Would you set out on a 1,000-mile journey without first deciding where you were going?
If you’re like most people, you would do a lot of planning before you traveled the first mile. You’d know where you were going, where you’d stay when you got there, how you’d travel, and what you’d need for the
journey.
A long journey requires planning if you expect it to take you in the direction you desire. This seems pretty obvious.
And yet…
In the long journey that is our life or our career, do we invest time to chart our course?
Are you able to easily answer the following questions?
- What kind of person do you want to be?
- What are your personal values?
- What do you want from your life?
- What type of work are you called to do?
- What is your ideal job or career?
If not, it’s time to get abundantly clear on what you value most. Because if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you ever get there?
When we don’t chart a path, we become adrift. The currents and winds of life will move us in a direction that suits others instead of ourselves. I’ve seen this play out so many times.
Then one day you begin to wake up to the reality of where your journey has taken you.
You have become someone you never intended to be…
Living a life you never intended to live…
Working in a job you never intended to have (and that you don’t even like)…
And you are unhappy, feeling lost and not sure how you got there.
This is what most people describe as a mid-life crisis.
All of this can be avoided by choosing to plan your journey. It’s pretty simple, really.
- Make time.
- Wrestle with big questions about what you really want from your life.
- Declare your intentions.
By simply deciding where you are headed, you will be one step closer to arriving there.