Live By Design

Because success != happiness

There’s this incredible story from Alice in Wonderland.

Alice, asking for advice from her cool cat of a mentor, says, “Which way should I go?”

So, her cool cat of a mentor asks, “well, where are you trying to go?”

“I dunno,” she replies.

Then her cool cat of a mentor says one of the most important lines in a book ever:

“Then it doesn’t matter much which way you go, ya dig?”

And then he just kind of disappeared.

I’m telling you this because you’re the main character of your own story. And I’m the cool cat mentor that’s just gonna disappear after saying cool, inspirational things.

Er…

I mean, it’s essential to decide what you want to accomplish, not just at work but in life. Because if you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t really matter much what you’re doing.

Truer advice has never been spoken. Photo: “Easter Monk Concept of Path” © Kichigan via Canva.com

If you haven’t already, take time to figure out what you want your life to look like 5 or 10 years from now. Also, don’t forget to look at tomorrow and the day after.

Most importantly, though, enjoy now. It’s pretty much all you’re guaranteed.

Success is not happiness. Even if you’re killing it at work, you can be soul-crushingly dissatisfied.

I’ve personally found that success is not happiness, that even if you’re killing it at work, you can be soul-crushingly dissatisfied. It’s vital to make sure that you’re leading a life you actually enjoy while doing things that lead you closer to your life goals.

Make sure your job helps you live a meaningful life.

What does that mean for you?

How to do that

Making changes is hard.

The status quo is known and, often, comfortable.

I get that — it’s something I struggled with when I left programming to study online business.

True story, my grandma said, “What are you doing? You’re 30 years old, with no family, no career, and no furniture.”

I still haven’t gotten around to getting a sofa. Anyway, I know how scary it can be to make a jump into the unknown sometimes.

But, if you know your current situation isn’t making you happy, you owe it to yourself to make changes because there’s an Opportunity Cost to not taking action.

The following video makes that really clear.

A friend shared this with me and I was floored. Sometimes the worries that scare us the most are only terrifying because we haven’t taken the time to examine them.

If you don’t know what you want to do, but you know that what you’re doing isn’t it: do anything else.

Life is a Design Problem.

There aren’t any “right” answers.

Honestly, you can be anything you want, just not everything.

By deciding to continue being what you are today — if that’s not what you want — you’re choosing not to be anything else.

Books:

• The 4-Hour Work Week: Explains lifestyle design and how to own your time.
• A Guide to the Good Life: Explains Stoicism and how its philosophies can make you much happier right now.
• Designing Your Life: A book from Stanford’s Design Lab’s creators points out that life is a design problem, and there are no concrete answers.

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Thanks!
-Carter
@carterthecomic