What do I DO?
Recently I have received a number of emails from those of you creative geniuses who have watched the Draw Your Future TEDx talk and afterwards wondered, “What if I don’t know what I want to do?”
Whether you are just starting off your career life or you're switching things up, “What should I do?” is a hard question. It's often loaded with expectations from parents, family or friends. People have lots of “shoulds” when it comes to your life and what you should do with it. Shoulds have a tendency to freeze us in our tracks.
Let’s step back and start by asking a different question, to see if we can open up our options and turn our search into an adventure. Anyone can find a job or a career, but finding something that will fill you up and allow you bring your best self into the world requires a deeper dive into what you desire.
I like to leap over my confusion and anxiety about “how” I do it, to imagine what it could feel like. In the best case scenario, what will I feel like 3 months, 6 months or a year from today.
It's your turn. Start by getting a blank piece of paper and pen or pencil.
Write DESIRED NEW REALITY at the top.
Then ask yourself:
In this new reality, what are the qualities and characteristics I'm experiencing?
On that piece of paper, write and draw what you want to experience. Scatter everything around the page, until you have a mishmash of the things you want to feel a year from today.
Maybe you want to be more creative, or to feel more love. Perhaps you want to know what you are meant to be doing in the world, or you want more friends. Write down all of these things in simple words like “Creative”, “loved”, “happy”, “clear”. Then add a few pictures to remind yourself what that might look like. If you don’t think you can draw, do it anyway, drawing, both good and bad, helps juice up your brain.
Now you know what it will feel like. These are the things you want to be experiencing, no matter what you are “doing” in a career or in your life.
Let’s add some booster fuel. On a separate piece of paper, create a list from 1 to 100. Now, brainstorm and come up with 100 ideas for what you could do, and let yourself really have fun with this. When you have to come up with 100 you are bound to break out of your box. (I know belly dancer wasn’t first on your list, but put it down anyway!)
Now look at the two pages you have created. There are bound to be two or three things on your “do” list that match the things you want to experience in your desired new reality. Let the adventure begin. Choose one or two of your “do” things and come up with 1-2 actions that you could take right away to work towards that goal.
Right away today, go do something to help yourself move towards that goal. Keep it super simple to begin with. Maybe it's a phone call, a Facebook post or a Google Search. Start taking those baby steps towards your desired new reality.
Know that you might not experience the feelings you desire right away because getting there takes work. At each step in the journey, pull out that Desired New Reality picture and ask yourself, “Does/will this new thing fill me with more…(creativity, love, friendships…etc)
Finding your “What Should I Do?” is an evolving process. Know that the more fun you have in the process, the more room you’ll make for #creativegeniusyou.
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