The first is that I was reading the book 5 Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware, and the number one regret was: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not what others expected of me."
This was eye-opening for me, and I wanted to share it, because we have the opportunity to ask ourselves if we are living a life true to ourselves - or are we helping someone else achieve their dreams while leaving our own dreams behind?
The second reason is the response I saw when I asked a group of teens I was teaching last week: "What is it you love to do?"
They all knew the answer, they had smiles on their faces and you could see that they knew they had a path to follow - one that would create an income for them, without them doing something they didn't want to.
They didn't need a process to work this out, they were chasing their dreams, anyway. But I gave them a process that they could use to work out what they loved.
I want to share this process - designed by Thomas Corley - with you:
1. Make a "Things that make me happy" list and include everything you can remember that has ever made you happy. This is likely to be a list of 30 or 40 things, perhaps more.
2. Using this list, highlight the things that involve a skill and identify that skill. Write the skills down in a separate list beside the items in your "Things that make me happy" list.
3. Now rank the top 10 from the "Things that make me happy" list in the order of joy they bring to you. Whatever makes you happiest of all gets 10 big points and it decreases from there.
4. Then rank the top 10 highlighted items in terms of their income potential - the most lucrative skill of all is worth 10 points and so on.
5. Total the scores across the two columns - the highest combined score represents a potential main purpose in your life.
What I have noticed is teens chase their dreams because they don't know any different, they don't have the adult fears that hold us back. While they are human and learning emotionally, they often pursue their dreams and do the tough stuff without consciously thinking: "What will others think?" They move out of home, they change towns, they get first jobs, sometimes three at once and they learn what to do (and what not to do) ... overall, they are creating their life the way they want to.
They don't have our "You know what happened last time" beliefs that can hold us back. Imagine being like them and living without fear of pursuing your dreams.
I admit it's tough to chase our dreams at times, but it's also fun at times. Sometimes we get held back by our fears, but if it's a dream worth pursuing, we will push through the tough stuff to get to the good stuff.
Because if your life is a life well lived, one true to yourself and not what others expect of you (being normal), then it will be filled with happiness and opportunity. Be like a teen (no matter how old you are) - pursue your dreams and create your life the way you want it.
You can and - if you choose to - you will.
-If you would like to talk through the process described above and work out what you love doing that could make you an income, phone Scott Lee on 027 2367729 or email him at scott@loveandmoneynetwork .com
