What do you really want to do?

I don’t feel particularly passionate about anything.

I don’t have time.

I’m going to do it next year.

All of these statements are excuses. It sounds harsh, and deep down, you’re afraid that it’s true. But it doesn’t have to be! We default to these excuses when we don’t see a path forward. You can design your life so that you get to do more of what you want to do. What do you really want to do? Here’s a story of one way to do it:

My Situation Two Years Ago:

I like to road trip.

I want to take more long road trips.

It is not wise to road trip with my car.

I have to work.

I can’t travel regularly and serve my clients.

I need to build more relationships.

I hate networking (it feels so fake and disingenuous)

How do I do this?

My Situation now:

I have a roadworthy car.

I just finished a six-week road trip.

I’m planning a two-week road trip.

I’m implementing a strategy to build a team.

I started a podcast as a strategy to build relationships and networks.

My current situation started with a “What’s next?” journal entry. I spent a week thinking about the experiences that I wanted to have over the next five years. Then, I started thinking about how I could get there. Then, I did a brain dump of all the things that I needed to do. Then, I revised the list into three columns: what must I do, what can either be cut/eliminated or done by someone else and how does this affect my long-term vision for my life? Some of what I had to do was simple, like finally putting my personal bills on autopay. Other parts of what I had to do were harder like putting a plan to place to build a team and manage it remotely while consulting with my financial professionals about tax planning, retirement, and managing expenses.

Were there setbacks along the way? Absolutely (and some of the challenges are still in “challenge mode”)! Finding team members who I trust, like, and who can do the work has been harder than I thought, and I am a leadership and human resources professional!!! Getting my car was not without drama. And, I changed my business strategy (The goal didn’t change, the means did. There are times, however, when you must change your goal or acknowledge that your actions contradict your goal).

What’s the point? You can do whatever you decide that you really want to do. You do deserve the life you want, but getting there isn’t an effortless process. You gotta get super clear on what you want because you will have to make choices. Essentially, the greater your number of responsibilities, the more focused you must be. The beauty in being clear is that you get to learn how resourceful you truly are!