3 Steps to Defining a Life Path
Hi Herd, it’s Cher here pondering on life goals. At the end of last year, I noticed a trend that finally got me to work on defining my life path.
More and more I was finding that many people only have a vague idea of what they want to do or accomplish. They simply react to what happens to them instead of being directed by self-selected goals. Then on the other side of the coin, I started to notice people who have clearly defined their goals, know what they want, and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. And, these folks seem to have found a “magic bullet” toward success.
I know that there are other factors to success: effort, talent, luck ... but working hard, having talent and luck is useless if there isn’t a clear goal. It's like having a free plane ticket to any place in the world and not knowing where we want to travel.
All these realizations lead me to ask… WHAT IS MY LIFE PATH? Am I stumbling through until something happens? Or am I walking the road with purpose and clear goals? In my day to day, not having a clear goal was easily disguised. I just say "Everything happens for a reason" or "I’ll see what happens" But as the years pass, and I look back, I find that yes, having clarity and a clear goal was a problem I needed to solve.
This year I decided on a direction and moved towards a clearly defined goal. Let’s just say, GAME CHANGER. The best part, the solutions were simple, cheap, and practical.
Here are my top 3 solutions I used to find clarity and direction in 2023:
Writing – writing helps you identify your values and transform them into objectives. It is challenging to identify your values just by thinking because the thoughts are often so abstract and scattered that we are easily distracted. However, when you train yourself in the discipline of writing what you think, you use your mind in the most powerful way that exists: to plan, remember, reflect, and decide what is important to you. Putting your thoughts on paper invites you to give them coherence and structure, not to repeat yourself, to find where your ideas start and end. Allowing you to draw well-founded conclusions about what is important to you and what path you should take to achieve it.
Conversation – Talking out loud about what’s going on in your head and explaining it to someone else, even if you think it doesn’t make sense, helps you to clarify. Saying things out loud, often makes them less scary, and at least by having to sort through your feelings you know a bit more about what you’re dealing with. Speaking to others helps put your wants into perspective and the person you talk to most likely will help you see your situation in a new or unique way.
Visualization – The more you visualize, the more focused you'll be, and the more desire you'll develop for making your goals come to fruition. When you vividly imagine achieving your goals, you trigger a whole series of subconscious processes that will help you reach your target. You will also get ideas and clues on how to overcome challenges on your path to success. By vividly imagining what to do, you'll experience insights that help keep you on track.
So, if you suffer from a lack of clarity (as I have) you can change it. Because I bet you own something you can write with, know a friend you can chat with, or have seen images that inspire you.
Are you ready to define your life path?