10 Steps to Help You Discover what to do with Your Life

By October 25, 2013Uncategorized

We live in a world now where opportunity is abundant.  There are more and more of us, when compared to generations past, than can afford to go to school and get a degree. With technology unfolding the way that it is more jobs are being created.  Just a few generations ago life was much different.  There were far fewer vocations to choose from, education was less affordable and available, and most people were working with the pure intention of earning a pay check.  Work was a means to an end to support life.  Currently there are things that we can do to earn money that our grandparents could not even imagine existing. Us 20,30,40, 50 and 60-somethings who are in the "working" phase of life really have the world as our oyster.

 

It is easy to look at this and think that we should all be grateful for the accessibility of education and plethora of job choices, and for the most part I feel that we are. But we also must consider that making a choice between two options is much easier than making a choice between 100.  This vast world of options can prove to be incredibly overwhelming.  A few generations ago choosing a career path was much easier due to the fact that there were only so many options.  We are in a whole new situation now that we don’t really have a road map for.

 

Abundance Abundance Abundance

 

Along with this abundance of choice, we also have an abundance of wealth.  This means that more and more of us are wanting to choose a career that we will enjoy, that will be fulfilling and meaningful.  There is an often unspoken expectation that because we have so much given to us in the way of opportunity that we had better turn around and produce something that is going to help the world.

 

Combine all of that with pressure to measure up to peers, pressure to be successful, pressure to live up to the expectations of the generations before us and you can see why so many struggle to find a path.

 

At the end of all of that, we are left feeling that we need to be highly educated, and come out of our education with a job that makes us money, fulfils us on an emotional and mental level, that provides something useful to the world, makes us look good in our social groups, makes our parents proud that allows us to send our children to college and sets us up with a nice 401K.

 

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Like I mentioned before, this is a whole new set of circumstances that we don’t really have a road map for.  Finding a job that makes you money that you are also passionate about is quite a task. You can hire a life coach, a business coach, a career coach or a psychologist to help you work through this huge decision, and if you feel that that is what you must do, then I highly encourage you to do it.

Or, Try This:

If you are open to embracing some new ways of thinking, I want to offer you some things to consider that may help you to decide what to do with your life without needing coaching.  It may sound silly or overly simplistic, but this is what I did to help me find my ideal career, so I know that it works. The way to find out what you should do with your life is to follow joy.

 

Why would following joy be important for helping you decide what to do with your life?  Simply because when you are in a joyful state, you are going to be working at a high vibration.  You are going to be willing to work long hours and study hard to produce what you are producing.  You are going to be filling your life on a day to day basis with things that make you happy, instead of living for your weekend.  By you being in a state of joy, you make your own life better and the lives of those you come into contact with.  Following joy may seem selfish or irresponsible at first, but know that the truth is that your internal guidance system is geared towards joy.  Joy is an indicator that you are doing what your soul wants.  By following joy you are connecting with that part of yourself that knows all and is all, and that is where you greatest power of choice comes from.  From this place, you will find your path in life, step by step.

 

10 Steps For Finding Out What You Should Do With Your Life

 

Step 1: Ask yourself is this: What would you do if money were absolutely no option? The purpose of this step is to get you out of the survival focused, practical mind, and into your creative, expansive, open mind.  Imagine just for a moment what you would do with your life if your rich aunt Sally just gave you 20 million dollars.  You never have to “work” for money again, so how are you going to spend your time?  Write down all the things that you would want to do with your life if money were no option.  Then start to whittle this list down to the things that are the most exciting for you and move them to step 2.

 

Step 2: Flesh out the idea: Pretend that having aunt Sally’s money made you super excited about travelling.  Now take the idea of travelling and start to figure out what travelling means to you.  Do you want to be able to fly all over the world alone or in a group?  Do you want to see places that have never been touched?  Do you want to party or do you want to learn?  Dig deep and make your vision something really specific.

 

Step 3: Do some research:  Now that you have your specific vision of what your dream life would look like if money were no option, you can start to look into how you could make that dream a reality.  For instance, pretend you decided your dream life looked like taking your friends and family all around the world to remote locations to learn the local cuisine.  Does that not sound like something you may actually be able to do?  At this point, you can start looking into things that you may need to acquire to make this dream a reality.  Look into people who are doing similar things and find out how they got where they are.  Set aside at least 3 hours a week to investigate your dream.

 

Step 4: Release the belief that you can “do it wrong:” So many of us feel like we may end up making the “wrong” choice, and this stops us from making any choice at all.  At the end of the day, you are living your life.  You don’t get to take anything with you.  I am not telling you that you should totally throw caution to the wind and let go of all of your responsibilities (unless that is truly what brings you joy in the moment) but what I am saying is that if you can allow yourself to let go of the idea that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to live your life, you will be more apt to find what is “right” for you.  Others are going to have their opinions and fears and that is OK.  At the end of the day you are the one who has to go to bed at night with your life choices.  There are all different strokes for all different folks.  Find your stroke.

 

Step 5: Make room for inspiration: After you have made a plan that is a little clearer, have done some research and have allowed yourself permission to do what brings you joy, you can now start to allow room for ideas to flow to you.  You do not have to have all the answers right here right now.  You do not know how you are going to get from here to dream job.  What you do have to do is make room for inspiration to hit.  Make time to meditate, to walk in nature, to read inspiring books and listen to inspiring teachers.  All of these things will help you to be open to the information that the universe wants you to know in order to make your dream a reality.

 

Step 6: Follow the nudges: Dreams happen one step at a time, and often in a rather serendipitous way.  As an example, when I was 15 I became obsessed with my local health food store.  I shopped there all the time, and then when I was 16 I got a job there.  I was a cashier, but I learned so much about food while I worked there.  Then when I decided to get my Holistic Nutrition diploma, I breezed through my course because so much of the information was not new for me.  Follow all the little inclinations that start to flow into your awareness.  Perhaps you will all of a sudden have an intense desire to sign up for a particular course, or talk to a particular person or read a particular book.  Do it.  You never know what you are going to get and how it will serve you.

 

Step 7: Allow space and time for the process: Release expectation on yourself.  You may find that you have to work a job you don’t really love for the next ten years in order to support yourself while you build your dream job and that is perfectly OK.  Life is the process.  The purpose of it is this.  Right here, right now.  Keep following your joy, the inspiration and the nudges and give yourself all the time you need.  The process of getting to your goal is just as important as the goal itself.

 

Step 8: Revisit and revise: As you go along, you may find that you learn new things that take you off in different directions.  Make sure that you set aside time every few months to revisit your dream job goal and revise it.  Allow lots of room for change and growth.  The universe works in magical ways, and sometimes we get things we did not even know we wanted.  Make room for the change.

 

Step 9: Make friends with Fear:  Fear, doubt, second guessing, “what the F*&^ have I gotten myself into” moments are going to happen.  By committing to finding your purpose in life you are committing to life in a really big way.  There are going to be risks involved, moments when you don’t know what you're doing, and people who tell you you are crazy.  Unite with fear, say “hello fear, thank you for joining the party.”  Allow your fear to teach you if it has something to teach you, and then forge ahead.  All great innovators have felt fear at some point, it is all a part of the process.

 

Step 10: Enjoy the Ride: Remember that you are living your life's purpose right here right now.  This is a journey of learning and if you are breathing you are learning.  Find gratitude in every moment.  You are it, right here, right now.

Want more stuff like this?  Check out our book The Perception Diet