5 Steps When You Don’t Know What To Do With Your Life

We all reach points in our lives where we don’t know what to do with our life.

We aren’t clear on what our purpose in life is, have lost our passion for life and seem to be wandering aimlessly through each hour, day and week not sure where all of this is headed.

Often, these are the types of thoughts going through our minds at this point in life:

• I’m not sure what I want to do with my life, but it sure doesn’t seem to be what I’m doing right now
• I feel trapped in my current life (school, living at home, job or supporting other people) and don’t know how to get out
• I can’t seem to get excited or motivated to do anything except watch TV, sleep in, play video games or other passive activities
• I have no direction and no enthusiasm for anything anymore
• I lack good friends, but why would they want to hang around me anyway

What happens if you are at this point in your life, try one of these 5 steps to escape the “I don’t know what to do in life” challenge.

1. Write Down What You Like And What You Are Good At

Changing any mindset when we are stuck in a rut starts with re-framing our thoughts, one of the best ways to do that is to ask yourself questions that force your mind to think in new and different ways.  Until you challenge your mind it will continue to operate around the same thoughts and thought patterns that have kept you stuck all along.  By taking 15-20 minutes and writing your recollection of what you used to like (everything you can remember back as far as you can remember) and things you were good at, you will not only spark new ideas for your future, you will re-frame your mind and get it unstuck from the old, useless way of thinking

2. That Was Then, This is Now

Know that no matter what happened yesterday, last week, last year, your mind has this amazing ability to change and make tomorrow different from yesterday.  Putting a stake in the sand and saying “enough is enough” is all you really need to do to begin the process of changing your thoughts which, in turn, change your actions.

3. Picture Your Future As you Want It To Be

Visualization and then repetitive thinking around those visualizations are one of the most powerful ways to frame your mind for change.  By creating a “movie” of your life 1-year, 5-years, 10-years from now exactly as you want it to be including specific pictures and associated emotions is an incredibly powerful stimulus for change in your life.  Think of your specific visualizations as the compass that will automatically direct your thoughts and actions from this point forward.  All energy, thoughts, decisions, actions and momentum will now be automatically transitioned toward your desired outcome.  Don’t edit these visuals, make them as close to what you really desire as possible.

4. Belief and Certainty

We talk about how essential belief and certainty is to reinforcing any thoughts and behaviors in your life in “Getting Unstuck In Your Life” – without them, we only have wishes and dreams.  With certainty and belief come the determination, focus and persistence that ultimately lead to massive transitions in life resulting in growth and progress.  Reinforce your belief around achieving your desired outcome by seeing yourself already having achieved your dreams, by having concrete steps on how you will get there, on associating with others who have achieved what you are seeking and on daily reinforcement by studying others who have achieved what you want (videos, biographies, interviews, case studies, etc…)

5. Change Your State

Patterns and habits reinforced by your brain are powerful realities – in order to break undesirable patterns and habits and instead changing them to new ones that invoke your passion for life, energy and motivation you want to interrupt your current habits and thoughts by changing your state.  All that means is interrupt your actions – if you sleep in too much, set your clock to get up earlier tomorrow.  If you always take the same route to school, work or your daily errands, then change it up tomorrow.  If you always settle in for the evening to “unwind” by watching TV, then plan something else this evening like going out for a walk, playing a game or reading a book.  It’s not so much that you have to do the RIGHT thing, but that you want to do something ELSE in order to interrupt negative patterns.

Now this list of 5 steps to refresh your life doesn’t seem too complex or challenging does it?

The next time you find yourself wondering what to do with your life, have these steps at hand…print them out and have them beside your bed or computer so you can immediately jump in and start  changing your life for the better.