What do I really want in life?

What do I really want in life? What is my goal in life or my life goals? How can I find purpose in life? What is my life-purpose?

Those questions you are asking yourself right now – and you are not alone.

It’s really amazing that we spend so much time in school learning all kinds of things worth knowing and ‘not worth knowing.’ History facts, geography facts, curve discussion, and poetry interpretation are all important to getting a high school diploma.
But are these things really important for your future life?
When teenagers leave school, they usually don’t know what to do with their lives.

Ask yourself: What is it like or what was it like for you? Did you always know what you were going to do after school? And if so, was that really your own (heartfelt) wish?

Maybe you have already decided on a profession and have been working in it for a few years.
But now, after some time, you may notice that something is missing? Your current job doesn’t fulfill you or doesn’t fulfill you anymore? Something is missing and you know you can do much better.

I also came to this point and started searching for my life’s purpose. This search brought me to Personal Development and I discovered, for example, that you should set goals and I also learned how to do that.

During my research on the Internet, in books and finally also IN MYSELF (this is perhaps the most important advice, if you want to know what you want in life) I came across many good tips, which I would now like to present to you here.

And one sentence beforehand: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t feel success immediately after the first execution of the presented exercises. It’s unfortunately the same here: ‘Practice makes perfect.’

Look at the exercises as if you were planting a seed with each exercise that needs to ripen and then give you the harvest. Newton’s law about ’cause and effect’ expresses this as does the ‘you reap what you sow’ more commonly read in the Bible.

There is a time of sowing and a time of reaping. Both together do not work (at least not on the same field with the same crop).

Your Perfect Day

What is my goal in life? – Exercise 1

If you want to know your goal in life, I would like you to start with this exercise, because it is incredibly fun and will also motivate you.
As the name suggests, the task is to formulate the perfect day for you.
Take a piece of paper or your diary and write:

• How, where, with whom, when do you want to get up?
  
• How will the rest of the day go? What do you work on? With whom, where and for how long?
  
• How does the day end?
  
  It is very important that you ‘draw from the full’. By that I mean that you limit yourself to 0%. In this context, thought leader Brian Tracy speaks of so-called ‘zero-based thinking’.

Here comes the next exercise how to figure out your goals.

Your Perfect Future

What is my goal in life? – Exercise #2

Imagine that you had a magic wand and that you could create your entire environment and yourself perfectly with a wave of your hand. Just as you did in the previous exercise, you should now again approach the answers in a completely unbiased and free manner.

Now answer the following questions with regard to your perfect future in 5 to 10 years:

• What will your health be like then?
  
• Where and with whom do you want to live in 5-10 years?
  
• What kind of relationships do you want with friends and family?
  
• What do you want to work? How much free time do you want to have?
  
• How much money do you want to earn per month?
  
• What luxuries would you like to have?
  
• What spiritual goals do you have (e.g. meditations etc.)?
  
• What and how much do you want to give (e.g. time for others or money for those in need)?
  
• How/who do you want to be?
  
  When you have read this article in its entirety, you should come back here and answer the above questions in writing.
  
  Write down your goals with specifics, positively and in the present tense (e.g. I am so happy and grateful now that I earn x number of dollars per year).

Your 90th Birthday OR Your Orbituary

What is my goal in life? – Exercise #3

Imagine it is your 90th birthday or even your funeral.

From each area, one person reports what you are or when it is the funeral-example were like:
One of your family members, one of your friends, a colleague at work, a member of a club or a member of the church – all of them reflect what kind of person you were or still are.

If there is still one area missing in my list, just add it and let someone from this area talk about you as well.
Of course, you want people to talk only good things about you and what exactly, you should write down. This will give you clear indications of what you want to change in your life today.

When you write ‘your’ speeches, you will also come across values and principles that are especially important to you.
I also recommend that you write down these values and principles on an extra page or document. This will help you, for example, when making important decisions in life. Because these decisions should always be in accordance with your values and principles.

If you have carefully written down all the exercises I have recommended to you, then you should now have created a really big, motivating picture of yourself and your future life, which you should remind yourself of every day. You can now continue to work with your life goals list.

I would like to show you a slightly different approach with the following.

Law of Attraction

What is my goal in life? – Exercise #4

Through the movie “The Secret” the concept of the Law of Attraction has become known worldwide. Bob Proctor is probably the best-known proponent of this law who starred in the film, and chances are you’ve heard of it.

According to Proctor, while the Law of Attraction is an important component in achieving goals, this law is secondary to the Law of Vibration.

The Law of Vibration and the Law of Attraction, at least when you first hear about them, have an esoteric character. And, unfortunately, this first appearance cannot be completely eliminated. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence of the effect of these laws in achieving goals.

Roughly speaking, it’s about connecting with your goal in your mind until you virtually pull it into your life.
Personally, I don’t mind that this law of attraction cannot be empirically proven. It eludes our view, our perception, so to speak, and therefore remains somehow magical. Not everything can be scientifically proven and nevertheless takes place.

So scientifically, at least today, the question will not be answered. But there are many “proofs”, i.e. achieved successes of well-known personalities, who, so to speak, reached their goals with the help of this teaching (at least this made a part of their success).

For example, I am talking about successes listed in the classic book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The book is the result of twenty years of research and interviews with 500 millionaires at that time (early 20th century).
And if you don’t have a copy of this book yet, I highly recommend you get one. Feel free to use my link to it.

The law of attraction is not explicitly mentioned in this book, but it is paraphrased, as it were. Because according to Hill, you should connect yourself to your goal with the help of autosuggestion, for example.
At the beginning there is the question about your concern, your big goal.

So you should define one thing, which you can formulate in one or two sentences. That’s why I personally find it important to do the exercises I recommended at the beginning. Because then you can pick out your biggest goal from the list that has been created.

According to Proctor (who often refers to Napoleon Hill), this biggest goal is a so-called C-Goal. C-Goals are goals that you have no idea (at the moment!) how you could ever achieve.

There are also A- and B- Goals. The A-Goals are goals that you are already achieving at the moment. B-Goals are goals you know you can achieve.
Proctor encourages you to aim for the C-Goal and also says, for example,

‘Don’t settle for insignificant goals’.

Bob Proctor

And Goethe has also reportedly said similar things about it:

‘Do not dream small dreams, because they have no power to move people’s hearts’.

J.W. von Goethe

And you should not worry about the ‘how’ either, but impress this image into your subconscious. If you succeed in this, you will see and seize opportunities that will bring you closer and closer to your goal.

But what is very important is that you connect your goal with your feeling. Goethe also says ‘to move people’s hearts’. It is first and foremost about your own feeling. Because feelings make you act. And your actions produce results.

This is where autosuggestion comes into play. It’s about reprogramming yourself. You can do this, for example, by reciting affirmations to yourself, preferably even in front of the mirror (it will feel strange at first, but continue anyway!). Also, by repeatedly writing the affirmations and the goals, they get more and more into your subconscious and change you little by little.

And visualization is not to be missed here either. Let the images of your goals run in front of your inner eye again and again. It is important here, firstly, that you also see yourself in these images and secondly, that you integrate positive feelings again in this exercise.

Why shouldn’t you think about the ‘how’?

The problem is that with your current mindset you cannot act in the dimensions that your future self will do. That’s why you have to think your way out of your comfort zone, so to speak, and into your ‘target life.’
You must, in order to reach your C-Goal, become a ‘different person.’

Another ingredient is the indispensable belief in your success.

‘Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can achieve anything.’

J.W. von Goethe

‘Think and Grow Rich’ also describes this. You need a cause connected with unrelenting faith to make your goal true. To make this happen, you need to see yourself already in possession of your goal in your mind’s eye.

The ‘Why’ Behind Your Goal?

What is my goal in life? – Exercise #5

The question of why you want to achieve which goal should be asked and answered for each of your listed goals. Just write your solutions additionally on your already created list of goals.

The reasons are in a way the drive of the whole thing. If your reasons are not strong enough, you may start walking towards your goals, but you will probably not persevere and go back to your comfort zone.

Therefore, add motivating reasons to your goals!!

WOOP

What is my goal in life? – Exercise #6

This is about planning for the possible obstacles in addition to one’s goals. This concept comes from the renowned psychology professor Gabriele Oettingen and the word ‘WOOP’ is an English acronym. Here, the individual letters are the first letters of the following words:

W = Wish
O = Outcome
O = Obstacle
P = Plan

In the first step you formulate your wish (your goal), in the second step your desired optimal outcome, in the third step you imagine your biggest obstacle and in the last step you develop a plan to overcome the obstacle.

Once you have completed all the steps, you are more likely to move toward your goals (or desires, as Oettingen calls them) and also more likely to achieve them.

Another concept in terms of goal setting is that of what is known as S.M.A.R.T. Goals. This concept is quite well known and I have already gone into it in a previous article. Therefore, I will refrain from introducing the concept again here. Feel free to read my article on consistency.

This brings me to the end of this article. I hope that you have learned something and that I could motivate you to implement some of it.

One very important thing at the end: It’s great if you find your ultimate life goal right away with these exercises. However, if you don’t achieve it right away, don’t be frustrated. Because goals change in life, too. There’s a very good chance that you don’t have just one life goal.

So find out things/activities that you are particularly interested in and integrate more of them into your life. You will gain clarity on what you would like to have more of in your life through reflection, meditation and trial and error.

The beginning of change is always on the inside, but without action on the outside, no change in your visible results will take place.

• Feel free to give me a 5-star rating on this article and
• write in the comments which tip you liked the most. Maybe you have another tip that I didn’t list here?

‘See’ you soon🙂