Take a moment and think about how your day unfolds every day. What actions are you taking from the moment you wake up until you lay your head on your pillow at night. If it is anything like most people, your day probably goes on autopilot and looks something like this:
- Get up to alarm. Dread throwing off the covers
- Clean up, eat, help get the family out the door, get out the door yourself
- Work through a series of tasks and appointments pushed at you by your job
- Watch the clock and get happy when the end of the day has arrived
- Head home. Decompress. Eat. Fit in some personal time
- Sleep
After a typical day like this, how much have you accomplished for yourself?
If your day is anything like this, the only “me” time that you get is at the end of the day and you only get a very small slice of it.
Most people that are working for someone else are busting their chops to help the company succeed. If the company succeeds then the CEO succeeds, and then the shareholders succeed. This is a great model, and everybody benefits from your efforts. But it may be a horrible model for personal fulfillment.
If you are feeling unfulfilled at the end of the day, then you need to reevaluate how you spend your day. Your lack of fulfillment is a sign that you are not getting closer to your dream life. Your day is being spent with somebody else’s mission and priorities at the top of your list. This is an acceptable way to start your life, but not an acceptable way to live it out and retire.
Make a plan to start living intentionally.
Document what you want to get out of your time on this earth. Nobody is more interested in your happiness than you. And nobody is going to work harder to make you happy than you. You need to be the center of your own world. I have personal experience with this. It’s a great feeling to live with your goals and mission in front of you every day.
Start living intentionally. Remember that you are either pursuing your dream every day or you are pursuing somebody else’s dream.
