How to find and integrate your life goals.
Imagine, somebody would catalog every one of your days.
No, not a shiny Instagram feed kind of catalog.
A plain book that portrays your days as they really are.
And in the final days of your life, all those day pages would be displayed in the museum of your life.
You’d walk through that museum on the day before you die. You’d see exactly how you spent your time, what you experienced, what you felt.
If today was your last day, what would be displayed in your museum of life?
Is what you see equal to what you would love to see?
While this concept sounds romantic, for most people, the museum of life would look pretty much the same.
An adult human is awake every day for 15 hours and 39 minutes. A knowledge worker spends 8 hours working on a computer and an additional 3 hours on their smartphone.
Most people don’t protect their time on earth, because they don’t know how they want to spend their days. They don’t know their big five for lives.
I was one of those people. I didn’t know what I was living for, what I was striving towards. But once I read John Strelecky’s book and defined them, my life changed.
You don’t need to read the entire book to define your big life goals.
Here’s precisely how you can use your big five for life to create the museum of a life you want to live, and not dream of living.
Find Your Big Five for Life
Unless you define your big five for life, you will always live the life others.
If you don’t know what’s your ultimate goal, you’ll navigate through life like a ship without a sail.
To be honest, I felt like a shipwreck when I learned about the museum metaphor in April 2018.
Indeed, I had some images of how I wanted my museum to look like: free, independent, loving, adventurous.
Yet, when I took balance from what would be portrayed, the picture looked different: overworked, stressed, distracted, unbalanced.
It’s in our hands to live the life we truly want to live.
No matter what your museum would look like today, you can change it with every hour, every decision you make.
Your big five are self-defined life goals. It’s a vision and guideline that you created for your life.
It’s something you can look at when you feel lost, or find inspiration when you’re feeling down. They serve as an anchor and lighting house.
When you know your big five, you’ll understand what makes life successful for you. They are the best tool to create the life you want to live.
Once you know how you want to spend your time, you won’t let it be taken away from you without your consent.
Only you know your answers. Only you know what success means for you. Health, relationships, work, knowledge, spirituality, travel, what’s behind these terms for you?
As your life, these goals are dynamic and can evolve. Don’t obsess over finding the perfect targets. You’ll be able to change them, like life changes.
“Imagine what it would be like to walk through that museum toward the end of your life. To view the videos, listen to the audio, look at the pictures. How would you feel knowing that for the rest of eternity, that museum would be how you were remembered?”
How to do it:
Get into your peak state. Take a good song, a piece of paper, and a pen, set a timer for ten minutes. Write down everything that comes to your mind reading the following question.
What five things would you like to see, feel, hear, learn, or experience, that will make your life a complete success?
Don’t edit yourself. The more, the better. Don’t stop before your timer rings.
Dream as big as possible and write everything that flows from your heart.
Then, go back to your answers and highlight your quintessence.
Integrate Your Big 5 For Life into Your Days
Defining your life goals was the hardest part. Once you know what you want, life will take care of the rest.
Yet, to let life bow into your goals, you must continuously remind yourself of them.
You wasted your time if you write your goals and never take a look at them.
After I wrote down my goals in my bullet journal in April 2018, I didn’t open the pages for some months. My goals hadn’t changed. But I ignored them and continued to live like before.
If you really want to change your life, you must remind yourself of change.
Since I placed my goals on the wall of my sleeping room, acting towards them feels natural.
One of my big 5 is “I foster a healthy mind and body to experience the multifaceted nature of our world.”
When the first thing I see every morning is my health goal, I’ll surely hit my meditation pillow for a 15-min semi-guided headspace meditation. I won’t negotiate with my mind whether I’d skip it or switch to a 5-minute meditation. I know why I do it.
Reminding yourself of your big 5 is the best way to integrating them towards your life.
“The hardest thing is the figuring out, ‘this is what I wanna do’. Once you know things will start to work.”
How to do it:
Once you’ve written down your big five, place them somewhere meaningful: your vision board, bullet journal, screensaver, Pinterest board, or whatever you look at every day.
Record your voice and read your life goals to you. Tell all the people around you. Opportunities will come as you dare to spread the word.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut to living the life you want to live. Yet, knowing and integrating your big 5 for life is the best shortcut you can get.
Step by step, they’ll bring you closer to the life you dream of.
By writing down your big 5 and looking at them every day, you’ll not only uplift your mood but also be able to be more intentional with your time.
If done correctly, knowing your big five for life will help you to spend your time and energy on tasks and projects that truly matter.
And at the end of your day, when going to bed before your sleep, ask yourself:
“Was today a great day for the museum of my life?“
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