‘Your worldview is simultaneously your greatest strength and your greatest weakness’
Jeff DeGraff
How do your strengths, talents, values, and beliefs uniquely benefit the world? Intuition is wildly undervalued. You have options you don’t even know exist.
QUESTION: What the f**k do you want?
Nothing is guaranteed. No job, person, belief, or life is permanent. The human race is built on our ability to adapt. We’ve survived because we change. We’ve evolved because we learn.
I never knew what to do with my life. I just knew I didn’t want what everyone else had. I followed the path and checked the box. It wasn’t good enough. So I’ve set out to understand who the hell am I and what the hell are we capable of?
“Don’t be the best, be the only?”
Kevin Kelly
“Your greatest guide is you”
Juli M
I stumbled, learned, read, and observed for the past 6 years and am here to share the most useful schtuff. I’ve distilled the most powerful questions and resources as a guide for what I wish I was taught in school. If you don’t choose a path, society chooses for you. This offers the ability to choose.
These Qs shouldn’t be easy or simple. They need to be pondered, soaked up, and reflected. They aren’t designed to be answered once and complete, but a constant compass to guide a life of meaning… one we can look back and go “that was effing awesome”
My Tenants of a Good Life
Peace
Purpose
Fulfillment
and Regret Free
Q1: What would you do if money was no object?
Alan Watts, 4 mins
Q2: What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
Q3: What life would you pursue if you didn’t have fear?
(absolutely love this one. It constantly calls me on my bullshit)
Practical Steps
Q4: What’re the things you’d be content to do for the rest of your life?
Build your life around these things not in spite of.
1) If you have a creative venture: Pursue 1 hour everyday for a year see what happens
2) If you don’t: Try more shit until you find one
For me those are the outdoors, time with friends, laughing, writing, meditation, working out, long walks to think, music, dance, and snowboarding. These will change over time I have no doubt, but I’m building a life to let me experiment and explore
Q5: When you’re 98 on your deathbed, what will you want to do, have, and be?
Do, Have, Be – The more time it takes you to come up with these the further away you are… but that’s OKAY. It just means you haven’t trained your mind to think about what you actually want
Compass – Begin w an end in mind
Q6: Who are your idols?
“Your idols give you insights into your values”
– Unknown
The previous 3 are a bit nebulous. They may offer insights into what we wish our lives to look like generally, but they’re so big picture they’re hard to act on. If someone asked me those in high school, or the classic “where will you be in 5 years” I would have no clue what to tell them.
But we’ve all got some creativity inside. All of us. We’ve all got a spark or an idea or an inkling. For that I recommend Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. It’s damn near a picture book. The other piece that gives us something tangible is studying people we’re inspired by. I’m not talking parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents or teachers. I’m talking historical figures or famous people… People that have done stuff. The more of those we study, the more of a reference point we’ll have – As we keep creating and learning and studying the greats… next thing we know we look back and we’re already on a path.
Q7: What does your perfect day look like?
It seems like so many of us accept the lives we walk into. We don’t know what’s possible or where to go so we end up accepting whatever life is placed in front of us. Even if it’s mediocre at best, many of us stay with it because it’s comfortable. An example of my perfect day here.
Have a goal, then deviate
It’s fine to change course, but you have to first select a course to get you moving in the first place.
“In order to be [the best] lawyer or doctor you have to first choose to become a lawyer or doctor”
– Oliver Burkeman
Some personal pics from fav goals then deviating:
Practical Tip: 60 Minutes to your goals everyday for 1 year
15 MINUTES TO THE FUTURE, DAMN IT
“If you can spend 8 hours building someone else’s dream, you can spend 1 hour building your own”
Japanese Ideals – Life’s lived on the daily…
2 months ago I was in Tokyo and stumbled upon The National Science Innovation and Technology Museum. It details in many ways, how the Japanese think. They are incredibly future oriented and forward thinking.
“Many small insights = Major Discoveries”
7 – Small contributions add up
If every single person alive created a way to make money pursuing what they are truly passionate about the world would be an astronomically better place: Full of Steve Jobses, Einsteins, and Ghandis.
“Instead of answers, exhibits in Miraikan focus on questions. This is because the future itself is a question whose answers may change.
– Japanese National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
When summed up, our individual actions will become a power that will surely change the future.
Miraikan is a place where you can explore the connection between science and the future and share your ideas with other people”
Miraikan poses alternate futures:
1) An Earth where Global Warming has been stopped
2) And Earth where people can always drink clean water
3) An Earth where people can enjoy affluent lifestyles with plentiful energy
4) And Earth where arts and culture abound
5) An Earth where linguistic diversity is protected
6) And Earth where fish can be eaten all the time
7) An Earth where everyone enjoys good health
8) An Earth without inequality and poverty
Miraikan poses many questions to viewers and then encourages us to ask questions of our own. The world improves by each of us pursuing that which we’re interested in and becoming incredible at it.
- Where did the Earth come from?
- How were galaxies and stars born?
- What is needed to create galaxies?
- What is happening besides Earth?
- What will happen in the future of Evolution?
Creativity: Every. Damn. Day.
6.5 Exploration of Joy – Hobbies
Q8: What’s a personal project you’ve been wanting to pursue for awhile now? Spend 1 hour doing that each day for a year. See what happens. If that’s too much try 1 month
Steps to a Custom Life
Step 1) Try 1,000,000 different things. What do you like?
Step 2) Understand your G.D. brain. It’s incredible. It likes certain things
Step 3) Continue to feed it what it likes. Learn & grow. Figure out your ideal Life
Step 4) Surround yourself with people living your ideal life. Read books.
Step 5) Solve your own problems. Help others with the same problems
Step 6) Find or create the career that lets you do those things… forever
Step 7) Do those things…. forever.
Step 8) Spent quality time with close friends. Exercise. Help others. Make money helping others. Pick up hobbies. Love your life. Never have to retire because you love what you do.
Life takes tolls. It kicks you in the shins and slaps you in the face. But the part of ourselves we get to keep is the 10 minutes after work before we’re slapped in the face at home. Enjoy those 10 minutes. Hold on to them religiously and do something you enjoy.