Hey Sherlock, Where We Goin?

Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life.

Awakened Like A Bear

Have you ever woken up all frustrated and angry that you don’t have what you want? Not enough money, not enough time, not enough life, not enough happiness? Did you yell at everybody around you? Quit your job? Blame the world? Well of course you have. At one point or another we all have felt this way. If you understand what’s happening in that moment it’s actually a great thing if you understand it.

I know it doesn’t feel good and ultimately for most people, once they stop blaming the world, they retreat to the confines of their safe place and collapse. They know deep inside that it’s up to them, that nobody is coming to help….and that’s the spot where the road divides. Two paths. One looks easier, but we are wary. Something doesn’t feel right. It almost looks too easy. The other is clear but rough. It looks like a lot of work. There seems to be a path but there are hurdles and obstacles, but there is an encouraging light shining from somewhere…something we can feel more than we can see.

The Grinders

The sad part is that most jump onto the more trodden path. Only to find out that it’s slippery. What seemed like gold is hardly that, and when we begin we find there are a lot of unhappy people on that path. Many of them are high on something that seems to be repressing who they really are. You can see it in their eyes. they appear okay, but upon a deeper investigation they have an empty look…a “going through the motions” mentality.

Along that path there is a glass wall where we can look through and see the other path. We notice those people working hard. They seem determined. They’re sweating. No matter when we look they always seem to be grinding away. They have a focused look in their eyes like they know exactly what they’re after. The most painful thing however, is that they appear happy and free compared to those who have chosen the easier way…how can this be?

Sherlock Holmes

So what the heck is going on here? All you Sherlock Holmes types are screaming that it’s obvious…hard work is happiness. Okay true, but not so fast. There is something else clearly at play. It’s an underlying resilience that drives these types of people forward. But what if they are all wired to drive hard. What if they have a genetic predisposition to achieve. Well, maybe so, but there must be something more simple at the center. Certainly we see these hardworking achievers in all walks of life, all different types of occupations that have nothing to do with money. Case in point: Mother Teresa versus Bill Gates.

So how do we reconcile such a massive difference to capture the commonality? Direction! That’s right, they simply know where they’re going. They are truly self aware. They recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and they play through. So I would assume that there is a genetic pre-wiring at play, and maybe we all just need to know how to identify it. So why does that seem so hard to do. Because we are so easily lead, distracted and sold to. We can’t wait to jump in with the pack and chase the silvery object….and of course you know what happens to those type of fish…they get hooked and eaten.

The Dark Room

So here’s the life preserver. We MUST get in touch with our Definite Chief Aim in life. Every single one of us has strengths, but we live in denial of them. We think relative to other people they mean nothing. That they have no positive effect. We downplay them even to the point of putting them under lock and key. It’s the equivalent of taking a wild horse out of the plains and putting him in a tiny box and closing the windows. That horse starts to kick and wail so we shove some drugs in it’s mouth to quiet it down. We might even get it drunk. Eventually we break it’s back and it dies….a sad ending to a truly missed opportunity.

But why not simply understand the horse first and give it a chance to thrive. So how do you find your horse? Simple math: A + B = C. A equals your natural or God given talents; B equals the optimal people or situation that help your exercise those special characteristics and C equals the optimal result. When most people sit down to fill this in, they immediately run up against the self-doubt that has suppressed the obvious answers. So here’s a little tip on how to overcome. Think back in your life and remember a moment when you were at your best! In other words, a time when things seem to have been going your way. And before you start that NONSENSE that no such moment exists, get real! We all have at least a few moments like that.

Write It

When you finally admit it, think about what type of people were around you. How did they support you? What type of environment was created? How did they allow you to express those special traits of yours? Ultimately, go back and remember how you felt and the positive vibe flowing between you and those other people. How did you feel? Euphoric? Deliriously happy? Once you have this thought back in the forefront you can easily extract the ingredients and put them into the formula.

The next step is the most critical of all….you MUST write it down. You must extract it from the reat of the noise going on in your mind, because your mind is a place where random thoughts can enter at anytime and distract you or worse pull you right back down into your dark little dungeon. Resist for a few minutes and write. Don’t worry about it being perfect; it won’t be! Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks; it’s irrelevant. It’s simply a statement about your pre-wiring that’s unique to you.

Chief Aim

Finally, something amazing begins to happen. You realize that the best moments in life were when this Definite Chief Aim was in direct alignment with the people or situation you were involved in. Family, Socially, Spiritually; it all begins to make perfect sense. You begin to see the world more clearly. You realize that you can’t do it all or please everybody, but you can in fact be true to yourself and that’s where personal compromise ends and true happiness begins!