I had always admired people who are certain about who they are, the things they want. When I look around, I’m always surrounded with them. Those who have a sense of mission and purpose. Those with clarity enough to act purposefully and in sync with their beliefs.
I don’t know about me. I made myself an skeptical, so I’m almost never sure about the things I want because an analytical, cynical me would rise and question everything. But one thing I’m sure: I’m moved not by what I want, but what I don’t want. And as most people around me want to live a purposefully life, I don’t wanna die purpose-less. I guess it’s the same.
Five years ago, I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. The cause? who cares. The only certain thing was that I was on a rollercoaster down the rabbit hole and it made me wonder what was the purpose of it. It made me wonder where I was going. And specially, it made me wonder if this train of wild thoughts were a result of inertia.
Procrastinating on the internet, I stumbled upon this Mark Twain’s “20 years from now…” quote. Very cliché, but I made me wonder. It made me “see” my future me. Would I be Alice in Wonderland, always searching for paths but not knowing where to go? Would I be brave enough to take calculated chances? Would I make sense out of confusion and chaos?
Yeah, I’m always haunted by silly rhetorical questions. It’s what the skeptical is used to do. It’s her value. But five years ago I felt defeated. I felt she wasn’t helping anymore because she would only encourage procrastination and paralysis by analysis. And my 20-year-from-now me would be truly disappointed by not moving her sorry little ass from the chair and be brave enough to do the things she wanted to remember.
It occured to me I had to add a sense of mission and purpose and direction into everything I did, but keeping track of a structured personal would be very difficult. After all, executive behaviour is not something I master. So, how could I build a sense of purpose and meaning without sacrificing spontaneity?
As an strategist, I remembered that strategy is supposed to be something simple and easy to remember. A happy story about the future. So I crafted what I call “a yearly guiding principle”
What is it? A simple phrase —a mantra if you will, that encapsulates what I wish to accomplish. A simple phrase that reminds me, not precribes me, what I need to do.
So, whenever I forget what I’m doing, I simply remember the mantra. Whenever I lose focus, I remember the mantra. Whenever fear, uncertainty and misery knocks on my door, I remeber the mantra.
It’s very useful because it truly adds direction and focuses my energy whenever I feel like falling down.
Here, my guiding principles, year by year:
2013
goal: to die without regrets.
guiding principle: “twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” —mark twain.2014
goal: to act ethically
guding principle: “how far would you go to get what you want?”2015
goal: to ditch noise away
guiding principle: “how many people will you include in your journey?”2016
goal: to avoid manipulation.
guiding principle: “crystal clear intentions”2017
goal: move from dreamer to doer
guiding principle: “make it happen”2018
goal: to be the best possible me.
guiding principle: “enjoy everything”
I wanted to share with you my personal tactics because it helps me remember what I want and avoid losing time. After all, 20 years is a very short time.
So, what guides you during this life?
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