In my previous post I told the story of Uncle Lim , on how his short 15-minute story on his life gave me a new perspective in life. So let me share with you what I learnt in that amazing session so that you would benefit from the story as well. This would be a good read before you embark on your journey to self discovery. Seriously, read this.

#1 – Discover Yourself

You’d be surprised what you don’t know about yourself. Many people live life blindly just complying to the norm like robots. Just because some other Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane does it, it does not mean you have to. Uncle Lim was trapped in the system because he took the road most traveled. One day he finally discovered what he wanted to do with his life but he was tied down by his commitments. He did not like it, yet he could not quit his job and pursue his dreams. He knew his meager salary was his financial bottle neck and he knew that if he continued on he would not feel any fulfillment from his job.

Know who you are and what you want to do for the rest of your life. And do it quick! The faster you find out what you really want in life, the more opportunities you will have to achieve it!

#2 – Take Action

Knowing and doing are two very different things. Walk the talk, don’t just talk the talk. Some people choose the comfort zone instead of pursuing what they really want in life. True enough, making a living being a mime is tough if that so happens to be your passion but also take action rationally. Don’t just quit your day job and jump blindly into your field of passion. Do it methodically and gradually else you will find yourself giving up soon after you meet your first failed attempt. Uncle Lim didn’t quit his job when he knew that he was unhappy at work. He knew it was too risky. Instead he tried switching departments to see if he could find what he was looking for. Eventually he realized doing trading part time was one of the ways out and he did it without quitting his job.

Use your current job to fuel your part time passion until you are confident that you are able to do it full time.

#3 – Plan

Your should always have a plan for everything and especially for your life. Don’t be surprised that you are where you are right now because of the lack of planning. He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Sound familiar? Begin with the end in mind, says Steven R. Covey of the 7 Habits series. When you know what is the end result you are looking for, automatically you will have your game plan. You will begin to have an objective and you will begin to know how to achieve that objective. Divide your game plan into stages and tackle it one stage at a time. Rome was not built in a day and you too shall not achieve success overnight.

Draft out your plan and set a target date. Set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. It is okay to miss the target date but make sure you keep to your game plan.

#4 – Be Disciplined!

Along the way you fill face many distractions. It could be anything – a new job, a new pet, new girlfriend, newborn or even a new government – just make sure you stick to the plan, IF you drafted out the plan in the first place that is. Note that when you already have a plan in hand and you have the determination to stick to it, you will automatically sort out your priorities. You will not want that new phone, you will not want to waste time completing the whole season of Prison Break and you will not waste your time on Farmville either. What? No life you say? Well if you really had a plan you would have agreed with me. Your priorities would be to stick to the activities which contribute to your plan. Anything else goes down the drain. Any other distractions which can be solved get solved and you continue with your plan.

Life is like sifting for gold in crocodile-infested waters. You have got to kill the croc when it comes to get you and once it is dead you need to keep on sifting, not admire the dead carcass and celebrate with the rest of the village. Okay okay, you can celebrate a little but don’t forget your original plan.

#5 – Dare To Fail

One try will almost never get you to the top but there are some lucky people out there who do make it on the first try. You may fail once, twice but most important of all is you dare to fail because to fail is to learn the lesson and improve from it. Those who have never failed before never learn the lesson and it is from these lessons which will make you a better person, slowly pushing you closer to your goal. Look back and ask yourself have you not become wiser after the many years of being a human? And in those years dare you say that you have never learnt from a mistake and became better?

Do not be afraid of failure. Just do it! But remember if you do fail, never fail to learn the lesson.

#6 – and Never Give Up!

Last but not least, if you fail and fail again, you must keep on going. Even when your will is shattered, your heart is filled with doubts and your hands are bruised, keep on going. Keep pushing towards your goals. Once you give up, all that you have endured are in vain. So do not waste the effort. You are closer than you think. Uncle Lim applied 7 times for VSS and was rejected 6 times. If he gave up after the 6th time he wouldn’t have hit the jackpot on the 7th attempt! Seek out motivation and inspiration. Talk to energetic and positive people. Be a parasite and feed off their energy.

Giving up is for people who just try but then there is no try, only do or do not. So don’t ever give up!

Bon Voyage!

Some of these concepts may seem new to those of you who have always stayed in your comfort zone. Some of you might think that some of these are crazy talk. If it does sound like crazy talk to you then it means I have done a good job at stirring up your emotions and triggering your thought process. Do not fear change as it will only bring out the better you. Embrace it and you will truly unlock your full potential.

Later on I will share more on how I personally went through these steps and what my experiences were throughout this journey of self discovery. Also I believe a post on my earlier encounters with Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)  and my experience with setting up my own business would benefit those of you reading as well. These were the experiences which helped shaped my mindset and helped build up my business acumen so I believe it should do you good too! If you have already started on your journey to self-discovery, I applaud you. If you have not, then I suggest you do some soul searching tonight! If you need help or advice, do drop me an email or tweet me. Until then, bon voyage and keep up to date with my latest post by subscribing to my feed!