THROWBACK THURSDAY

Most of us have no clue what we want to do with our lives. Even after we finish school. Even after we get a job. Even after we’re making money. Between ages 18 and 40, I changed career aspirations more often than I changed my underwear. And even after I had started a business, it took another four years to clearly define what I wanted for my life.

Chances are you’re more like me and have had no clue what you want to do. It’s a struggle almost every adult goes through. “What do I want to do with my life?” “What am I passionate about?” “What do I not suck at?” I know people in their 40s and 50s who today, still have no clue what they want to do with themselves, and their lives!

Here’s the truth. We exist on this earth for some undetermined period of time. During that time we do things. Some of these things are important. Some of them are unimportant. And it’s those important things that give our lives meaning and happiness. The unimportant ones basically just kill time.

So when people say, “What should I do with my life?” or “What is my life purpose?” what they’re actually asking is:

“What can I do with my “TIME” that is important?”

This is an infinitely better question to ask. It’s far more manageable and it doesn’t have all of the ridiculous baggage that the “life purpose” question does.

I’ve come to accept what I’ve come to understand. What’s important to me is to make a tiny contribution while I am here. I want to contribute to the heritage that I am fortunate to build, for those that follow, to inherit.

Today I enjoy some of the benefits that life has to offer, even some of the benefits of everyone that has come before me. I enjoy the benefit of a ‘democracy’ and ‘political freedom’ that I did not create. I enjoy a reasonably healthy lifestyle that was developed by scientists that I’ve never met. And Soon, I will able to travel the world in a manner that Marco Polo himself could not even have imagined.

I’ve come to learn a few things that need to be put in place first though, and connecting with the right ‘team’ has been quite an arduous, but rewarding process. And all I can say is, “the future is so bright, I gotta wear shades!!” 

2023 actually began a year ago for me. An inspirational mentor impacted some perspectives that have shaped the plan that’s already begun. He said “Don’t start your day, until you’ve finished it, on paper! Don’t start your week, don’t start your month, don’t start your YEAR, until it’s complete … in the planning! Don’t start to build, until the building has already been built, in the planning!!” It’s some good advice. What are your next 5 moves? What are your next 15 moves??  How far do you plan? I sincerely hope it’s not just week to week, or paycheck to paycheck!

I’ve tried a few things that have brought some measure of predictable results, and moving forward, is now just a matter of implementing the convictions that have been realized. I’m hoping you’ve done the same, and if you have, 2023 could easily be your BEST YEAR EVER!! And todays Throwback Thursday post, reviewed this time next year, should simply be a case of “To get where you want to go, you have to leave where you currently, are.” As the “Nomad Capitalist” always says, “Go to where you’re treated best”

It’s Chess, not checkers!! Game on!!