Walking My Path
Walking my path has made all the difference in the world. It’s helped me change my perspective, my outlook, my attitude – and in time will change my future.
When I say ‘path’, I mean my life’s purpose.
Not actively pursuing your life’s purpose will eat away at your soul – the very essence of you. I firmly believe that. I think that was a lot of the reason why I was so depressed.
My life before my diagnosis was very different than it is now. I lacked any sort of direction. A lot of my energy was wasted on stuff that wasn’t really important to me and my life. It sounds funny to say, but I finally realized my time on this earth is limited. I find we as a society get so caught up in the day-to-day minutiae that we lose sight of the bigger picture. Being human is about wanting to be better. I find it difficult to go back to a time when I was just existing.
Over the last two years, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery. Although I feel I have a long way to go still, I’m headed down the right path.
Finding The Path
Once I determined that I was going to try to fix my situation, I started looking for resources which could help me. I’ve listed the top ones I used to help motivate me.
Robin Sharma – Undoubtedly the greatest help to me was the very insightful Robin Sharma. He has many amazing and free resources. I did pay for his 2015 course which I feel was well worth it. If I didn’t do that, I don’t know if I’d be in the mental, physical or spiritual state I am now.
Live Your Legend – I joined the LYL community early in 2015. It was a great jumping off point for me that helped me isolate the few things I should be doing. They have many awesome, free tools. I did the 21 Days To Discover Your Passion Course which is not free, but well worth the investment.
Becoming Who You Are – This great little book was written by James Martin, SJ. It’s a quick read and helped me solidify some of my ideas around my purpose.
The subconscious is a very powerful thing. You may have thoughts, feelings, and dreams just beyond your reach. In order you to get to it, I invite you to spend some serious time getting in touch with the real you.
The Concept of Essentialism
Essentialism is a fantastic little book by Greg McKeown. It helped me to identify the specific tactics I needed to adopt in order to start living the life I was meant to live.
The book covers three main areas: 1.) Exploring & Evaluating (which we’ve already covered above) 2.) Elimination, and 3.) Execution
Elimination Of The Unnecessary
Sometimes we say ‘yes’ when we really should say ‘no’. I was definitely someone who would commit to more than I wanted to do or was even capable of. I may have done this out of some sense of duty or obligation. I may have felt at the time that someone would be offended if I told them I couldn’t do what they were asking. At times, I probably felt that somehow my refusal meant that I would be viewed as inferior or inadequate. What I’ve since learned through Essentialism and through my own experience is that people will usually respect you more if you give them a straight answer.
The unnecessary is also those little distractions and time-wasters. Social media and TV are the biggest ones I think.
Once I found my purpose or what I think that is, it became quite easy to eliminate things that did not fall in the same realm. I’m still working on it, though.
Building A Plan
Once I had a clearer picture of my path, it was time to build a plan. I began to apply what I learned through Robin Sharma and the Live Your Legend community. Additionally, I found great practical advice in The Freaks Shall Inherit The Earth by Chris Brogan.
- I envisioned an end-point for myself. As Robin Sharma prescribes, I saw who I wanted to be on my deathbed and worked backwards from there.
- I developed a weekly schedule. On Saturday, I work out my schedule for the upcoming week. I don’t always stick to it completely, but it’s all about making small tweaks and adjustments along the journey. It lists all the tasks I need to get done and the appointments I have. Chris Brogan suggests only scheduling about 40% of one’s time and I stick closely to that rule.
- I do my best to only schedule that which aligns with my purpose. My purpose breaks down into goals, which further break down into milestones, projects and tasks. I try not to invest too much time on planning, however. After all, I am not called to be a project manager. Many great minds have said that thought is useless without action.
Executing My Plan
I’ve read much around the subject of self-improvement and productivity. I work hard, but do tend to slack off at times. That’s something that I work on. It’s a work in progress. I have experimented with different schedules, trying to find one that works for me. I plan to make mistakes. Quite a few of them actually, but I also plan to learn from them.
Having a disease like this comes with many challenges. Not that I’m complaining or making excuses. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t beat yourself up too much if your days don’t go as planned. There will be ups and downs, hills and valleys as you walk your own path. The journey is exciting, the destination is really irrelevant.
As far as my plan goes, I’ve got a Personal Training course booked for next month. If everything works out, I should be certified by the new year. Fingers crossed. I also go to the gym 6 days a week, volunteer as a Muay Thai Assistant Coach, try to eat as healthily as possible, practice the electric guitar, train my brain, and read a lot!
That’s all for now. If you liked this article, please share it!
Thanks and have a great day!
