Last week I went to this amazing training course that got me thinking about a whole lots of things. More specifically about how we choose to organise and live our lives. Regardless of where in the world we are choosing to build that life.
One thing that hit me very strongly is how many different levels of thinking that is constantly available to us. I don’t know about you, but for me I’ve often chosen the ‘easy way’ rather than the way of thinking that will challenge me and serve me on a deeper level. Sounds a bit abstract and philosophical? Let’s explore first and decide later.
- Purpose comes first. This might sound odd to some, but there is little point to start doing a whole lot of things before you have spent a little bit of time thinking about why. If you are moving overseas, how does that fit in with the things you value and what you see as your bigger purpose? It’s not just about being effective down the track. It’s about being congruent with what you want more of in your life.
- Then comes the system. What do you have in place in order to follow this purpose of yours? What resources, people and systems can help you create a sustainably happy life on the other side? What books, blogs, programs and companies offer services and advise that would be helpful? If you need a bit more guidance than you thought, do you have a backup system to help?
- The step of doing stuff comes first for most people, but it actually sits better as point 3. Why? Because how can you start doing a whole bunch of things if you don’t know why or within what system. Otherwise it’s quite likely that you’ll do a whole lot of things very quickly, that you then have to re-do or struggle to understand at all, because you did them from a space of ‘getting it done‘ rather than ‘this connects with what I really want‘.
- The People. Who is coming with you, supporting you and opposing you? Are you being your best version of you or are you making excuses? This is a great level to start understanding the personality traits of yourself and the people close to you.
When I mentioned these 4 steps of thinking to a few people, some of them reacted by saying ‘that sounds like a whole lot of work‘. That reaction made me really curious. Of course it takes a tad longer to get started when you have to think about why you do something before you go and do it. Because you actually have to make a conscious decision with how it fits in the bigger picture of what connects the dots for you.
These things stand quite true for me, both in life and in travel situations, and I’d love to hear if/how they fit into your life. Too much work or a plan of action?