Spend some time figuring out what you want to do with your life.
"Ask the right questions and the answers will reveal themselves." —Oprah
Wchapeau should I exercise with my life? That'due south a actually scary question.
When I started out in my career, I thought I needed a mentor to tell me exactly what to practise, when to do it, and how to do it.
I prayed for this fairy godfather to drop down out of Silicon Valley and into my inbox with a complete roadmap for my life.
Equally it turns out, fairy godfathers don't exist and no mentor—no matter how brilliant—can evangelize a complete roadmap to anyone'due south life.
In the words of Steve Jobs, you can't connect the dots looking frontwards, you can just connect them looking backward, then you lot have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
Advising you to just trust that the dots will connect later on isn't exactly helpful, though. It certainly won't help sort out your career path or relieve whatsoever feet.
I do know something that will assistance, though… Asking yourself questions.
"Questions can be similar a lever you employ to pry open up the stuck lid on a pigment can." — Fran Peavy
Whenever I feel overwhelmed or when I don't know the reply to something, before I carp someone smarter than me for the answer, I open up a bare doc, and I start typing out questions. Then I try to answer them. I just type—no editing, no filtering—merely me scribbling my thoughts on the folio.
And you know what I've discovered since doing this?
I tin can answer nearly all of my questions and feel confident virtually my answers without e'er pinging my imaginary fairy godfather. Including the old favorite, "What do I want to practise with my life?"
Knowing what questions to ask can be difficult, and opening a blank Word doc can feel overwhelming, so I'yard here to share some thought-provoking questions to jumpstart the process for you.
Keep reading for a list of nine questions to answer. They should aid you discover who y'all really are, what you lot truly want out of life, and how to get it someday.
And trust me, this is the closest affair you'll get to a complete career roadmap. You're welcome.
Expect at where you lot are now 
What led me to where I am today?
This question will tell y'all:
- What you care well-nigh and why you care well-nigh it (Your purpose, story)
- What you're good at and should explore farther (Your skills)
- What you savor doing (Your interests)
Brainstorm the milestones, relationships, people, jobs, and experiences that brought you to where you are today.
Consider the classes you've taken. Which did you excel at? Which were a struggle?
What extracurricular activities are/were you lot involved in? Did you lot savor some more than than others?
What part-time jobs have you had? What did you honey/hate well-nigh each of them?
What major events in your life have happened that shaped who you are today?
Consider all of the above when answering this question, and so try to connect the dots. Note patterns, industries, themes, and clues that could inform your adjacent step in life.
Ask yourself: What do I desire to keep doing? Do differently? Larn from? What industries or careers pop up that may accept been hiding in plain sight?
Key Takeaway
Take time to reflect on what you've done then far, and develop a healthy self-awareness of your strengths and weaknesses. Use your past experiences to make thoughtful choices about your futurity.
What have I always thought I'd practice for work? Why?
This question will tell you:
- Why you're doing what y'all're doing
- If yous should be doing what you're doing
What expectations do yous have for yourself? What expectations practice others—parents, friends, teachers, etc.—have of you?
Write them down and annotation why yous (and others) have these expectations. Where did they come from?
For example, perchance your dad wants y'all to exist a doctor because he thinks it'due south a secure, well-paying job, and he wants you to have a steady income to support yourself.
It's important to know his underlying reason in case you lot don't want to be a doctor and demand to tell your father this anytime.
I similar this question considering a lot of us, if non all of us, have this niggling "should" monster in our heads.
"I should become to law school."
"I should study business concern."
"I should go a dr.."
The dangerous thing is we never actually explore why nosotros think we should do these things. Not investigating why you're doing something is a sure-fire manner to wake up ane day in your 40s, miserable, thinking: "I absolutely hate what I do. WTF."
If you routinely find yourself waging war against this little "should" phonation, I recommend checking out our guide to mindfulness . You'll find tips in at that place about how to talk back to this phonation, which can help you lot when you detect yourself thinking, "I don't know what to do with my life!"
Key Takeaway
Why do you practise what you practise? Our motivations matter. Brand career choices for the right reasons (so silence the "shoulds" and ignore the haters).
Find your purpose 
What practice I want?
This question volition tell you:
- How much money you lot need to make (bacon)
- Where practice you want to live?
- What practice you want your dwelling or apartment to look like?
- What things and experiences do you remember will brand you happy?
List everything you lot want in life, including material items. Brain dump everything, even your most distant dreams and desires.
At this stage, it's a good idea to think about how much money yous need to brand to live the lifestyle yous want.
Free resource: Download our elementary budgeting spreadsheet here.
Key Takeaway
Understanding your dreams and goals will help you brand better, more than educated decisions when it comes to your career and life. Be honest with yourself and revisit this question over the years, as priorities can (and probable volition) modify.
What practice I want to do every twenty-four hours?
This question will tell you:
- What careers you should consider
- How to enjoy getting what y'all want
This question plays a massive role in our overall happiness, just it'southward often overlooked, if it'due south even considered at all. It can as well exist a flake vague.
Hither'south what I hateful by it.
At that place's a path—a journey—to getting what you want. It'southward not an overnight type of journey either. This path spans your entire life, so you all-time dearest whatever it is you have to do to get all the things you desire in life.
The path y'all choose to walk is the procedure by which you get what you desire, i.east. your career/job.
Regardless of the path you choose—no thing how glamorous—at that place will definitely exist struggles and to-dos that you just don't want to do, merely that you have to do, in order to get to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
And so a better question might be: What pain can I tolerate in my life? What am I willing to struggle for?
Exercise you want to have fourth dimension for family and friends?
Do you want to work a lot or a footling?
How do you want to spend your time?
Practice yous imagine yourself in an office or working from a coffee shop?
If you lot don't respond this question, yous'll default to the easiest and well-nigh obvious path to get what y'all desire.
For case, if making a lot of money is important to yous, y'all may study police and become a lawyer. Later in life though, you might have a mid-life crisis, when yous realize that you detest all of the work that comes with being a successful lawyer .
Central Takeaway
Create a vision of your ideal life. Call back carefully about what brings you joy, what keeps yous happy and calm, and what makes you thrive. Likewise, call up about what things yous don't desire in life, and then you know what to avoid.
What are you expert at and observe interesting?
This question will tell yous:
- Your skills (yous accept or desire to learn)
- Your passions
- A list of careers you should test out (freelance projects, internships, jobs y'all should attempt to see if you like)
I declared business as my major immediately upon inbound college. I thought any other degree would be useless in today's professional person landscape.
The matter was, I couldn't pass my business classes. Macroeconomics still gives me nightmares to this solar day!
Then I noticed something. I was killing my English language classes, scoring 100s left and correct on papers.
Because those Equally felt so good, and considering I seriously loved "Sex and the City" at the time, I began exploring the idea of becoming a writer.
The thing was that it just seemed too damn impractical—totally unrealistic.
How would I ever make money equally a author when the news industry was crumbling before my optics? (This was 11 years ago before content marketing was a matter.)
Plus, I wanted to be rich. Writers aren't rich.
It took declining macroeconomics—multiple times—to realize I just wasn't cut out for numbers, and finally, I practical to the journalism plan at my school.
Today, I'm a total-fourth dimension, well-paid (on-my-way-to-rich) writer.
I am where I am today because I tied my skills with my interests, and voila, out popped a phenomenal career that I savour waking upwards for each day. Information technology also helped that I trusted that the dots would connect in the future.
If yous take trouble figuring out what you're expert at, ask others who know yous—teachers, advisors, friends, etc.
If you're stuck, hither are a few more questions to consider.
- What are your top talents and skills?
- What kind of tasks excite you and keep you engaged?
- What is your favorite pastime? What do you do when you accept no more work to practise?
- What topics of conversation are e'er interesting to y'all? What do you find yourself talking almost passionately with others?
- What are your strongest beliefs and convictions in life?
- What would your friends and family say are your greatest strengths?
- In the jobs you've held, what tasks have been the most satisfying and enjoyable?
Key Takeaway
Take fourth dimension to get to know you lot . Figure out what your passions and skills are, so y'all can then make sure you centralize these aspects of yourself front and eye as you make up one's mind what to exercise with your life.
Identify your tribe 
Who are your favorite types of people?
This question will tell you:
- The type of people yous'll work all-time with
- The type of people you shouldn't work with
Think about all the people y'all've had to work with then far—teachers, peers, toxic bosses. Who drove y'all the craziest?
No need to write names. Instead, item what nigh these folks irritated y'all so much.
Peradventure they were bossy and always telling you how to practise your job. Or maybe they slacked off and never held their own in the group.
Every career has a characteristic "people surround." These different environments take been divided into half-dozen groups, in what is known equally the "Holland Code." Having a good understanding of the groups and how they're unlike tin guide you toward choosing jobs and a career path that volition connect you with like-minded people yous enjoy working with.
(2d ed.) Odessa, FL.: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
Understanding which people environs you prefer can help you choose a fulfilling career.
This infographic showcases the six general people environments.
According to the theory, each of us has iii preferred people environments from the six above.
While you tin can take a test to find your precise three, Richard Bolles of "What Color is Your Parachute?" recommends a faster road.
Pretend you're at a political party where people with the same interests are gathered in the same corner of the room, and that's true for all six corners.
Each corner is equanimous of people who fit into one of the half dozen categories above: C, R, I, East, S, A.
Inquire yourself:
- Which corner of the room are you instinctively drawn to? This is the group y'all'd most savor being with for the longest period of time. Write the letter for that grouping.
- After 15 minutes, everyone in the corner you lot chose leaves for another party, except y'all. Of the remaining groups, which corner/grouping are you most drawn to as the grouping you'd near enjoy existence with for the longest period of time? Write the alphabetic character for that group.
- After another 15 minutes, this grouping leaves also, except yous. Of the corners that remain, which would you lot almost savour being with for the longest time? Write the letter for that group.
The three letters you lot chose are your "Kingdom of the netherlands Code," which tells you your preferred types of co-workers. When thinking about what you want to do with your life in terms of a career, think most jobs that are likely to attract these types of people.
For example, if your The netherlands Code includes Realistic, Enterprising, and Social groups, you might consider a task in the nonprofit sector. If you are looking for Investigative, Conventional groups, you might want a job in the sciences.
Cardinal Takeaway
The people y'all surround yourself with will shape the life you lot lead. Asking this question allows you to know what kinds of friends and colleagues you should seek to build a happy life.
What do yous value? In what guild?
This question volition tell you lot:
- Where you should work (the blazon of work culture you'll thrive in)
When you start making career decisions, deciding what's most important is a must.
Perhaps y'all've dreamed of working at a startup. Let's say y'all get a job offering and the salary is lower than what you were hoping for. Only the entrepreneur in you is hungry for the responsibleness and autonomy yous'd gain in this role. Do you value experience over money?
Or y'all could be deciding between two jobs. One is the perfect fit—exactly what you've been looking for, just volition probable be long hours. The other is slightly different/less ideal, only offers a great deal of flexibility and work/life balance. What practise you value most?
There'due south no right or incorrect respond, though proverb "yes" to one matter might mean saying "no" to another . Life and business motorcoach Marie Forleo shares a major turning bespeak in her life when she chose to follow her passion over financial and career security :
One twenty-four hours I got a telephone call from the HR department at Vogue magazine, and they offered me a promotion. And then it was an opportunity non only for a meliorate job, more than money, and the top fashion mag in the world.
And so I had this fork-in-the-route moment. I was like, 'Either I'm going to practice this and take this promotion and take the steady paycheck, have the health benefits.' People empathise what y'all do when you say you work in magazine. Or I'yard going to quit and practice this weird coaching thing, which I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I have never started a business. I had no money. I'm in debt. Merely God this feels correct in my basic. So I turned down that promotion, and I quit my full-time job and I went dorsum to what I was doing in college, which was bartending and waiting tables.
The betoken is: not simply must you recognize what you lot believe in, simply likewise, in what club you believe information technology, so when it comes fourth dimension to brand the hard decisions, yous can make them and feel confident virtually them even when the overwhelming majority is trying to convince you lot that you're a flaming idiot.
Once you sort out your values, you'll know the blazon of piece of work culture you lot'll thrive in anytime.
Central Takeaway
If yous're similar most people, you'll spend a pregnant portion of your life at work. When you savor the working environment you're in, it becomes much easier to notice fulfillment.
Imagine your future 
What do I want to do before I dice?
This question volition tell you:
- What you lot want to accomplish in life (big moving picture)
- How you lot can start ticking things off your saucepan list
What would make you say at the end of your life, "I went all in"?
List absolutely everything you want to accomplish before yous dice. It doesn't matter why. At that place could be 100 items on the list. The number is irrelevant—just encephalon dump.
Once you lot've spent a decent amount of time brainstorming and developing a solid bucket list, divide it up into three categories:
- Things I need skills for
- Things I tin can practice immediately
- Things that I need time for
Start, get through the skills category and listing the skills you'll need to accomplish each bullet betoken. Then lay out the action plan to larn each skill you need.
Next, choice something on your immediate list to tick off straight abroad and so you gain some momentum and motivation to proceed going.
Finally, which items on the third list would you experience the worst almost not accomplishing at the end of your life? Answer that, and you have your priorities.
Fundamental Takeaway
The sooner you get started on your bucket list, the sooner you can start ticking things off. Take intendance of the big-moving-picture show stuff, and y'all'll ane mean solar day look dorsum on the life you led and smile.
Where practise I derive my inspiration?
This question will tell you:
- Who y'all can look to for guidance and mentorship
- What you want to show others about yourself
If you've done a lot of the exercises in this article and you're still finding yourself thinking, "What do I do with my life?" then information technology may be fourth dimension to wait at some people you find inspiring.
Make a list of people whom you lot expect upwardly to. These can be people you lot know—parents, friends, colleagues, etc.—or they can be people you've never met, like social justice advocates, celebrities, or politicians.
For each person you come up with, list out the attributes, behaviors, and events that have made them so inspirational to yous.
Finally, practice a little research into the people on your listing. If information technology's someone y'all know, simply inquire them if y'all can pick their brain most their journey. If it's someone yous don't know, head over to Wikipedia or pick upwardly a biography. Larn about what they went through to get where they are, what they wish they could do differently, and what choices they made to find success.
While your journey in life will exist completely unique, hearing from people who accept done what you want to practice can guide you as yous carve your own path.
Fundamental Takeaway
Finding people who have lived a life similar to the one you want for yourself can requite you a roadmap for your time to come. You may also desire to consider getting a mentor to make this experience more personalized.
Bring it all together to create a roadmap
Remember at the beginning of this article, when I said no one was going to come along and hand you lot a roadmap for life?
Well, I take some skillful news: If y'all've taken the time to answer all the questions here, and then you've already got the foundation for your roadmap.
Now, you know what really matters to y'all in life, what stands in your mode of getting what you want, and what areas you demand to focus on to make it all happen.
Take some time away from your answers to let them settle—you may find every bit you ruminate on it over the adjacent few days, you want to add some new reflections to flesh out and refine your answers.
When it's been a few days, come back to it and endeavor turning your thoughts into an actionable plan. Start with the big tasks y'all desire to achieve, and break those up into smaller steps.
For example, possibly yous've decided that yous really desire a career that allows yous to bask the great outdoors. Yous might create steps like this to reach that goal:
- Research average bacon for national park workers
- Await into survival grooming class at community college
- Visit local nature reserve and interview an employee there
- Program a month-long camping trip to see how I like it
Once you lot have these achievable steps planned out, yous'll be well on your way to answering that devious question, "What practice I want to do with my life?"
Gratis resources: Download your own Roadmap Journal here.
Trust that the dots will connect
"I saw my life branching out before me like the dark-green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat imperial fig, a wonderful hereafter beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and across and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just considering I couldn't make upwards my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing i meant losing all the residue, and, as I sat there, unable to determine, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, 1 by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet." — Sylvia Plath
Growing up is overwhelming, to say the very least.
I wasn't exactly looking forward to my 30s, but worse is the idea of being 18 again.
I don't miss the figuring yourself out part at all considering it's really freakin' hard and scary. In fact, in extreme cases, information technology can lead to a quarter-life crunch.
I mean, what if you make the wrong decision?! Are you lot screwed?
Not AT ALL.
You WILL effort things you don't like and work with people you can't stand, but every bit long as yous learn from it, you're moving forrard. And that'due south all life is about—getting one percentage improve every day.
Also, don't forget to trust… Trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Similar Jobs, this arroyo has never permit me down, and it has made all the difference in my career.
It will brand all the deviation in yours too… if you lot let it.
Source: https://www.thevectorimpact.com/what-should-i-do-with-my-life/
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