Here’s a great way to think about the process of figuring out what you want from life.
Imagine that I presented you with a blank canvas and asked you what it represented.
On the other hand, imagine that I gave you this canvas and asked you to figure out what it represented.
The process of figuring out what you want from life is similar. Sitting in a room and trying to come up with a ‘life plan’ rarely works. It’s like staring at the blank canvas – You have no reference points to work with.
The secret to figuring out what you want from life is to gain some additional dots on your life canvas. In the real world, these dots come from experiences.
Each time you have a new experience you gain an additional dot on your life canvas, and once you have accumulated enough ‘experience dots’ you can often join the dots and identify your true passion.
Here’s an example that illustrates this process:
John had read dozens of personal development books and attended his fair share of seminars. He felt he had a good understanding of how to set goals. The only problem was – John didn’t really know what he wanted.
In an attempt to clarify his goals, John spent many hours trying to decide what he should do. However, after expending a great deal of emotional energy, he finally realized that it was impossible to sit down and ‘figure out’ life.
Instead, what he really needed to do was to get out of his room and collect some new ‘experience dots’ for his life canvas.
For John, this was the turning point.
Instead of trying to figure out his overall life plan, he made the liberating decision to just explore different things that interested him.
He joined a local film club simply because he’d always loved old movies. He also did an introductory computer course at his local library because he wanted to learn more about the Internet.
After accumulating a wide range of seemingly unrelated new experiences, John was able to look back and join the dots to discover that his true passion was to create his own Internet business focusing on classic films, actors and memorabilia.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” – Dr. Howard Thurman
So today, if you’re not quite sure what you want from life, here is what I’d suggest:
(1) Stop trying to sit down and ‘figure out’ life – it really doesn’t work
(2) Give yourself the freedom to explore your interests and accumulate life experience and thereby gain additional dots on your life canvas.
(3) Over time, you’ll be able to look back on your life experiences and join the dots to identify your true passion.
I hope this approach releases you of the burden of having to try and ‘figure out’ life and that you enjoy finding what makes you come alive.
