welcome to pathfinders
spacer image spacer image abstract divider
spacer image spacer image spacer image spacer image
Career Resource Center
Related Articles
Am I Meant To Do Something?

A Clever Trick To Choosing Your Life Direction.


If you're still wondering about what you should be doing with your life, welcome to the human race. Seeking our place in the world, we job hop, move across the country, get graduate degrees, get married, buy a house and a sport utility vehicle, and have 2.5 kids. Keeping ours lives busy makes us feel like we're accomplishing something. Been there, done that! What else is there? What are we hungry for? Just "doing" isn't enough for us. Human beings need to have a reason. Knowing "why" we do what we do gives us meaning. Deep down, each of us has a sense that there is something special we're destined for. Our quest for meaning is part of our nature; we are designed this way. Many people never adequately answer the question, "What do I want to be?" and go through life feeling like something's missing. Finding one's life direction is largely left to fate, chance, or the first job they happen to fall into.

"Where am I going from here with my life?" Looking back, many mid-career professionals remember how they danced around or totally avoided this tough question when making major life decisions. In reflection they say, "It seemed more important to get my life moving. I figured that it would all work out later." Before you know it, a few years pass by, then 5 or 10 more, and the future never seems to work itself out. But we're persistent in trying to find an answer. We are on a restless mission to find the career nirvana where our lives will be more whole and complete. At our core, we yearn to push our envelope and satisfy the inner voice in that asks us to be extraordinary at something. Can you hear it calling you? "What am I meant to do?"

The Future Is Now


Contrary to the common wisdom that says "everything will work out on it's own," real life experience teaches us that it doesn't! People who are retiring will tell you that they're still waiting, hoping for answers. If you are tired of waiting, then let's try a different approach. As an experiment, suspend the notion that your future is "out there" waiting for you. Pretend the future is not a place or distant time, but an idea in your mind-a fantasy that doesn't exist yet. Do the same with your past; pretend it's just a bank of memories in your mind. Imagine yourself standing there with no future and no past. What have you got? This moment! This is it. Now.

Let's test out this theory. Sitting right where you are, count to three right now: 1, 2, 3. At the very instant you say the number "3" where are you, in the FUTURE or in the PRESENT? Three seconds of your future just slipped by you, did you notice? Of course you didn't! The future "is" the present in each instant. Let's alter the experiment a little. Rather than count to three, say the word "now" three times. Ready . . . go: Now, Now, Now. If you're confused, keep trying this experiment until you get it. Someday it will hit you like a brick. The future is now. If this is true, then the theory that "things will work out" is not true. It doesn't stand the test of time! So, if the future is not really "out there" waiting to be found, and all we have is this moment, then how do we find our path? We make one up! There is nothing to find, nothing waiting for you, and no destined meaning for your life. Please remember that this is an experiment, not the truth.

Inventing the Future


Imagine your future as an infinitely long and wide blank canvas rolled out on the road of life just in front of you. Your future is unfolding before your eyes second-by-second. You have a choice to make: to invent your future or let circumstances steer it for you. Are you ready to begin inventing it? If so, start with your innate talents. They are a major design component to build into your future. In previous career columns I discussed how natural talent plays a big part in long-term career fulfillment. Do you know what comes naturally to you? Answering this question is the first big step to creating a meaningful path. Once you understand your innate talents and commit to using them, the next step is to decide "where" to focus your talent.

In the human kingdom we need to have a reason for using our innate abilities. Unlike squirrels, we wouldn't be happy climbing just any old tree. We would need to pick a special tree, one that matters to us! For example, most athletes recognize their "body IQ" early in life. They are natural at speed, agility, and balance without much training. At some point they pick a specific sport to master. What makes one sport more appealing than another? The natural athlete has a choice to make--what sport do I love most? The same holds for the natural engineer. The inborn ability to analyze and solve spatial problems can be applied in many fields. A computer engineer uses the same inborn talents as a dentist, mechanic, and a brain surgeon. Deciding what matters "most" is another major component to design into your future.

Choosing the Target


If you're clever, you may have noticed that I've tricked you. I've taken that big question: "Where am I going with my life," and broke it up into two smaller questions. The question "What comes naturally to me?" is different than, "What really matters to me?" Indeed, you actually have two problems to solve in choosing your career direction. The first is to figure out what your inborn talents are, and the second is to decide what direction you want to aim them. Einstein recognized early that he was a natural at visualizing complex spatial problems in his mind's eye. He chose to aim these gifts in the field of physics, and more specifically, to play with a mystery that mattered deeply to him. He could have used these same talents to be an architect or a film director! However, what gave him joy was trying to answer a single question, "What is the nature of reality?" Unhappy with the notion that he was considered a born "genius," he accredited his accomplishments to a lifelong commitment of using his best talents in service of an intriguing purpose. "A person starts to live when he can live outside of himself," he declared. To bring this point home, imagine yourself as an archer. Your talent would be the bow and arrow. Your life direction is the target. As they say in Zen, be one with the target. Aim your talent at something that truly matters to you.

The Final Trick...


The future you design is really just a landmark, an ideal, to guide you in living fully day to day. How you live your life "now" is the most important point. Choosing a direction for your life is kind of "trick" you play on yourself. Design your path, then forget about it and enjoy the journey. How will you know your going the right way? If you fall in love with what you're doing, you'll know. Trust your instincts; on the inside you'll feel like your taking a big chance. Making your own way takes a leap of faith.

The payoff to designing and living "into" your future is extraordinary. When you commit your talents to something that matters, you find yourself getting up each day with a purpose. Nicholas Lore, best selling career author states, "When life is about caring for the orchard, rather than picking the apples, you get more apples to eat. It is quite paradoxical, but as soon as you give up trying to make yourself happy, you are!" Your career path is your best opportunity to make a commitment to something you deeply care about. You'll likely spend most of your life on the job, why not make it really count? What ideals would move you to get up each day feeling fully alive? How do you want to make a difference in the world with your unique talent? Be bold-invent the perfect future, and go live it. That's what you were meant to do.

spacer image

 

Quotes to Inspire
It is not enough to be busy. The question is: What are we busy about?

~Thoreau
grey horizontal line divider
crystal ball
spacer image
large abstract bar <li> end of page
spacer iamge
©2003 Pathfinders. All rights reserved. Articles copyright Pathfinders and Anthony Spadafore.