Write down things, events, and circumstances that give you pain in your life. Write down things big and small.
Do not spend too much time on this as this is the dark side of life. But you want to be conscious about this aspect of life. If you don’t confront it, you will have things in the dark that you will be constantly uneasy about.
Write down the source of your pain. Write it down in a “matter of fact way.” There is no limit to how many to list.
Some examples could be:
• Ill health.
• Poverty or fear of poverty.
• Being alone during the holidays.
• The year I spent at company x doing y.
We have done these exercises so that you will have some specific input to use when defining your life alternative later in the workbook. We want to break all the information down to the Who, Where, Why, What, How, and When of your life plan.
For example, your father’s profession is a very specific “What” that you might or might not want to use as input when you formulate your alternatives. Likewise, your defining moments and decisions can give you some specifics to your “Why” in your alternatives.
See my YouTube channel for more materials.
You can also buy a hardcopy of the book here on Lulu.com.
Free Workbook: “what do you want to do with your life?”
Allowing Ourselves to Ask the Question
Table of Contents
I. Chapter One: Introduction to Life Planning
- About Awareness
- Alternatives: “An Answer”
- An Alternative That We Choose as The Answer – Not an Epiphany
- Balance
- Dynamic Goals Versus Static Goals
- Happiness: When Are You Happy?
- Pain
- Pleasure
- Pleasure versus Pain
- Positive Mental Attitude
- Smart Goals
- The Method
- The Model
- Volition and Determinism
- What You Want are Feelings
- Who are You?
- You Life Goals
- Your sense of Life
- Parents
- Your Parents’ Wishes and Hopes for You
- How This Book Came into Being
- The Approach of This Workbook
- The Binder is the Key
- Why the Answer Matters
- Why This Workbook
- Keep Working On It – Refine and Mitigate
III. Chapter Three: The Influence Of Generations
- Action Items
- Exercise: Other Influential People
- Exercise: Defining Moments / Turning Points
- Exercise: Defining Moments / Turning Points
- Exercise: Things That Have Given You Pain
- Exercise:Things That Have Given You Pleasure
- Family Legacy
IV. Chapter Four: Your Present
- Exercise: Describe your sense of life
- Exercise: Happiness
- Exercise: Level of Awareness
- Exercise: Philosophy
- Exercise: Role Models and People You Admire
- Exercise: The Major Areas of Your Life
- Exercise: Values
- Exercise: What Are Your Current Goals?
- Exercise: What Do You Give?
- Exercise: You are what you constantly think
- Getting and Receiving
- Giving and Contribution
- Interests
- Moving Forward
- Self-Esteem
- Your Sense Of Life
- Belief
- Believing it is Possible
- Creating Your Alternatives
- Exercise: Create the ideal day in the ideal life
- Exercise: How can I give more?
- Exercise: If I could do anything…
- Exercise: Today my father would want me to…
- Exercise: Today my mother would want me to…
- Exercise: Today some significant others would want me to…
- Exercise: Write your own obituary/legacy
- How
- How as a Process, Not as a Recipe
- Persistence
- Personal roles
- Professional roles
- Trap #1: Do something now for just a bit and then tend to the dream
- Trap #2: Acquire money first and then tend to the dream
- Trap #3: Living glamorously; being cool and hip
- Trap #4: Only do what you are good at
- Trap #5: Belief that you can change people or culture
- Trap #6: Guilt
- Trap #7: Keeping your doors open
- Trap #8: Striving for the big goal
- Trap #9: Owning everything
- Trap #10: Stacking commitments
- Trap #11: Going after the sure thing
- Trap #12: Fear of success
- Trap #13: Staying on the wrong track
- Trap #14: Not being ready to make the decision
- Trap #15: Letting a major change paralyze you
- Trap #16: Falling in love with The Question
- What
- When
- Where
- Who
- Who, Where, Why, What, How and When
- Why
VI. Chapter Six: Your Alternatives
- Alternative 1
- Alternative 1:
- Alternative 2
- Alternative 2:
- Alternative 3
- Alternative 4
- Alternative 5
- Alternative Answers to The Question
- Certainty/ Risk/ Likelihood
- Checklist
- Example:
- Execution
- Experience
- Financial
- Fulfillment
- Giving, What
- Health, How
- How
- Interests, Why
- Keep Working On It – Refine and Mitigate
- Knowledge
- List the Alternatives
- No ONE Answer
- Pain, Why
- Pleasure Why?
- Skills
- Spirituality
- The Checklist
- The cons
- The Defaullt Alternative
- The Default Alternative – Path of Least Resistance:
- The pros
- What
- What Constitutes a Good Answer?
- When
- Where
- Who
- Why?
VII. Chapter Seven: Making The Decision
- How I Made My Decision
- About The Author
- Appendix: Authors
- Coin Tossing
- Decision-Making Techniques
- Drifting Into
- Elimination
- Getting Leverage
- Important Elements in Decision-Making
- Leave it Up to Others
- Major Pain
- Make a Contract with Yourself
- Make The Decision – The Commitment To Yourself
- Measured Criteria
- Referring to a Higher Order – Faith
- Self dicipline
- Setting TWo Alternatives Up Against Each Other
- Share It
- The Decision
- The One Question
- The T-chart
- Using a committee
- Which alternative did you decide on for your life plan?