8 steps to know what you want to do with your life

Follow your dreams. Follow your own path. do what you love. How many times have you heard or read things like that? They are wonderful life ideas, but they mean nothing when you have not defined your dreams exactly, when you have not found your path or when you do not know very well what you want to do with your life.

This doubt is that eternal leivmotiv that appears frequently throughout our life cycle. It doesn’t matter whether we are twenty or sixty years old, that unfathomable emptiness appears like a shadow on the horizon, often impregnating us with suffering. Thus, not knowing which direction to take, what to choose, or what to hold on to often means that we end up doing one thing: improvising rather than shaping a meaningful life.

Now there is one aspect that we cannot leave aside. Believe it or not, that raw material from which our existence is redirected comes precisely from those moments of doubt. Of those moments where we remain in the antechamber of insecurity and reflection, where little by little, we join a new commitment with ourselves to clarify purposes and place goals on the horizon. Sometimes, all we need is a moment of rest before taking on a new and wonderful impulse.

When you don’t know what you want to do with your life remember: Don’t succumb, don’t allow yourself the luxury of wasting time regretting or feeding your own frustration. Just take a deep breath and apply these 8 steps. The change you need is within reach of your mind, but first you must train it and redirect it towards a series of purposes…

8 keys when you don’t know what you want to do with your life

One of the best answers to this same doubt was given by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.. It is worth reflecting for a few moments on these lines, which give us an accurate clue about those steps that we should all apply to cope a little better with moments of existential fears and doubts:

1. Develop a 5-year vision of your life

The world is full of opportunities, but when doubts and insecurities arise, we ourselves are the worst obstacle to our happiness. Changing your daily life for the better means first choosing a destination and taking a step to get there. Therefore, to know what you want to do with your life you must first define what type of destiny you want for yourself.

Whatever your situation, imagine now for a moment that all your dreams have come true in recent years.. Grab a pen and paper or open a text document on your computer and write down everything you can think of about it. Write for 10 minutes (use a timer) about things like what time you get up, how much money you make, what your job is like, what kind of people you hang out with, what your house is like, what car you drive, what you eat, what kind of life you lead or how you feel.

Those ideas that you have defined are actually your true purposes.

2. Read, connect with your environment, get inspired, be receptive

Reading a good self-help book is incredibly powerful, as long as you are able to adopt and put into practice the ideas you find in that book. Just reading is not going to mean anything to you if you do not apply the advice you find.

Likewise and no less important, it is also essential that you begin to apply adequate mental, emotional and experiential openness. Relate, connect with people and your environment. Open your heart and your senses to allay fears and allow new things to arrive. Those that will inspire you and invite you to project new paths, higher goals…

3. Participate in volunteer work: a way to give meaning to life

Participating in volunteer work will allow you to meet interesting, motivated and positive people. In addition, it will help you discover deeper aspects in yourself, those that often help us give greater meaning to our existence. If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, this step is often very cathartic, very liberating and satisfying.

4. Find a passion

We have all wanted to do something at some point, but we haven’t always had enough courage to do it. The reasons can be various, from “I don’t have time” to “what will they say” or “how am I going to get around to doing this at my age.” If these statements appear frequently in your head, do a mental reset and get rid of the “I can’t” or “I’ve missed the boat” for certain things.

Life should be lived with passion. Only in this way does the authentic meaning appear, only in this way is it savored in body, mind and emotions.

5. Learn to make decisions

When you don’t know what you want to do with your life there is an aspect of your personal growth that is failing. We are referring to this high inability to make decisions. It is difficult for us, doubts arise, insecurities… Our fears are so many that in the end we do not decide anything and we choose to stay in that place where nothing new happens: the comfort zone.

When you don’t know which direction to take, what to do or what not to dotry to use the approach of Six thinking hats by Edward Bono. Analyzes the situation from multiple points of view, including rational, emotional, intuitive, creative, positive and negative perspectives.

6. Answer the question “what do I want to do” free of fear. Learn to clarify

Dare to answer this question without limits: what do I want to do with my life. And don’t hold back. Don’t make excuses. Answers like “I would like to do this but I can’t because…” are not valid. Answer sincerely and confidently without using the conditional tense. Because if it is important to know how to make decisions, it is even more important to know how to clarify objectives:

I want to be happy. I want to feel self-sufficient.What I want is to work on what I really like.Likewise, I know that what I want most is to see my people happy, so I know that I must make changes to be able to give them the best of me. I want to advance in my job.

7. Identify your fears

What scares you? Dare to recognize it. When we face our fears we also outline very relevant aspects about our character. And, surprisingly, this generates in us a great feeling of self-confidence, the same that arises when we dare to tell a friend.

Furthermore, by identifying these fears we will also be able to investigate their origins, at the root of many of our underlying problems, those that we do not address, the same ones that we let adrift and slow down our personal growth. It is an exercise not without some difficulty but at the same time, it can help us in a very positive way.

8. Your current suffering is not a state, it is a process that precedes change

When you don’t know what you want to do with your life you suffer. Because it is distressing to feel that emptiness, that absence of purpose and meaning. It’s as if the whole world knows which way to go and we are stuck like a rusty ship. Now, whatever happens to you, good or bad, consider that it is just a process, not a lasting state. Understand that everything happens, that everything comes, that everything changes.

What you can do is see that moment of doubt as a stage from which to learn. It’s like that step back that we sometimes take to gain greater momentum when taking a big leap. Change is around the corner, but for now, the important thing is to trust in yourself and your possibilities.

To conclude, follow the previous steps and introduce them as a habit into your routine. Even if you don’t see the results now, when you least expect it they will appear and you will realize it. The wait will be worth it.

Do you already know what you want to do with your life now?

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