How to find your way in life.
Today’s episode is all about getting your life back on track. We often lose ourself in the hustle and bustle of life but after today’s episode you will regain all the clarity you need. You’ll figure out who you are, what you need to be happy and how to move forward. Enjoy!
So today I want to talk about being lost. It’s a feeling you have probably experienced before and I just want to say that it’s totally normal to feel that way. It’s especially common in your teens and twenties when your whole life is changing and you have just been going with the flow for a little too long and now you have no idea where you ended up and where you want to go next. In this podcast episode, you will get clarity on how to get back on track so let’s dive right in.
How you lose yourself:
Losing yourself often happens when you focus on everything but yourself. You work a little too much, you got into a friendship or relationship where you only focused on the other person, you followed the path your parents laid out for you only to realise at the finish line that it wasn’t what you wanted, you had a very demanding job that just killed your spirit. There are so many ways to lose track of who you are. You may not even feel like you ever knew. And it sucks. Feeling lost often means feeling like you lost control, and that others are dictating your life for you. Personally, I realised at the end of last year that I had no idea what I was doing with my life. In 2021 I had just lived day to day, with no intention behind it whatsoever. And I was trying to write an end-of-year review and I realised that I had barely any memories, anything to be proud of even when I had accomplished quite some things like graduating and finding my first job. I was working a job that I felt zero passion towards. I had graduated in something that I did not want to work in anymore and I had never felt more unhappy in my life. I decided it was time for change and to figure out what would actually make me happy and that is when I really started working on figuring out who I was and where I wanted to go and today I’m going to teach you the same.
Finding yourself is not fixed
If you set out on a journey to find yourself you do have to realise that it’s not a one-time job. You will change throughout your life and you will change. So an important part of this journey is to frequently, I suggest every 6 months at least, check in to see if your life still aligns with who you want to be. Don’t be afraid to change course if something doesn’t. feel right for you anymore even when it used to be one of your biggest dreams. I used to dream about being a social media manager. t was all I worked for and a couple of months ago, I realised that it was not the path for me at all. I love creating content but I want to help people with it and that’s how Studio-I was born.
Values
But let’s get started on finding out who you are. The first thing that will help you out a lot is knowing what you value. Your values are a bit like the foundation of your life. They will change as you grow but if you live in line with your values, you’ll feel 10 times happier. To figure out your values take out a piece of paper or your journal if you have it and think about the best moments in your life: what were you doing, and what made it so great? In contrast to that look at those worst moments in your life. what made them so bad and why? For example, if the pandemic was one of your worst moments, maybe that was because your freedom was taken away or you missed out on quality time with your friends and family. So if you have your best and worst moments. Take a look at the activities and things in your life you could not live without. Maybe that’s your daily runs, or you absolutely need your planner on you at all times. And then we have the things you hate doing. Do you hate going out to pubs every weekend? Or maybe you don’t enjoy going on vacation at all because it messes with your routine. So on your paper, you will now have all the things that bring you joy and all the things that don’t. Take some time to look for patterns and try to determine your values from that. If you can’t live without travelling and your best moments all happened while you were travelling, travel is probably one of your values. If you hate being told what to do, you probably value freedom and independence. If you need your planner, do you value structure and organisation? Try to limit yourself to 5-7 values. If you do more you will probably not get a lot of use out of them. Now I understand that coming up with the right words for your values is not always easy. That’s why I created a beautiful document will all kinds of values that might fit you. You can download it for free on the website. You can find it at studio-i.com/values or n the description down below.
Honouring your inner child
Let’s move on! Children often know very well what they like and don’t like. They don’t have to fit into a box just yet. You have those couple of years before society’s expectations start weighing you down when you can just be you. Now you probably won’t be the same as you were when you were 6 but honouring what your inner child has lost is such an amazing feeling. So we are still on the same paper as before and you can write down what you used to love as a child. What brought you joy? For me that was swimming and being artsy like drawing, painting all of those things. My mom used to be an artist and I definitely got that from her. I loved the first day of school because I was always so excited about the learning I would do that year and I was always so proud when I could help teachers or other adults. So write down what made you happy. And then think about why you stopped doing those things or why they were no longer fun. There will be things that you have lost interest in, and that’s totally okay! For me, that was guitar lessons. Loved it but lost interest after a while and I don’t think I’ll pick it up again any time soon. But there will also be things you stopped doing because of outside pressure. Maybe it wasn’t cool and you wanted to belong in your group of friends, or maybe your parents didn’t approve anymore or maybe you just did not have time anymore. Look at your list and maybe there are some things that you are quite sad about that you no longer do them. For me, that was art and swimming. So just as a reminder, it’s never too late to start again. it’s okay that you suck now. But try out those hobbies again. Your inner child who was deprived of that joy deserves it. And I promise you it will be so fun! And if there are things that you try that you don’t love anymore that is totally okay too! Just give it a go
Having a great day!
So, your life is probably not all bad right now. There are probably things you already really enjoy. Think about what makes a great day or even a great week. Let’s take out a piece of paper again. Or I just realised some people might be listening on the go, just do this in your head and maybe write it down somewhere when you can so you don't forget? But so back to having a great day! If you write down what makes up a great day and a great week. Take a closer look at what those elements are that make it so great and try to do more of it. One of the keys to living a life that aligns with yourself is to constantly chase the things that bring you joy and fill your life with as much of it as possible.
Your talents
Okay now, let’s talk about making money in a way that fits your life. As much as we all want to just live life and enjoy it, we do need some money to do that. But good news! Your job does not have to suck. It’s perfectly possible to find a job that aligns with your values and that you actually enjoy doing. And if you can't find one, we live in a day and age where you can create one. I’m not claiming that that is easy in any way, but it is possible. And if it’s possible, with the right action it can be achieved. Your dream job aligns with your values, plays into your strengths while avoiding your weaknesses and is something you actually enjoy doing. That sounds like a needle in a hay pile, right? Well, let’s break it down. Let’s start with your strengths. What are you actually good at? you can make this list yourself butt maybe ask others too what they think you excel at. Then ask yourself what you suck at. You can't be good at everything and sucking at things is actually totally okay. If you try to be good at everything you will end up being average in everything. If you spend time to really hone in on your skills, those will be far more valuable and it won’t matter that there are some things you just suck at. as a society we focus way too much on what we aren’t good at. But there is no happiness in that… So write down what you suck at just so know, move on and focus on your strengths. That being said, there is nothing wrong with wanting to learn something, that’s different. But so for your dream job, focus on what you are good at for the task you will do at your job. Your values are more about how you work and what kind of company you work for. You could try writing your ideal job description and then match that to the jobs available around you or if you are feeling brave create your own.
Finding out where you want to go
On to my last point of this podcast. When you have clarity on who you are and what you find important you may still doubt what the right path is for you. That’s where visions come in. If you create a very clear idea of where you want to go, finding the right path towards that becomes a whole lot easier. The best way to figure out where you want to go is the find your ideal life workbook that’s available on the studio-I site. It will guide you through all of the exercises that I've talked about in this podcast and it takes you from your vision all the way to the steps you’ll need to take to figure that path out. You don’t have to buy it but it’s an amazing resource if you are serious about turning your life around.
But I’ll give you the quick rundown in this episode. Maybe I shouldn’t do that but oh well I really want to help you. So for your vision think about what you want your life to look like in 3 years’ time. All aspects of your life so think your home, your friends, your love life, work and so on. Get specific! Write it down in as much detail as you can imagine, that makes it feel way more real. Once you have that vision you can create your path toward that. What goals do you need to achieve to get to your vision? and what can you do to make those goals a reality today?
So if you want to go way more in-depth on those points, get the book or check out the studio-I membership. You don’t have to but I am so proud of those products and I really believe they can change your life.
But so to wrap up this episode of the podcast I want to give you a clear step-by-step list of actions you can take in case you weren’t able to follow along during the podcast. You’ll find that list in the description too.
So first get clear on your values and download the list of values from my website
Then look to activities your inner child loved and see if you want to pick those up again
Then get clear on what makes your days great and do more of it
Find out what you are good at and don't give a shit about what you are bad at
melt your strengths together with your values to get clear on your ideal job
then create a vision to get clear on how to move forward.
So basically the inner child part and the ideal day give you clarity on your free time. your strength and weaknesses guide you towards your job opportunities. Your values are the foundation of both and they steer you in the right direction
So I hope this episode helped you out and if it did please leave me a review it really does help a lot! And if you watching on youtube, please like comment and subscribe.
Thank you for listening and talk to you soon! Toodaloo
