Drift Along
Typically, humans like to know what their purpose is. They don’t necessarily follow it, but they think it is important to know. There are exceptions that include those who have drifted away from life due to a bigger issue. They may have rejected the idea of purpose because it was elusive or impossible to discover. It may seem easier to just follow the road that is right in front of us without thinking too much about it. It is understandable to believe that this is just an example of following life’s plan. Oddly, this is in actuality a way of following a purpose. It might not be advertised that way. Purpose does not always arrive with neon signs.
Drift Through
Drifting from job to job is a reliable way for those who don’t want to think really hard about a plan, are free-spirited or are afraid of choosing a purpose. Notice I said choose because we will come back to that. You often see these humans in the workplace. They learned how to do one job and were semi-automatically promoted to the next level. They were promoted because they were around the longest or got it because they waited until everyone was not available anymore. They were the default choice. Management is full of these folks. They performed tasks well enough to get promoted even though they weren’t trained in management. As long as we remember that the word manager actually has the purpose written into it, these folks muddle through. They manage tasks. Not people. That’s what leaders do. Everyone knows managers who have received the title but have no idea what they are doing. If they get lucky, they get better training. If not, well, you recognize their incompetence and its effects. Drift away from them whenever possible.
Drift Ahead
Those who develop a plan to find or use a purpose know the secret. You just choose to move ahead. If you are ever asked what you want to be doing in five years and don’t know, it is good to determine whether that is due to working on your plan or not having enough confidence to actually see yourself proceed. If belief is missing, you will still be trying to figure it out in five years. You will not get to the future you. When you think about it, how hard can it really be to dream about your future self? That should be a pleasure. It can be anything you want it to be because it is just your dream. The best part of having a plan is the fact that it can change in a moment. Literally, right this second. If you don’t believe it, practice this one task. If you are sitting down, get up. You did that because you chose it. That is exactly how change occurs. You just do it.
Don’t Drift
Drifting doesn’t bring up confidence in the future because it does not correlate well with deliberate progress. If you can choose for yourself, you can decrease the drift and move with purpose. Get it? With purpose. Purpose does not have to mean five years from now. If it is easier to just think about what the next two weeks could bring, that is enough. The next purpose step is just the next step. Breaking it down and then moving toward a closer target gets to the goal within a frame of time that seems controllable. Your current state of mind is what makes progress occur. You might not be able to predict where your head will be in five years, but two weeks from now feels possible. If you can choose to pick up your purpose and carry it along with you, you won’t lose it. And you can update it regularly since it is so close to you. So, don’t drift. Choose.
Have you made your own life a pleasant dream? What choice can you make today that will create change in two weeks? Can you feel yourself drifting as a refuge when times are difficult?
