Help with defining "life vision" or "purpose" - 50,000 and 40,000 foot views

[nickv]

I started using GTD partially because I was sick and tired of failing to meet commitments I had made in my career and personal lives. That was a secondary motivation, however, because I know that most of my unhappiness stems from going through day to day struggles with no end goal, i.e. purpose, in mind. I believe that a certain level of stress and discomfort is acceptable if they are incurred while serving some greater purpose.

I have been using GTD for the past few months and it has helped me get control of my day to day tasks/obligations/projects/commitments, etc. Like many others, I feel that GTD has prepared me to tackle more complex goals like defining and working towards a set of longer term goals. I also realize that I have too much on my plate and need to cut back to focus on what is most important. The problem is that I have not defined what I call my, "life goals," so what is most important is partially undefined. I am at a point in my life where I need to make some big long-term commitments around family, for example, when to have children and whether to move to another part of the country and career, i.e. stay at current company, apply somewhere else, start my own business, or go back to school full time.

My current strategy is to start by defining my, "life vision," which is a high-level summary of what I want my life to look and feel like. I think this lines up to the 50,000 and 40,000 foot levels in GTD. The challenge I am stuck at right now is defining my "purpose." I know I am not alone in this. I am very interested in hearing from people who have faced this question and successfully answered it. What tools, books, exercises etc. helped you achieve the self-awareness that allowed you to define your life's greater purpose? It would also be helpful to hear from people who have tried some things that failed - what was NOT helpful and a waste of time in the end?

[Linada]

It took me a long time to get some picture of my life at large. A lot of it was doing the same exercising over and over, so if a method doesn't work at first, it might not be the method, it might be a case of letting it sit for a while. Once you make a start at this stuff, your subconscious will keep chewing on it, and every bit gets you a bit closer to something that will eventually click.
There are loads of methods out there. Visualizing, finding your passions, writing mission statements by guides, writing mission statements unguided until it clicks, etc.

What eventually worked for me, was a combination of looking at my values, and the things i have always felt passionate about and have come back to, and sorting them in a mindmap. I found that a lot of what i thought were separate issues, fitted into those values.

A sample of the top stuff for me:

What do i want to live by?
Nature
*garden
*help people appreciate/love nature
*conserve natural resources
*respect for life
Adventure
*hiking
*travel the world
self-improvement
Love
*Self love
*others
Creative
Beauty
*Home
*Me
*art

[Jon Walthour]

Have you found clarity in the 20,000 and 30,000 foot areas of your life, your areas of responsibility and 1-2 year goals and objectives? For me, getting to 50,000 meant ascending through 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 feet first. I had to clarify for myself all the areas of focus in my life--what are all the different parts of me and my life? Then I considered where I wanted to be in each of or a combination of those areas over the next few years. Who am I as and where did I see myself going as a stepdad, as a husband and as a son, in all the various aspects of my job, etc.? To do this I did various things--mind maps, free writing of ideas, imaginative narratives of how I see life in my mind's eye at some future time, etc. I didn't read any books or follow any prescribed formulas. I just sort of intuited my way up through the altitudes. This visioning led naturally to an ever larger vision of my life, a larger, more all-encompassing arch of time. My wife and I discussed at length where we saw ourselves in retirement, in our senior years. I imagined lying on my death bed, reviewing my life as a whole. I wrote about what I would look back on with happiness and joy. What I would cringe at and wish had turned out differently. For me, this led naturally to why. Why did I find joy and happiness in certain imagined memories and not in others. From this came a sense of my core values and purpose. All this drove me back down to 30,000 feet and my 1-3 year goals, were they really in line with the vision I was beginning to paint. Why not? Was there something in my visioning that needed to inform my goals and change them? Were there aspects of my goals that I hadn't used appropriately in painting my life vision at the higher altitudes? I pinballed back and forth, up and down these horizons for some time and still do, clarifying and changing the parts of it as I learn more about myself in my reflection and self-examination. This sort of self-reflection is a lifelong journey that I'll be discovering more and more about every day--a painting that will never be fully complete. But I can say I feel I have enough at each altitude now that each informs the others. I'd like to say I review these regularly, but it's more of a "when I feel the urge" frequency, kind of like how DA describes when he knows he needs to do a weekly review--when I feel a lose of perspective on the important things in life, on who I am and who I see myself becoming, I take some time for quiet reflection, thinking and visioning to work on my painting.

I hope this is helpful.

[clango]

"life vision," which is a high-level summary of what I want my life to look and feel like. I think this lines up to the 50,000 and 40,000 foot levels in GTD.

I read GTD first but the great impact to my analysis of horizon of focus came when I read Making it all work.

I hope it can be helpful

[Barb]

Sometime in the next year or so, I'm going to get away somewhere by myself just to think. I've touched on all the higher levels, set some goals, have my areas of focus well defined, I just feel like I need a little breathing room to let myself dream without interruptions.

[nickv]

Have you found clarity in the 20,000 and 30,000 foot areas of your life, your areas of responsibility and 1-2 year goals and objectives? For me, getting to 50,000 meant ascending through 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 feet first. I had to clarify for myself all the areas of focus in my life--what are all the different parts of me and my life?

No I haven't. For some reason, even though I have seen the value of getting things in order at the 10,000 foot and runway levels I had neglected to spend much time on the 20,000 and 30,000 foot levels. I think my assumption was that I need to ascend immediately up to 50,000 feet and work my way back down. I think part of my reasoning was that some of my areas of focus were so "out of whack" because they weren't aligned with any long term purpose that I needed to reassess everything from 50,000 foot down to begin. Reading your post I realized that I have certain "areas of focus" that won't change - for example I know I want to continue to be a "husband," a "learner," and eventually a "father." Maybe I should be looking at all the different things/areas I have taken responsibility for in the past, or hope to in the future, and work off of those.

[Cpu_Modern]

Reading your post I realized that I have certain "areas of focus" that won't change - for example I know I want to continue to be a "husband," a "learner," and eventually a "father." Maybe I should be looking at all the different things/areas I have taken responsibility for in the past, or hope to in the future, and work off of those.

An exercise that I found helpful for me. I made a table, each row a 20k item, the columns Now - 2 years - 5 years - Later. Just fill it in. The process of having to think this through helped me to clarify a lot. Also notice, some Areas of Focus only start in the future...

I hope you try this out and report back how awesome it was ;-)

[Brent]

Well put, everyone!

For what it's worth, it took me about five years to define my 50,000-foot view into a relatively stable form.

[Jon Walthour]

No I haven't. For some reason, even though I have seen the value of getting things in order at the 10,000 foot and runway levels I had neglected to spend much time on the 20,000 and 30,000 foot levels. I think my assumption was that I need to ascend immediately up to 50,000 feet and work my way back down. I think part of my reasoning was that some of my areas of focus were so "out of whack" because they weren't aligned with any long term purpose that I needed to reassess everything from 50,000 foot down to begin. Reading your post I realized that I have certain "areas of focus" that won't change - for example I know I want to continue to be a "husband," a "learner," and eventually a "father." Maybe I should be looking at all the different things/areas I have taken responsibility for in the past, or hope to in the future, and work off of those.

I think that's an excellent idea. And don't forget, you can always come back down to the lower altitudes to clarify them as higher altitudes take on clarity and, in turn, ascend back up as the lower altitudes inform the higher ones as they are clarified.

[nickv]

An exercise that I found helpful for me. I made a table, each row a 20k item, the columns Now - 2 years - 5 years - Later. Just fill it in. The process of having to think this through helped me to clarify a lot. Also notice, some Areas of Focus only start in the future...

I hope you try this out and report back how awesome it was ;-)

Will do - this is a great example of the type of actionable idea I was looking for when creating this post - thanks!

[Oogiem]

The problem is that I have not defined what I call my, "life goals," so what is most important is partially undefined. ...

What tools, books, exercises etc. helped you achieve the self-awareness that allowed you to define your life's greater purpose? It would also be helpful to hear from people who have tried some things that failed - what was NOT helpful and a waste of time in the end?

One that worked well for me was to write my obituary. What did I want to be remembered by when I'm gone? To start it I just wrote everything I was currently doing. Then I thought about why I was doing it, and thought about someone reading it when I'm dead, would I really want them to remember me that way?

Another thing that worked is to write down adjectives and attributes that I think describe me. Then I picked the 3 I most wanted to be known for and developed a statement of purpose that addresses those areas.

One technique that has not worked for me is the whole graphical mind map brainstorming system. I just don't think graphically, I do ok with outlines but have to get them very strict hierarchical or I get frustrated.

[Navigare1954]

nickv,

You are facing the same issues I am struggling right now. I am doing gtd for more than year right now, and sure - it helped me a bit to stabilize my task flow a little, but without mayor breakthrough. On 20-30 feet it helped me to quit my job and focus on my business. But still - like you I don't see lifelong vision nor the purpose.

I think it may be the issue of this down-up path gtd strategy, we are clarifying some areas, tasks and project - but is this stuff lined up with our overall mission, if we did not found it yet. Maybe it is something wrong with bottom-up issue.

On the other hand, lot of books and bloggers tell us - do what you love, passion about - just leave anything else and start focus on this. Maybe it's good advice for graduate, but not for late 20 's with wife and a lot obligations and need to provide security for family. It is just not possible to quit work, close business and start to find out what you love and try to do living from that.

I tried several times to do what I love - I was passionate about bike riding in my young years, so my first work after graduation was being courier - after few months I started to hate my bike, quit job and did not it on my bike for few years. I loved classical music - I went to study musicology, I wanted to be conductor, I worked in mayor opera house for seven years and quit it because I cannot listen to classical anymore - my passion became my enemy. I could write few more examples, that if we try to combine our passion with what me do for a living it could finish up with disaster.

So I choose to run business in financial services, get some study with that - and earn quite good money, but for sure this isn't my passion and mission - and try slowly figure out where to move next in few years.

Sorry for a bit long post, but I wanted to show on my example that sometimes these paths don't work. Bottom-up strategy keeps us in area we are not so passionate, Passion-love strategy may lead us also to unhappiness.

It is extremely important thread for me - so I would love to hear your opinions and experience on that too.

[Brent]

On the other hand, lot of books and bloggers tell us - do what you love, passion about - just leave anything else and start focus on this. Maybe it's good advice for graduate, but not for late 20 's with wife and a lot obligations and need to provide security for family. It is just not possible to quit work, close business and start to find out what you love and try to do living from that.

I tried several times to do what I love - I was passionate about bike riding in my young years, so my first work after graduation was being courier - after few months I started to hate my bike, quit job and did not it on my bike for few years. I loved classical music - I went to study musicology, I wanted to be conductor, I worked in mayor opera house for seven years and quit it because I cannot listen to classical anymore - my passion became my enemy. I could write few more examples, that if we try to combine our passion with what me do for a living it could finish up with disaster.

So I choose to run business in financial services, get some study with that - and earn quite good money, but for sure this isn't my passion and mission - and try slowly figure out where to move next in few years.

You are a generalist, not a specialist. This is a wonderful thing.

Don't worry about finding the one thing you'll love. You'll passionately love hundreds of subjects over your lifetime.

Find a job that pays the bills, and allows you to pursue your passions where you can. Most artists have a day job.

Fortunately, GTD is perfect for people like you and I. Lets us move forward on many different passions.

[Cpu_Modern]

You are a generalist, not a specialist. This is a wonderful thing.

2 links about the fun of being a generalist:

http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/scanner-or-add/
http://www.creativegeneralist.com/

also note: some of the most creative people suggest keeping that day job (I am not saying you should):

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html

[Navigare1954]

Brent and Cpu_modern,

Thanks for your reply, it's funny because, I think, I admire more specialist type of people. In my mind generalists are like a bees jumping flower over flower and really not good at anything. Maybe I just admire experience and perfection too much. Definitely I will research links provided.

[Brent]

In my mind generalists are like bees jumping flower over flower and really not good at anything.

Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison were both generalists.

Indeed, the more I research great minds, the more I see the breadth of their interests.

[paulmwilliamson]

Dear All

As I have got older (now in my late 30's) I have begun to focus less on what I want to do, and begin to focus more on what I what character I'd like to be like. In that way you can chose what you want to do based on your current environment but still develop the characters you want eg perserverance, truthfulness, courageousness.

I do not want my orbituary to read that I was a great accountant or a great colleague. I would like to think that I followed God's will and sought to apply His commands in the all the opportunities he gave.

There is much pressure in our world to be the best at something eg pop star, journallist, head of a company; but such positions are so limited compared to the 6 billion people on earth. But is there the chance that almost all those 6 billion are cognitive enough to say to themselves that they wish to pursue certain characteristics?

Good luck.:)

[Scott_L_Lewis]

...
I also realize that I have too much on my plate and need to cut back to focus on what is most important. The problem is that I have not defined what I call my, "life goals," so what is most important is partially undefined.
...

nickv,

One thing you may be developing as you get control of your time at the runway/10,000 foot levels is what some folks rather indelicately call a "crap detector." In this context, it's your ability to spot worthless projects and actions.

Trust your instincts and start dumping them even if you don't have everything worked out at the 50,000 foot level. This will make room in your day for both higher level planning and the work to bring it to realization.

[natedowg]

Nickv,
I would recommend to you to actively read Coveys "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". There a great chapter on clarify what type of person your are. Example- You have show tickets with your spouse, then your boss calls and asks you to work that night. What do you do? If your family centered your tell your boss NO. If your work centered you inform your wife you wont be there. etc. Also, engage in what he calls Quadrant 2 actives, such as planning, relationship building, etc.

Another thing to do, free guided Mission Statement builder on http://www.nightingale.com/. A step in the right direction, good luck

Nate

[timepoet]

I put together a review checklist (http://timepoet.com/blog/2009/my-gtd-flowchart/) for my GTD system including columns for a daily (runway) view of current actions and weekly review of current projects until it becomes second nature, and I also included longer-term reviews as follows:

I interpreted the 20,000-ft level to require a quarterly review of my responsibilities, the 30,000-ft view as a quarterly review of goals for the next year or two on a rolling basis, the 40,000-ft view as an annual review of my 3-5 yearvision, and the 50,000-ft level as an annual whole-life missionreview.

The checklist goes into the tickler file for the beginning of each week. Maybe I'll develop worksheets for the larger views eventually.

I have challenges at all levels--even the daily part. I'm exploring a wholistic approach at www.timepoet.com (http://timepoet.com), a very personal (and therefore pseudonomous) blog on these grapplings from a spiritual perspective, including issues such as how self-image affects procrastination.

[katy]

For what it's worth, it took me about five years to define my 50,000-foot view into a relatively stable form.

Woow ! I don't feel ashamed anymore that I'm not there yet :)

[Oogiem]

If you are a generalist you might like to read Barbara Sher's Refuse to Choose book. It talks about different types of generalists and gives some concrete pointers on how to make that all work for you.

There is no shame in being interested in lots of things. I think the ability to get excited about lots of stuff is a gift and should be encouraged.

[SiobhanBR]

Try "The Renaissance Soul: life design for people with too many passions to pick just one" by Margaret Lobenstine.

When I started reading this it spoke to me immediately as I have so many specific interests in writing, music performance, crafts, and sports, while furthering my career as a practising Environmental Engineer. Not to mention the very important roles of wife, sister, friend, daughter and soon-to-be mommy.

To bring this back to GTD... the GTD system is so perfect for the Renaissance Soul. As an example, I'm going through my day and I see an ad for Rosetta Stone and think - I want to learn Gaelic! - I put it on my someday/maybe list with a note that Rosetta Stone offers a program and maybe even a weblink. Then, I don't have to think about it. My someday/maybe list is very, very long!

If you are like me, your specific interests vary over time, so specializing in one current passion could very well end up making you unhappy in the long term. Once I get good at something, I'm ready for another challenge. It means I will never be a world-famous flautist (are there really any?) but I can still enjoy playing with my mom and husband at weddings and church services.

Cheers!

[Marcelo]

Nickv, Navigare1954 and all:

This is a great thread. I've been myself dealing with the same questions lately, and I've turned 51 y/o a couple of weeks ago! Certainly, I've already been at some of the places some of you, because of your age, are thinking about right now: I have two boys already in college - with whom I have a wonderful relation -, I pursued quite a few careers and studies throughout my life which were either passions or important quests, and many times of course just the result of necessity, and major things about which I am very enthusiastic are still to come. I am a Renaissance type guy, no question about. My interests go from fitness and health (I was a judo national champion and martial arts instructor, at present a shiatsu therapist) to spirituality ( I started meditating when I was in my 20's, majored in philosophy in my BA and Judaism in my MA) to a passion for technical skills (carpentry, bike maintenance, web design to name a few), art (literature and dance mainly), science... you name it.

Many times during my life I struggled to identify myself only with one of my interests... it seems to make life much easier. But that's not me. And thinking it more deeply, this necessity is not mine (and may be not yours), but rather a requisite of a society that has become too heavily demanding on specialization (a development of the division of labor at the industrial revolution, I think).

Excuse me for the long introduction, I thought it was necessary to state my point (and it is related to that of #17, paulmwilliamson):

Instead of searching for a life goal, as a link in a chronological chain that would become a reality sometime in the future, you can live right now by your values and beliefs. These are not links at the end of a chronological chain, but principles that permeate all the links in the concatenation of your life, so that you are entirely you, entirely accomplished at every single moment of your life: dating, pursuing a career, at your workplace, with your family and friends... Obviously we want and need to achieve certain goals in life. But there is no need to depend on their achievment or wait untill some future time when they will come true to feel fully realized and have a meaningful life. It doesn't quite make sense. Besides, as Janis Joplin said once talking about love: "if you have it today you don't wait till tomorrow, cause... tomorrow never happens, it's all the same f***ing day" :D

So values, beliefs, cultivating certain traits of character as paulmwilliamson said above or as you prefer to phrase it, these are accessible to you right now. Not things to achieve in the future, but principles to live by, and to live for, right now.

Gee, I think I better start blogging. Sorry for this long post.:(

[nickv]

Wow! I can't thank everyone enough for all their input on this. I am also very happy to see that others are finding this thread useful.
I have tried a few of the activities and some of them have helped. I have defined my personal areas of focus and am starting to think about what I want those to look like 2 and 5 years from now - this helps to define projects. I have continued to struggle with defining my life vision but through sustained introspection I have learned a little more about how I want to lead my life. Over the last few weeks I have become increasingly worried that I will never have, "the answer." I worry that the more time I continue to dedicate (now about half to 1 full hour daily) to this introspection the less time is available for action. This is a nagging thought - but I know that action without purpose is pointless. The most bothersome thought is that I am not taking advantage of my current job because I fear that to put too much work into it would be pointless because it would lead me into a position where so much of the wrong types of activity would be demanded from me. Overall I still feel like I am in "limbo" until I define this vision and this is uncomfortable - I really do want to live in the present but I am starting to feel like worrying so much about defining my purpose is holding me back from that.
Marcelo - your post is really helpful to me given my current state - the timing is stunning. I think the biggest flaw in my thought process was trying to envision my "life vision" as an end goal - your post brought that thought to light. I think my vision for myself is going to consist of a "way" of living - evolving in reaction to the changing conditions of my awareness of myself and my surroundings.

[Marcelo]

I think my vision for myself is going to consist of a "way" of living - evolving in reaction to the changing conditions of my awareness of myself and my surroundings.

Beautifully put! I am happy I was able to help :)

[SiobhanBR]

One concept that you may want to consider is using your paying job in a way that works for you and fits your life goals. For some, this mean that the job is a way to get to what you really want, not a passion for its own sake.

For example, you may use your day job to get money to pay the bills and spend your free time pursuing your many passions. The requirement here is that your day job must allow you time off (mentally and physically) to pursue those other passions.

Or you get a job that will help you to develop skills that you can implement to pursue your passions (computer skills, perhaps). The requirement here is that your day job provides you opportunities to learn the skills you want to learn.

That said, even a job being used in this way should provide you with some sense of accomplishment. Life is way too short to spend 40 hours a week doing something you hate or that clashes with your fundamental principles.