By making the choice to design the life you really want, versus letting life just happen to you, you will experience some crucial benefits. Taking control of your life and going after the things that are really important to you can help you not only achieve your dreams but also learn new skills, find new opportunities, and let go of the fears that are holding you back. Here are the top five reasons you should start today to design the life you really want.
#1. You can learn to identify what makes you happy in life.
When you make the decision to design your life the way you want it to be, you have to understand what it is that make you truly happy. When you get in touch with your strengths, your gifts, and what brings you joy and energizes you, you can use this knowledge to put yourself on a path toward something better.
Designing your life starts with an assessment of yourself, and you’ll gain untold new knowledge about what makes you happy in life and how that is likely to change over time.
#2. You can learn to appreciate failures and mistakes as learning opportunities.
When you design your own life, you learn that all the missteps and obstacles that you face in life are not setbacks or failures. Instead, they are opportunities to learn and grow. Being happy in life and achieving your goals is a process. It doesn’t happen all at once, and you don’t know everything you need to know right now to make it all happen.
You have to learn. Learning is a process of trial and error and learning from your mistakes. Designing your life allows you the freedom to set your sights on a goal that makes you happy. Designing your life will help you be at peace with the process of learning and evolving that must happen in order for you to achieve that dream.
#3. You can find a fulfilling career. And then find a new one.
Designing your own life means you don’t have to be stuck in your current job. You can reach for new aspirations at any point in your existence. The design process teaches you to imagine many different futures, all of which could make you happy, and to understand that finding work that energizes you and brings you joy and passion shouldn’t be a lofty goal that is unachievable.
Designing your life means you pick the one job that fulfills you today, and when that stops being your passion, you know you have the skills and mindset to find the next great opportunity.
#4. You can learn to navigate the biggest decision points in your life with ease.
Designing your life teaches you how to assess, make evaluations, envision multiple outcomes, and select among many different choices.
These are all essential life skills when it comes to not only designing your life but also making tough decisions along the way. Once you feel confident that your design process works and is bringing you happiness, you will start to see how these skills are transferable to all the decision-making points in your life.
#5. You can imagine multiple futures for yourself, then decide which to pursue.
Design is a process that involves choices and options. When you design the life you really want, you take the time to imagine multiple futures and varied pathways.
You see that several different options could bring you joy, and you are reminded that there is not one right future or path for you. Knowing this is freeing, allowing you to change directions in the future or start again when you find your passion and joy waning.