the river carries where you are meant to go. So tell me, quietly and honestly, who do you want to be, beginning today?