The next great thing....

Hi everyone,

Well it's time to look at question 2 of the reflection I did last month and unpack a bit about something that I know scares a lot of people and can cause people to freak out (I know it can for me from time to time)... the future.

The second question asked about what you want to do next. Now depending on your age, your current life situation and your values - this could be anything from being a superstar to making sure I make a positive difference tomorrow.

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the question - what do you want to do next? This particularly the case when people (including me) ask it to school leavers.

The reason why I'm not a fan of this question is that I think it forces people to think they have to make a decision and then once they've done that, the success of that decision will ultimately decide whether they have succeeded or failed in life.

Now anyone who has lived at least 25 years on this earth knows that this sort of thinking is filled with so many lies it would blow up a lie detector on impact!

The truth is that while we may make a decision on what we want to do next in life, no matter how hard we strive to do it, it might just not happen. Add to this to this the fact that for those who are followers of the faith, if it's not God's will, then as people who follow God, we may end up doing something completely different instead that could be equally as satisfying but no where near our original goal.

Here is my life journey so far so that you can see an example of exactly what I'm talking about above:

Working with Computers- Writing - Being a Youth Mentor in High Schools- Wanting to become a Youth Minister in a Church- Writing- Volunteering to help look after tech and mentor primary school/early childhood kids outside of work.

Now that's a super condensed version of the journey but as you can see - my goals have come and gone and morphed and what I'm doing now - while still using some of the talents I had before, is completely not what I would have expected to be doing when I was 15.

The fact is that no matter how much we want to say that we know what the next great thing is - we actually don't know until it arrives and we can see it.

Now this doesn't mean that you don't have any plans for what you want to do in the future. Plans are important because if we don't have any direction or purpose in life - as I've said in earlier posts we won't give 100% to life and for those who believe in God, he won't be able to work in us effectively as we won't be using our gifts and talents to do his calling.

We are given gifts and talents for a reason- to make a difference in the world and to help make it a better place- however if we have no idea or concept of how we are going to do that- which is what goal setting should really be all about - then we won't have an avenue in which to make a difference.

Alongside goal setting however- we also have to be open to the fact that there may just be something around the corner that is amazing and wonderful that we just haven't discovered yet. While our goals are important and we need to keep striving for them- we also need to keep working on a daily basis on the little things in life that can continue to foster our gifts and talents in all areas.

Fostering our gifts and talents will allow us to begin to see which areas of our life we are truly called to and if we're open to those areas, will allow us to truly offer the greatest reward to society and ensure that your next thing is also something truly inspiring, exciting and rewarding for all- not only in this life, but in the eternity to come.

So next time someone comes up and asks you what do you want to be when you're older or what is the next step- tell them that you have a plan, but that more importantly, you want to be the best person you can be and from that, everything else will work itself out.

It's counter-cultural, it's not the normal answer- but it's definitely the answer I believe will lead you to success both now and in the years to come.

Till next time...