However, I have gone through some important shifts during the past couple years and now I spend more time thinking about the daily details of my life. Instead of wondering about the big picture, now I spend more time reflecting on the small things. Now I spend time every day examining and questioning the daily details of my life. I do this because examining the daily details can help us figure out our bigger picture values.
The question I ask myself most frequently now is this one: “Is today how I want the rest of my life to be?”
When I’m driving to work every morning, I wonder how I feel about commuting to a large corporate office. Do I want to work in an office with 1000 other people? When I’m having lunch in the company cafeteria, I wonder: Is this where and what I want to be eating? When I’m in meetings, I wonder: Are these people I want to be spending my time with? When I drive home at night, I wonder: Is this how I want to feel after a long day of work? Am I driving home to meet someone I want to have dinner with for the next fifty years? When I look at my calendar for the day ahead at work, I ask myself: Do I believe these are important projects to invest my time in? These are just a few of the daily questions I ask.
When I hear about other job possibilities in other cities, I wonder: How would my daily life be different in Dallas or Miami or Atlanta? Would I be able to ride my bike, and run with my dog, and eat dinner on my patio?
All day, every day, I can ask myself reflective questions that help me evaluate my level of satisfaction and also help me design my future. It doesn’t matter if I like the answers to my questions, the point is that by examining the answers, I can get smarter about what makes me happy and satisfied. The answers to all these questions can reveal so much about our most genuine desires.
When we look at all these answers together, we can determine what we are organizing our life around today, and what we WANT to organize our life around in the future.
ORGANIZING YOUR LIFE
People organize their life around VERY different things. The thing you organize your life around is that thing that is most important to you, it’s the thing that comes first before everything else.
You can organize your life around living in a geographic location.
You can organize your life around your art.
You can organize your life around your sport.
You can organize your life around travel.
You can organize your life around a financial paycheck.
You can organize your life around another person or people.
You can organize your life around working outside in the sunshine.
You can organize your life around a medical condition.
You can organize your life around using your strengths.
You can organize your life around your hobby.
You can organize your life around your passion.
You can organize your life around your purpose.
Right now, I am organizing my life around being in Tucson, with the person I love. That comes first. Everything else can be designed around that, because the other things have more flexibility. I love the lifestyle I have in Tucson – rarely do I have to drive on the freeway, frequently I exercise outside, I appreciate the landscape and the mountains, and I value the diversity of people who live here. I like that this town is casual, the opposite of pretentious, and it has its own character. I like living someplace with character and mountains in all four directions.
Less important to me is trying to maximize my paycheck, living close to family members, travel, or working outside. I am moderately focused on incorporating my passions and my purpose in my work, but that part is growing every day.
EVOLVING YOUR VALUES
The things that matter to me now are different than they were ten years ago. Which is true for most people. What you care about at age 25 is different from age 40 and very different from age 55. It’s natural for our careabouts to change each decade.
These days, I have learned that my daily environment matters. I want to see sunshine; I want windows and space and daylight. I don’t want to spend hours a day in my car commuting to an office. I do want to spend time every day exercising, and I want to have time to play with my dog, and I have to have time for all the important relationships in my life.
I’m also discovering that it’s important for me to have autonomy over elements of my work. I want to make choices about the types of projects I work and who I spend time working with. More importantly though, I really want to feel that my contributions are making a difference for someone in the world.
Dan Pink writes in his new book Drive, that the workforce today values three critical things and he even has an acronym for it: AMP. People desire Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
The questions I’ve listed above have been helpful for me to evaluate the elements of my life. Constantly asking myself questions has helped me reconsider my values and priorities, and it’s helping me design my future.
My hope is that by asking yourself these questions, you can make new discoveries about yourself, your values, and the quality of your daily experiences.
Don’t get caught up and overwhelmed asking yourself the BIG life questions. Instead, try asking yourself the smaller questions, because those are easier to answer and smaller to tackle.
You can organize your life around travel.
You can organize your life around a financial paycheck.
You can organize your life around another person or people.
You can organize your life around working outside in the sunshine.
You can organize your life around a medical condition.
You can organize your life around using your strengths.
You can organize your life around your hobby.
You can organize your life around your passion.
You can organize your life around your purpose.
Right now, I am organizing my life around being in Tucson, with the person I love. That comes first. Everything else can be designed around that, because the other things have more flexibility. I love the lifestyle I have in Tucson – rarely do I have to drive on the freeway, frequently I exercise outside, I appreciate the landscape and the mountains, and I value the diversity of people who live here. I like that this town is casual, the opposite of pretentious, and it has its own character. I like living someplace with character and mountains in all four directions.
Less important to me is trying to maximize my paycheck, living close to family members, travel, or working outside. I am moderately focused on incorporating my passions and my purpose in my work, but that part is growing every day.
EVOLVING YOUR VALUES
The things that matter to me now are different than they were ten years ago. Which is true for most people. What you care about at age 25 is different from age 40 and very different from age 55. It’s natural for our careabouts to change each decade.
These days, I have learned that my daily environment matters. I want to see sunshine; I want windows and space and daylight. I don’t want to spend hours a day in my car commuting to an office. I do want to spend time every day exercising, and I want to have time to play with my dog, and I have to have time for all the important relationships in my life.
I’m also discovering that it’s important for me to have autonomy over elements of my work. I want to make choices about the types of projects I work and who I spend time working with. More importantly though, I really want to feel that my contributions are making a difference for someone in the world.
Dan Pink writes in his new book Drive, that the workforce today values three critical things and he even has an acronym for it: AMP. People desire Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
- Autonomy to determine when, where, on what and with whom they work.
- Mastery to learn and develop themselves to become competent.
- Purpose to align their work with a broader purpose, to make a contribution.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
The questions I’ve listed above have been helpful for me to evaluate the elements of my life. Constantly asking myself questions has helped me reconsider my values and priorities, and it’s helping me design my future.
My hope is that by asking yourself these questions, you can make new discoveries about yourself, your values, and the quality of your daily experiences.
Don’t get caught up and overwhelmed asking yourself the BIG life questions. Instead, try asking yourself the smaller questions, because those are easier to answer and smaller to tackle.
- Were you excited about your day when you woke up this morning?
- Were you happy to see the people you saw today?
- Did you spend time with the important people in your life?
- Did you find yourself smiling or laughing today?
- Were you relaxed and content when you were at home?
- Do you wish that the rest of your life would be more like today?
There are no wrong answers to these questions. But the quality of our days will determine the quality of our lives. So I hope that asking small but important questions can help all of us make our own best choices - every day, every month, and every year.
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