Where are you headed? Do you really know?
How many of you have truly taken control and shaped your life so that your destiny has been all of your own making? Most of you I know have allowed circumstances and events to lead you.
There should be no surprise that life hasn’t worked out well for most of you. That’s not said in a nasty way, but it’s said to wake you up to the fact that so far life has been allowed to run on automatic. That’s how it is when you are reacting to external forces and events instead of living life by design, deciding exactly what it is you want and how to make it happen.
Well no more. You have to be absolutely clear about what it is you want. It’s time to start considering this powerful question. “What do you want to do with your life?”
Life cannot be exciting or truly fulfilling without a vision or aspiration driving you on, giving you a target for your future. Life without a dream is nothing more than a hollow existence with no meaning or purpose. The alternative is to live on auto pilot, which more than likely will end you up in ‘nowhere land.’
So again I ask you to think about ‘What do you want to do with your life?’
We’ve all hit that point where we can’t figure out exactly what we really want to do with our lives. It can come when you’re 18 or when you’re 50, and it’s always a difficult process to work through. It’s not hopeless, though!
Discovering what you really want to do with your life isn’t an easy task for anyone, nor is it something that you can really create a step-by-step guide for. But if you don’t put the time in to determine where you want your life to go, have no doubts you’ll be ending up where you don’t want to be.
My favourite exercise which I will always share with my coaching clients to help them find their answer is to ask them to think where they would like their life to be in five years’ time.
It requires you simply to see into the future and picture where you’ll be in five years. It gets you to figure out what you care about, how you want to be, the things you want to do and what you want to have, and how you need to act to move forward. It’s not always a key to figuring out exactly what you want to do with your life, but it’s a great starting point.
I know how hard it is to look ahead when your current world is so bleak. It’s difficult to see further than your immediate problems when every thinking minute seems to be wrapped up dealing with problems and you are bothered by feelings of discontent.
You have to allow yourself to dream big. Allow yourself to imagine and fantasise about the kind of life you would like to live and the kind of money you would like to earn and have in your bank account.
If your potential was completely unlimited what kind of life would you want to create for yourself? Answer this and you’ll begin to see your vision of life in 5 years’ time.
All great men and women begin with a dream of something wonderful and different from what they have today. It all starts with a dream.
So create a vision for yourself for the long-term future. Imagine that you have no limitations on what you can be, have or do in life. Just for the moment, imagine that you have all the resources and support you need to achieve anything you want in life. This way your potential is completely unlimited and allows you to determine what kind of a life would you want to create for yourself and your family.
When you create a clear mental picture of where you are going in life, you become more positive, more motivated and more determined to make it a reality. You trigger your natural creativity and come up with idea after idea to help make your vision come true.
So get ready to close your eyes and begin to see a vision of the future in 5 years’ time. Relax. Sit in a comfortable upright position with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. Take a few deep breaths and then imagine yourself strolling along beautiful sandy seashore. A clear blue sky is above you, trees sway in the warm breeze, and soft waves ripple along the shoreline. Your attention is suddenly drawn to a small blue bottle poking from the sand. As you pick it up, the top comes open and to your amazement a genie appears. The genie says, ‘Your wish is my command. Any “thing” you truly desire, I will grant. Any “thought” you hold in your heart, I will help you achieve.’ I want you now to take yourself forward in time knowing you have the power to create your life exactly as you would choose it to be. Now capture your life picture in 5 years’ time.
Once you have a clear vision you can then follow the complete process of setting goals, strategizing, planning, taking action, reviewing the results and readjusting your plans, finally achieving the results you desire. If you want an amazingly powerful but easy process take a look at my Single Page Plan.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
photo credit: World of Color via photopin (license)
