Mi Journey
Life’s journey begins in a safe harbor. We are still at home and dependent on our parents who take care of us. As we grow up, we leave the safe harbor and venture out into the ocean to begin with, we remain nearby the shore. Then we carefully venture offshore and study or start work. We get married and raise children. During our journey we are faced with storms – some more severe than others. by Pieter van Rensburg
The questions I have for you are:
- What is your story? Do you wish it was a different one? In which way?
- Are you OK with yourself and your journey so far? Remember it is not too late to change it going forward. Just take action!
- How is your career/business, financial situation, health, relationships, and spiritual life?
- How many months/years of working life do you have left calculated at an average retirement age of 65? What will retirement mean to you?
- Do you live a full life or are you just floating from one day to the next with no purpose or goals?
- Are you realizing your full potential?
Remember that life is lived once only – so live your dream! Many of us are bound by limiting thoughts of our circumstances. We can all sore like eagles high above the ground on a new journey filled with joy and prosperity – you just need to change your thoughts and work on your dreams.
Design your journey
Success means different things to different people; whether career wise, wealth, health, something else or a combination of several aspects.
Why is it important to understand yourself?
Once we know who we are and we accept ourselves, it is easy to define our shortcomings and do something about them. The opposite also applies – if we know our strengths, we can focus on improving them. I strongly recommend that you become a student of human behaviour which will benefit you throughout your life. We all look different, behave different and have different thumb prints. If we wish to buy a certain cellular phone, we know what we are looking for – the specs are quite clear. With people it is not so clear.
Symbolic people-speak
Head – the way we solve problems & learn new things (intelligence)
Heart – the way we feel about things/situations (emotions)
Hand – what we do (technical competencies)
Strengths and weaknesses
One way to define who we are, is to define our strengths and weaknesses. Defining them is setting us apart from each other and make us aware of our strength and development areas.
Personality
The word personality is derived from the Latin word for an actor’s mask [persona] and refers to a character played by an actor. The persona is also the mask we present to the world. People may have multiple masks for different situations for example a formal one when at corporate office and a different one when charming a woman.
An easy way to think of different personalities is the 4 seasons in a year: she is like spring means something different to – she is like winter.
Defining your purpose and mission
Many people go through life without a definite purpose. This is like building a boat without knowing what to do with it. Was it designed and built for fishing, pleasure rides, skiing or just cruising slowly up a river?
Question: Do you know what your purpose is?
A clearly defined purpose is necessary to live a happy life and therefor one needs to spend some time thinking it through.
Vision
Your personal vision statement provides guidance for your life and also provides direction to chart the course of your journey and the choices you make. You could view your personal vision as a picture of how you view yourself in the future.
Values
Personal values provide a reference framework for what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, and constructive. Values are one of the factors that define behavior and influence the choices made by individuals. Values reflect a person’s sense of right and wrong (how it should be).
Success inventory
The key reason why you should keep a record of your successes and achievements is to create a sense of your self-worth. Once you start to record your successes (even if you think they are insignificant) you positively influence the view of yourself – your self-image changes.
Define your dreams
Dreams are very important to achieve life goals – they motivate us to take action. I find it very useful to create a collage or vision board of my dreams. If you are clear on what you want to visualize it. I believe that if you are serious about your dreams, your thoughts will attract those things you wish for.
Goals
It is time that we belief in ourselves and know that hard work will overcome any obstacle. Passion comes from the Latin word “patti” which means suffering. It implies that we need to ‘suffer’ first before we live our passion. Hard work and consistency are needed. Talent surely helps if you are gifted with something, but it is not the main driver for results – hard work and discipline are required.
‘A dream written down with a date…is a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by consistent action becomes REALITY’
Daily diary
There are many reasons for keeping a diary or journal. It forces you to
- keep a record of your activities
- record the decisions you took
- record planned and unplanned events
- track progress on your goals
- record engagements with family members, friends, and other interested parties
- and plan your main activities for the next day (should you wish to)
I normally update my diary in the evening and also jot down the most important activities for the next day.
Gratitude’s
We tend to take our blessings like health, a happy relationship, and the fact that we are still alive for granted. One way to practice gratitude is to keep a diary of all that we are thankful for. This should ideally include the things we enjoy and also for things to come in the future – as expressed in our dream list.
It is time for a better life!
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