Seven Lives

I've told quite a few friends about this, and I wasn't able to find a clear post of it online. This was part of a catalyst for a huge change in my life. It's a fun way of finding out what's important to you and finding passion. You'll need to write this down or type it out.

The idea is to imagine yourself living seven different ideal lives. It could be anything. What did you want to do as a child? What have you thought would be really fun but immediately dismissed? Try not to let this psychologically prime you towards anything, but as an example I chose something like

• philosopher
• beach bum
• computer scientist
• comic book writer/artist
• world of warcraft player
• lawyer
• police officer

Alright, so some are more "feasible" than others. We determine that by doing a pros and cons list for each. Example:

Beach bum

• Pros
• Tons of freedom
• No work stress or real deadlines
• Focus on myself and fun

• Spend time in nature

• Cons

• Could face hardships like running out of food/facing the elements
• Looked down upon by society and possibly friends
• Limited on choices due to low income, especially socializing/donating
• Less likely to achieve my full potential

It doesn't have to be any specific number of pros and cons, but both are equally important. Rather than finding the one, ideal life to follow (although that would be great), the key takeaway is to find the common values between all choices. Did you list a high income or high level of personal freedom? Was a con the years of preparation some choices will take? Do most of your choices involve helping people?

Conclusions

Hopefully you learned something about what you value, and this could change over the years and as events happen in your life. Maybe one life isn't enough! Try to find a way to merge them or try them out as best you can.

You might also find that this didn't reveal any deep passion or you had a lot of trouble listing seven things. You could just favor a livable wage and want to spend as much time with family, friends, and your hobbies as possible. That is most likely the average person. Few of us have a "calling," something we are almost instinctively drawn to. That's okay, but hopefully you've begun to put in perspective what you want in life.

The next step is to plan how you can get to where you want to be. Think about what it takes to get there. Now's the hard part, what set backs will you face and how can you adjust to them and overcome them? If what you want to do requires a lot of schooling, think about how to pay for it and the sacrifices you need to make. Doing this will make you better prepared and solidify your goals. Make smaller goals on the way to achieving what you want and enjoy the journey!

I did the 7 lives challenge myself in 2013. Looking back now from 2019, I'm surprised to see what I thought my best options were!