How To Know What You Want In Life: In an ambitious world like ours, it is a routine to have one questioning his purpose in life. It always happens that in fact, the practice of raising this question and giving regard to the answers is the preliminary step to having a purposeful life. Questioning what you want does not make one naive, uninformed or unprepared for life; it rather does the positive opposite, balances your focus and determination and prepares you for the best. People who just summersault into one field and the other without bearing such preliminary life questions in mind will usually end up failing or at best, unfulfilled.
Hence, there are people who live a life without destination but depend on the mercy of fate and luck, so that they are willing to accept anything life throws at them even when it could have been done better or be prevented. This is not an ideal life. The ideal life is that people should exercise an adequate degree of control over what happens in their lives and how they desire to live, to the best of their opportunity. It is a life of several lines and directions. One must therefore specifically choose a few lines and be determined to consistently strive through the means. Knowing what you what in life is all encompassing and it is valuable in a life summed up by decision-making.
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8 Tips To Know What You Want In Life
1. Determine the things that you are passionate about: Determining what you want in life is definitely a question and answer session with oneself. As long you are not a stone, there are certainly a number of things which you are passionate about. Those are probably your natural line of inclination. Such things are not necessarily in a form to constitute one’s hobby even though it may be part of.
There are causes and goals that you are most passionate about. You can discover them by conducting introspection and at best, augment your findings with the suggestions from a trusted friend. Yes, your trusted and close friends are close enough to have observed the things that you are passionate about, and they can always help you clear your doubts. It could be that you are passionate about pursuing justice, histories, your environment, your religious belief, discoveries, importing knowledge on people, and so on. These are causes one can be passionate about, and you can by consciously identifying them determine what you want in life.
2. Determine what your personal values are: Your personal values are those principles, belief and qualities which you effortlessly have ascribed a degree of importance to. Inasmuch as one’s personal values can be compromised, they are very definitive of one’s capability and personality. If there we causes that are ordinarily against your personal values, it is very safe to note that those values will hamper you from fulfilling those causes effectively.
On the other hand, when you go after causes that are in tandem with your personal values, there would be sufficient motivation and there would be no personal hindrances as to fulfilling the cause. All that would be needed then is the adequate degree of effort needed for achieving the cause. Therefore in determining what you want in life, your personal values must be put into consideration. Since you have long accepted your personal values, the things you want in life most likely will fit in to your values.
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3. Who are the people you admire?: There are always people whom you admire and there are reasons why you admire them. They probably have attained some greater heights. In fact, their life is just appealing to you. You are always looking out for them and you are probably a secret admirer. Maybe you should ask yourself whether you would wish to find yourself in that status.
When you admire people, it simply translates to the fact that you love how they are and what they do. Of course, this is not you conclusive as to whether you wish to be like them. The admiration may just be a simple one; giving appreciation for something great. But then, you may have to consciously ask yourself whether you want to follow that line. The people you admire could be your role model, whether secretly or openly. The whole circumstances of this will give you the right hints as to whether you are visualizing yourself in such paths. It could translate to that which you want in life.
4. Determine what your needs are: Determining your needs will help in shaping your mindset towards that which you desire in life. Needs must be distinguished from wants. While wants are mere frivolities and are not of utmost importance, needs are life necessities and they can form part of one’s passion. The needs and wants meant here are not the materialistic ones. One may simply want to make money, but the act of making money is substantiated by the need for providing solutions and solving problems.
In trying to find out what you want in life, it is vital to answer the question as to what constitutes your needs. What exactly do you desire to achieve? What changes your and solutions are you passionate about rendering? Where do you need to be in the future? The answers to these questions will help channel your mindset towards the means through which your needs can be fulfilled, and fulfilling your needs is definitely what you want in life.
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5. Discover the things that make you happy: The things that make you happy are unarguably the things you want in life. Every living being desires to be in an environment that makes them happy, and do the things that make them happy. Life is all about happiness.
People are wired to consciously look out for happiness and limit sadness and worries as much as possible. People are most likely to thrive better doing things that make them happy. Happiness can come from within or from external factors, and it is best when it is coming from both sources. You certainly want happiness in your life, and already there are things that make you happy. Having a list of them is a very good start.
6. Determine the things you do not want and play accordingly: Being certain as to the things you do not want helps you maintain focus and limit distractions and uncertainties. It helps one to channel energy appropriately.
In determining what you want in life, you can make it easier by first excluding the things you do not want. This is the elimination method. You can afterwards work with what you are left with.
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7. Reckon your achievements: See how reckoning your achievements will help you. One is that it helps you set further goals. Another is that it supplies you with the motivation to do more. More so, when you reckon your achievements, it gives you reasons to remain consistent, instead of trying from one area to another.
These areas of your accomplishment gives you the feeling of pride and success, and you may from there start to consider venturing into the areas of your accomplishments. Such areas could turn out to be what you actually want in life.
8. Seek advice: Nobody ever grows above needing an advice. In fact, someone who is not yet certain about what he wants in life needs advice the most.
Of course you are expected to have your own thoughts and resolutions already while looking out for advice from trusted people. It could be family and friends, it could be experts.
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Conclusion
The question as to what you want in life can always arise at any stage and as frequently as circumstances warrant. The question may never get completely answered, but it helps in channeling one’s focus and purpose.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.