If someone where to ask you, “What do you want?” you might answer, “I don’t know.” It seems to me that there are a lot of people going through life without thinking about their what or why. I should know because I used to be one of them.

Not that long ago, I listened to a YouTube video, where motivational speaker, Les Brown, said, “If you do what is easy, your life will be hard. If you do what is hard, your life will be easy.” In my continuing evolution towards more intentional living, I find that one of the hardest things with beginning this evolution is shaping a clear personal vision.

In my mission statement, one of the things that I wrote about was self-examination. This process slows you down to make you look at the people and things in your life to see, if they still matter and continue to bring value. All too often, we waste our time and effort on people and things that don’t move us closer to what has the greatest impact on our lives.

Today, I had a conversation with a friend, who was thinking about returning to a previous position because of the resulting pay cut following her transfer. Even with making less money, her quality of life now is so much better and I felt that her current position is a much better fit. I thought that she asked the wrong question and told her so. Rather than asking “Should I return to my old job?" I thought that she should ask, “What could I do to make more money, while maintaining this life or getting a still better quality of life?”

In trying to decide what you want and focusing on what is important, the key lies in having a vision built around your values. I stress your because, at the end of the day, this is about you. While it’s easy to listen to well meaning loved ones, who recommend what you “should do,” in the end, you have to be comfortable with making the right decision for you that leaves no regrets.

Life is filled with tangled decisions but this doesn’t justify inaction. If you struggle with deciding what is right for you, then ask someone, whose judgement you trust deeply or has done something that interests you. Give them an overview of your situation, explain your logic and tell them what you think. LISTEN to what they have to say and answer the question, “What do you want?”