Tag: purpose

Daily Life, Motivation

Do You Even Know Where You’re Going?

I had an odd inspiration the other day. I stumbled upon a YouTube channel by a guy who was a Navy SEAL who ended up joining the French Foreign Legion. He’d reached the pinnacle of military achievement and squandered it due to stupid decisions. After drifting for a while and getting in more trouble, he decided the Legion was the only chance he had at getting his life back together. In his case, it worked. He’s now, at least according to him, squared away and on a good path.

The inspiration was a quote he shared in one of his videos from Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else”.

What was interesting is that here’s a guy who had micro planning and goal setting down to a science. He had a goal to join the SEALs and knew exactly how to get there. How to train, workout, prepare, and what path to take in the military to get there. He had the discipline to stay focused and achieve his goals. And yet for as laser focused as he was on the micro issues in front of him, he had no vision for the big picture. He couldn’t see what the impact his daily decisions was having on his career. The end result was he lost everything.

What struck me was how close to my life that is right now. No, not getting in bar fights, being a Navy SEAL or joining the French Foreign Legion. Although, the Legion would be a great weight loss program. Hmm… Anyway, the similarity to my life is the Yogi Berra quote – I don’t know where I’m going.

Are we going to spend the next ten years traveling? Should I focus on photography or making YouTube videos? Should every day be spent exercising and doing a sport of some sort? Writing an award winning blog? What do I want 2024 to look like? I don’t know.

The critical part of the quote is the second part – “you’ll end up someplace else”. No matter what you do, you’ll end up somewhere. The question is, is that where you wanted to be?

This year, I was in drift mode. I did a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It was a weird weather year. We had a ton of house/landscape work that disrupted my routine (or so I told myself). I got hurt and had surgery. All in all, 2023 was a completely forgettable year. Not bad, just forgettable. Virtually nothing I can look back on and say, “I did that!”. There’s nothing wrong with years like that every once in a while. The problem is that I’m not twenty. I don’t have that many more years to squander.

So I can keep focusing on the day to day, week to week. Should I go for a bike ride today? Skiing? Maybe I should plan a motorcycle ride for next week. What are we having for dinner? That’s all well and good but I’m afraid if that’s all I do, another year will zoom by and I’ll be asking the same question next holiday season. What did I do this year?

It’s time to have some actual big picture goals and plans. It doesn’t need to be planned out to the nth degree… but we at least need a roadmap to help keep focus on a direction.

It’s interesting. Small goals are easier to wrap your head around. Lose ten pounds. Finally get that fence built. Take a trip to Vegas. It’s identifiable. Easy to plan for. Measurable from day to day. Big, macro goals are difficult. It’s hard to wrap your head around them in a way that’s quantifiable. It’s one thing to say “my goal is to travel this year”. But what does that actually look like?

I suppose it’s more about having a purpose in life. While going for a bike ride every day certainly isn’t a bad life… is that all I want for the rest of my time here? If I got hit by a cement truck tomorrow, is 2023 how I’d like to have gone out? (that’s a bigger philosophical question, but you get the point)

Some soul searching and planning needs to happen. We need to hit 2024 with a roadmap. Like any roadtrip, there’s nothing wrong with detours as long as you’re still generally heading in the same direction. The philosopher Yogi Berra was right – you’re going to end up somewhere no matter what you do. Just make sure it’s where you intended to go.

Daily Life, Motivation

What’s Your Special Purpose?

“My dear family, guess what. Today I found out what my special purpose is for. Gosh what a great time I had. I wish my whole family could have been here with me. Maybe some other time as I intend to do this a lot. Every chance I get.”

– Navin R. Johnson, The Jerk

A few days ago, I was scrolling through YouTube and watched a clip of Lex Fridman talking about truly smart people. Lex has a BS and MS in computer science, and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering. He’s a research scientist at MIT (among other things). If he thinks someone is smart… they’re smart. He observed that the one common trait he sees in these folks is a complete and total mastery of whatever their field is.

I would agree. I’ve met a handful of people in my various careers who’d I consider experts. They just had an encyclopedic knowledge of their field. They could recite studies and papers off the top of their heads. They knew obscure formulas and calculations without needing to look up references. They knew the who’s who in that field. I am not one of those people. While I was good at my job and did well, I was never interested enough in my field to really dive in and truly master the subject. I suspect that’s true of most folks.

Last night I watched a silly movie called Burnt with Bradly Cooper. It’s about a chef who had a fall from grace and tries to make his mark in the food world again. What struck me was the complete and total passion the protagonist had for food. Actually, you could see it in all the chefs portrayed in the film. They all had a sincere love for what they did. Even at home you could see the care they put into making a simple meal.

Yes, I know it’s a movie. But I suspect the sentiment is largely true in the higher ends of the cooking world. And then it dawned on me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a passion for any pursuit. Like, ever.

Are there hobbies and things that I like to do? Of course. But I’m not passionate about them. I don’t have one hobby that I’ve completely dove into and understood from beginning to end. I don’t research the latest technology or who the current big names are. I don’t lose track of time reading about the latest and greatest aspects of whatever it is. I drift in and out of my hobbies over the years.

And it occurred to me that this may be what’s missing in my new retired life. A passion and a focus on something… anything. I find myself drifting from activity to activity, day to day, without any real purpose. If the snow’s good, I’ll ski. I hike the dog. Reading when the weather is bad. Household chores. My daily planning consists of looking at the weather report to decide what activity to do. I’m certainly not bored. But it’s beginning to feel a little like just killing time.

I wish I’d cultivated a passion for something years ago. If I had, now that I have the time, I could be wearing a train engineers’ hat and spending all my waking hours building a model train empire in the basement. So, I think it’s time. Time to dedicate myself 100% to a hobby. To become an expert in something.

I don’t know what it’s going to be yet. Cooking? Photography? Video? Start a business? Or maybe I pick a sport and devote myself to it? I don’t know. Like I said, I enjoy all the things I do. But none of them jump out at me as something I want to completely immerse myself in.

Maybe passion is learned? Maybe the passion comes after you dive in and begin the process? I don’t know. But I do know that I need to do something. Maybe I’ll just put all the activities in a hat and randomly pull one out?

Although, I do like trains. And I have a basement. Do they even make model trains anymore? Hmmm…