When you live a clear story, your life is inspiring

When you think of the most inspiring people that you know, they always had a clear story to tell. In other words, they had a clear sense of what they were doing with their life (at least at the moment), and where they were headed.

It has been re-affirmed to me over and over that it is not lack of opportunity that steals joy from life, but rather indecision with which direction to move.

Indecision causes one to approach life with a nervous twitch and an extra slow response time. “Will this decision hurt?” “Will I regret it?” “What if I choose the wrong thing?”

It can strip a day naked of its enjoyment, a life naked of fulfillment, and it is fully intent on ruining your life.

Indecision leads people in circles rather than lines.

It gifts people with an erratic way of moving through a day and a life. Darting this way and that, they end up jumping upon any distraction as if it were their last crumb of food. Afterall, distraction is a drug that numbs them and makes them forget, at least for that one moment, how lost they are.

“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” Viktor Frankl

So, how do we avoid indecision and live a clear story so our lives can be inspiring? Here are some things I have learned along our journey.

1. Get to know yourself – Study how you were created to function, and when you are functioning at your best. (I figured this out by taking the DISC personality profile and the Strengthsfinder test and by journaling and writing A LOT.)

2. Figure out what you really enjoy doing – What makes time fly by for you? And start doing more of it.

3. Get clear on where you are going – Get yourself a life plan.

4. Pursue work you enjoy – Stop believing the lie that you can’t and shouldn’t pursue work you enjoy and do something fun with your life. Have the courage to let yourself dream again.

5. Give yourself time limits on making a decision  – 2 days to 2 weeks is all the time you need. Don’t let a decision drag on, this brings so much discouragement.

6. Start a blog – Make it public but you don’t have to advertise that it is public if you don’t want to. Write there every day for awhile. Let yourself process life through what you notice and think about. Writing will absolutely change your life.

7. Start a scary, simple project  – Do something that fulfills you and also helps other people in the process. (More info on scary, simple projects here.)

8. Stop overcomplicating things  – You can’t always see 10 steps in front of you. Start with something you enjoy and simply move on it, do something with it, the path opens as you step forward.

9. Read, read, read –  Let your mind explore new avenues of thought. This has changed my life more than anything else.

Overall, never forget that each of our lives have great purpose and the best lives/stories are the ones lived with passion, risk and adventure!

Photo Credit: benjaminasmith via Compfight cc