Yesterday I was talking about Eddie Izzard and the art of living big. You may have asked yourself the question, what would my Big Life look like? If that seems overwhelming, start smallish and work up. Start by doing an assessment of your life in 2011 – what went well and what didn’t?
What would you like your personal theme of 2012 to be? It could be a tune, a photograph, a painting, a quote, or just a descriptive noun. Mine is the Year of Transition, as I hope to become a human potential coach who does a bit of journalism on the side rather than a journalist who does a bit of human potential coaching on the side.
Or follow the advice of Chris Guillebeau, who travels to more than 20 countries a year and writes about the art of non-conformist living, including “travel hacking” – basically going global with free air miles.
What matters to you this year? Do that.
What do you hope to build in 2012? Work on that.
If you like flow charts, try 344 Questions: The Creative Person’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival and Artistic Fulfilment, by Stefan G Bucher – insightful and often amusing ways to figure out life’s big questions.
What kind of work do you want to do?
Are you looking for a radical shift?
Are you looking for an evolution?
What are the five hallmarks of your ideal job?
How would you change the world?
How would you blow people’s minds?
How would you create an empire?
Even if you have no plans for world domination, it gets you thinking outside the box you have confined yourself to.
And if you believe goals should be restricted to football, then have fun experimenting with living intentionally. All this means is, you wake up and set an intention for the day, such as: “Today I intend to have fun no matter what I’m doing.” This might not work so well if you’re going to a funeral, but if it’s a bog standard work day it might help you get more out of your waking hours than if you allowed yourself to sink into the quagmire marked My Job Is Dull and My Life’s Going Nowhere.
My intention for this morning was: “I intend to appreciate my husband.” Which I do on most days, but setting an intention just makes sure I don’t forget to show my appreciation – I feel good about it and hopefully so does he.
So whether you want to live each day intentionally or go for broke and plan your Big Life, good luck with creating a bespoke future.
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