Dead End Life - Or is it something else?

The 9-5....

Many of us go on this journey in our lives, and we like to think of it as this master plan that has been set up for us.

For me personally, I was in this career of a 9-5 job. I had a degree, and I was pursuing what I thought was my dream job. That's just it though. It was not a DREAM. It was only a JOB!

We need to start evaluating where we are going with our careers, and our lifestyles. Do we really want to get stuck in a hole that is the "Corporate World".

Evaluating the situation

When I really started evaluating what my life was like, I started to see all of the seperate issues I had individually, and I quit placing the blame on my peers or coworkers, and the management I was working for.

The first thing I had to do, was create a list of all of the things that I didn't value in my life. My individual list consisted of quite a few things, but with time, I was able to gather up the most important things I wanted to change, and then I worked down the list.

The questions you have to ask are the following, and I always refer to the rules of getting where you want to be.

• What are my individual values?
• Are the values being followed on a regular basis, or is there something interfering?
• What types of things am I doing/worried about, that I wouldn't normally do/worry about?
• Are those things I am worried about outside of my control?(This is where the list starts)

Setting a list of goals

The next step after figuring out what is setting you back, is to establish what your goals really are. Where do you want to be in the next 5 years? This probably seems like an annoying question, and to be honest, it is slim that some dream you have will actually happen. There is a real reason why we need to ask this question though. You don't want to be one of those people that just sits around and doesn't make a plan. If you have a rough guess of where you would like to be, chances are that some of that will actually happen, whereas if you don't ask that question at all, and you don't plan, then you are just going to be "adrift" as I would call it.

Making a plan

I always laugh at this because I am from the United States, so in the States, we call this "Jimmy riggin". Here in South Africa, the Africaans term for this is "maak 'n plan". They say this for absolutely everything. Every roadblock, or "deadend", they maak 'n plan.

This is the step that is critical. I was in church last Sunday, and the pastor was preaching about having a plan and making sure you get up off of your butt and you don't just sit back and wait for things to happen.

When creating this list, you keep in mind all of the previous things we talked about.

• You remember your morals/standard of living/core values.
• You know the goals for the future, whether they be long term or short term.

After following these guidelines, you create a list of at least ten things you want to accomplish. 5 of those things will be short term, and 5 of them will be long term.

After this list is complete, you will order it from the ones you can accomplish right now, down to the ones that will take much more time to accomplish. I truly believe that the more small things you can accomplish along the way, the better you will feel about getting those "larger" things done. Who doesn't like that sense of accomplishment?

No dead end afterall!

After all this is said and done, you will begin setting after these goals, and you will start to feel a lot better about where you are going. There is no guarantee about where exactly you will be in that 5 years, or where you will be in 5 months, but I can tell you from personal experience, that when I didn't make my plans and keep in mind all of my goals and morals, I was seriously off track, and I did feel it was a "dead end".

Your life will only turn into a dead end if you let it, and that 9-5 corporate job is not anyone else's fault but your own carelessness to plan. I told myself for years that I had the kids to think about and I "had" to work that job to get by, but that whole time, I was just sitting back and waiting for something to come along.

When I made the decision to join the WA community, it was just another one of those steps I wanted to take in order to better my way of thinking. Better my personal growth, and ultimately better the way of life between my children and I.

I wish you all the best on your own personal journey here, and may your goals, through your planning, turn into the "dream" you have for yourself and your family.

Cheers!!

Liz