The 5-min fix to feeling lost and unsure about life

(you can start with this any time)

Author

Philipp Wegmeth
June 30, 2024 • Reading Time: 6 minutes

Read time: 4 minutes

There isn't much in life that feels more unbearable than being lost.

Not knowing where your life is headed, where you want it to go and what you could do to start steering in the right direction.

Imagine feeling like a young sailor who’s fallen overboard, drifting alone in a vast sea with no land in sight.

This feeling can consume you. You might lose motivation, stop to see purpose in the work and hobbies you practice, or even fall into depression.

I've been there myself.

In 2018, I was at the lowest point in my life so far.

I felt exactly like described above.

And the worst part?

One day, I woke up and the scales fell from my eyes.

I was not living my own life, but just adhering to the expectations that society laid upon me.

Realizing this, I fell into a deep hole of self-doubt.

I was about as lost as a 21-year-old could be in his life.

I put everything into question.

My strengths, my interests, my values - everything.

Luckily, I eventually found a solution to all of this.

It involved getting to know the most important person in my life: my future self.

After getting to know it, I didn't have any doubts anymore.

Instead, I found a clear orientation for my values, goals, and interests.

Now, I wake up with full clarity on how to live exactly the life I want.

And today, I will show you how you can achieve the same for yourself.

What you'll learn today:

- How to find direction for your life even if you are lost and clueless right now

- How to find out exactly what you need to do to live your dream life by defining your future self

- How to start living with purpose and work towards a meaningful goal every day

Let's dive in!

Step 1 - Become label-less

Your days are numbered.

This might be a hard-hitting statement, but it's inevitable.

At some point in the future, everything that will be left of yourself is the memories people have of you.

Take a moment to think about this question: How do you want to be remembered? What should people think of you once you're not here anymore?

Chances will be high that you have a few ideas about this already now. And we will explore this with more structure in the next step.

But for now, know this: To be remembered in the way you desire, you need to start acting accordingly today.

Life happens faster than most of us are aware of - and this doesn't consider unexpected circumstances.

You cannot afford to think of yourself as a person who is unable to change.

Drop all the labels that you hold of yourself.

You're not "bad with numbers," you're not "too shy", and you're not "uncreative".

Become label-less.

Step 2 - Get to know your future ideal self

Essentially, what we're trying to do is to answer this question as holistically as possible:

"What is my ideal future self like?"

A structure that helped me a lot in answering this is the concept of "life areas".

You can define them for yourself, but here are a few ideas:

  • health

  • wealth

  • relationships

  • …

For each of your areas, write down the following:

  • What did my future self achieve in this area?

  • What does he/she do on a regular basis?

  • What do I need to start doing to close the gap between my current and future self?

Pro-tip: 

The question "How would you like to be remembered after you die?" is super helpful for finding answers to the questions above. Nevertheless, if you cannot come up with anything, try flipping the script. Answer the questions for the person you want to avoid becoming at all costs. When finished, just flip your answers around again.

Step 3 - Start acting now

As soon as you complete step 2, you'll have a list of activities you should start to close the gap.

The last step is quite simple. Start acting accordingly.

Commit to closing the gap.

Attach your identity to who you want to become, not who you are.

Wrap-up

Doing this exercise has provided me with a clear, actionable list of tasks that add value, purpose and fulfillment to my life.

Working towards becoming your ideal self is all about the journey, not the destination.

It will enrich your life immensely and turn you into a better person from day to day.

You don't need to know your interest, passion or purpose to do this.

You can start at any time and in any situation.

In fact, you cannot start early enough.

Bias-to-Action Box

  • Become label-less. Identify the labels you ascribe to yourself (e.g. uncreative, shy, bad with numbers) and then consciously reject them. Make yourself open for change.

  • Get to know your future self. Sit down with pen and paper and describe yourself using some life areas. How does your future self behave? What does it do? Who does it spend time with? The more detailed you are, the better.

  • Start acting accordingly. Commit to closing the gap and identify with who you want to become, not who you are right now.

I strongly recommend going through this 3-step-process as soon as possible. You could also easily spread this activity over several days by answering the questions of step 2 for one area of your life each day.

If you run into any issues, feel free to shoot me a quick message over Twitter/X. I'll happily help you out.

Stay seeking.

Philipp

That's it for today. If you would like to dive deeper into the topics we discussed today, feel free to check out the following resources: