The Big Picture

Since I’ve been sharing ideas with you for nearly six months now, I wanted to take a step back and talk about the "big picture" behind my individual posts.

Many people today live a life they were told they should want or thought they wanted until they realize it’s not all it was cracked up to be (see “quiet quitting”). I was there but managed to change my situation and create a life that I love, where I do work that is truly meaningful to me (including sharing what I learned with you).

The process I went through can be summarized in five simple—though far from easy—steps. I outlined them below and included relevant links for each, in case you missed these posts or would like a refresher on an idea that is particularly pertinent.

Step 1: Understanding the limitations preventing us from showing up as our true authentic selves.

• Clearing limiting beliefs and stories that are keeping us paralyzed (e.g. “I’m too old” / “I can’t afford to do this” / “I’m not talented enough”).
  Is Conditioning Holding You Back?
  We Are All Creatives

• Developing an awareness of ourselves in real-time and learning to quickly shift from unproductive to productive thoughts and behaviors.
  You Are Not Your Thoughts
  Life in the Observer’s Seat
  You Be the Judge

• Paying particular attention to areas where we’re not living as fully empowered adults.
  Your Relationship to Life

Step 2: Shifting to seeing a future of possibilities.

• Defining our life philosophy and deciding on the principles from which we’ll operate moving forward.
  The Bottom Line: Fear vs. Trust
  The Pursuit of… What?
  Can Your Worldview Accelerate Your Progress?

• Learning to let what we’re “supposed to want” take a back seat, and allowing our authentic selves to paint our desired vision for our future.
  What Kind of Life Do You Really Want?
  Your Life Vision… Take Two of Many

Step 3: Building our future identity based on who we truly are or wish to become.

• Defining the kind of person who could have the life we desire and learn to embody that person.
  The Identity That Helped Create a Billion-Dollar Company

Step 4: Taking action despite fear and uncertainty.

• Dealing with fears like perfectionism, imposter syndrome, procrastination, and fear of failure, which are holding us back from making progress on our dreams.
  One Thousand and One Excuses
  We Aren’t Failing Enough

• Beginning to experiment in areas we’re curious about, knowing that uncertainty is an integral part of building anything worthwhile and that starting imperfectly is the only way to learn.
  Cookbooks in the Wilderness
  The Evolution of a Disliked Pursuit
  That Time When My Mind Took a Backseat
  The Inconvenient Secret To Finding Purpose

Step 5: Learning to embody our future selves in everyday life.

• Creating a commitment to our future and our true selves.
  The Voice That We Silence

• Learning to handle difficult periods and hurdles, such as liminal states.
  There Are No Liminal Fairy Tales

• Dealing with pressures from our environment to stay in the mediocrity we would like to leave behind.
  On Labels and Burning Man Invitations

I’ll continue to build on this framework (and hopefully improve it) in the coming months, but if there are particularly interesting parts that you’d like me to expand on or want more support in applying, please comment below.

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