Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Alice: …so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Too many of us just ramble around in life. We are so busy with everything we have to do each day. Get up, get the kids ready, get ourselves ready, drop the kids off at school, work, work, work, pick up the kids, dinner, work, read, watch some TV, work, go to sleep, do it all over again. Most of our lives are not lived on purpose, but are actually lived in reaction to what comes up during the day. We are sidetracked and sent down rabbit holes because there is no plan – just reaction. I’ll admit it, I am pretty anal. In my office, I generally have a To Do list each day. If I do something that isn’t on the list – I add it to the list so I can check it off. The day might start out good with me checking things off the list. But an “emergency” always seems to arise. Usually when I don’t have time for it, and though it isn’t on my list I shift gears and try to take care of the “emergency.”
Life gets to be about putting out the fires that just pop up around us. I feel like Alice in the story above, except that it does matter to me where I end up. The Cheshire Cat was quite correct when he said, you will certainly get “somewhere” if you just walk long enough. Who knows where that somewhere is unless you are living your life on purpose and according to your strengths, gifts and passions with a clear goal or vision in mind.
Can you look into the future by seeing what those 5, 10, or 20 years ahead of you in your career path look like now? Can you live with that? That was one of the main reasons I left the engineering field and took the leap over to the legal field. There are depressing people in all fields – and scary futures depending on who you look at. There are also exciting, charismatic people in all fields. I was able to have lunch recently with a local judge, a state Court of Appeals Judge and many bright attorneys. A few weeks before that I attending a trial lawyers convention and was able to hang out with hundreds of excellent attorneys. Needless to say, I felt very recharged about my career after that meeting. By seeing these successul people who are excited about what they are doing every day of their life, it makes it easier for me to craft a very clear vision of my future.
Are you living minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day? Or do you have a clear plan of action for your life? When you think about your future do you think about tomorrow, next week, or five years down the road? Are you doing mind-numbing work or are you engaging your passions and gifts?