The life factor
What do you really want from your life?
A big question, often ignored, hard to answer. Successful professionals, from a very early age, are so used to taking the next step on the ladder, which is defined for them by other people, that they often don’t think about this question.
It can also be intimidating. There are so many TEDx talks on ‘pursuing your passion’ or ‘finding your purpose’. It can feel second rate if you don’t have a lofty aspiration for your existence. But this is just repeating the same bind. Many professionals are so keen on external affirmation, that they can even end up trying to define their life goals in a way that will receive the approval of others.
This question of what you really want from your life is deeply personal and must be approached with complete authenticity. Some people may want to pursue a big, hairy, audacious goal: they may want to create their own business, become CEO of their existing business, establish a charitable foundation to help with communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa; or sail across the Atlantic.
For others it may be more prosaic it could be the freedom to spend more time with their children or to live for a spell in another country. Others may not even have an explicit goal, but merely a sense of the qualities with which they want to live their life: with freedom, relationship based, learning, reflective, and so on.
However it’s framed, being clear on what you want and value is a vital component of living life well-lived.
“The thinking that ‘I could be free if only…’ avoids taking accountability for your happiness today.”
The life factor, as well as exploring what it is you want from your life, can also help to highlight aspects of that life which can be brought into your life right now. Focusing your life on the pursuit of a future goal has risks. You need to live well today, not just pursue a fantasy for tomorrow. Fate may dictate that you never get to that future time. And what seems great in fantasy, may be underwhelming in reality. The thinking that ‘I could be free if only…’ avoids taking accountability for your happiness today.
So the answer to what you want from your life comes in many different forms, for different people. For some it will be a clear plan with identifiable goals outcomes and actions. For others it will be a sense of direction, or the creation of options. For others it will simply be a way of being. But reflecting on these things, and bringing them to the forefront of your mind, and considering how you can make aspects of that vision real in your life today is a vital part of using professional success to help you live the life you want to lead.
Have a look at the next factor — money.
Questions to start
What do you want from life: what’s most important to you and when are you most in flow?
What are the timescales over which you want options to be available?
What are the financial implications of the life you want to live?