How To Figure Out What You Want

If you really think about it, figuring out what you truly want is one of the most challenging tasks you have in this life. So here is a tried and tested algorithm for how to figure out what you want that will most surely get you on the right track.

Whether it’s a choice between strawberry pudding and chocolate ice cream, every choice you make speaks for who you are. Each individual choice you make, life changing or otherwise, defines who you are. That is precisely why you have to weigh every single one, don’t get sloppy or forgetful, but use your head. Just think of how much simpler things would become if you would always know what you want before stepping into a battle. Of course, it wouldn’t become easier to get them, but as long as you have a clear trajectory, a plan of attack in your head, you would always know what to do to follow your ultimate goal. You have to see all the intermediary steps that lie ahead and then go for it.

1. Take your time to decide, don’t react under stress. Evidently it is not possible to have time on your hands in every situation, but ideally you should know that reacting under pressure may not be the best thing for you. If quiet and isolation is what you need to figure out your plan, then take a day off from work, shut off your phone and visit the countryside. Breathe in the fresh air, clear your head and then you’ll have the right mindset for making decisions.

2. Stay informed. Knowing how to figure out what you want depends a whole lot on actually being familiar with all the options out there. For instance, you wouldn’t be able to decide to be a copywriter if you wouldn’t know the job title exists in the first place. Or you couldn’t open up your own business if you didn’t do market studies before to analyze what the public needs. Keeping an ear open to all sorts of new developments in your fields of interest enables you to move forward and to consider all the available choices.

3. Analyze thoroughly. How to figure out what you want? Make a list of pros and cons with the options you consider viable and then try to balance them out. This is a more mathematical approach, but it will work for you if what you’re looking for is a clear, objective way to decision making.

4. Put it into perspective. Imagine yourself having taken one road or another and try to predict where that would take you. Try to understand how it would make you feel, what benefits and disadvantages it would bring and most of all remember that knowing how to figure out what you want means choosing a course to stick to a longer period of time.

5. Take advice, but don’t follow it blindly. I know you have friends and family you feel like you could trust with your soul, but you really should wake up already and take responsibility for your own life. It’s the only thing you have a little control over, so own up to it. Listen to advice, but when the instance comes make sure you’ve thought everything through with your own head, and you know that what you’ve found is the best thing for you.

6. Establish your priorities straight. You have to be honest with yourself and confront your passions, your capacities and your potential. Think of what you would want to be skilled at, how you could learn it and take matters into your own hands. And once you’ve listed your priorities, stick to them like glue does to mostly anything.

7. Try new things all the time. Part of how to figure out what you want is expending your horizon continuously. Take independent courses, manifest your curiosity and don’t wait under any circumstance for people always telling you what to do and how to do it. You can improve the way people do things if you put your mind to it. You could learn photography on your own, a new language, exotic dances or take an acting class – the choice is yours.

Gut feeling. In my opinion this is the most important factor of all listed here for how to figure out what you want. If you have a gut feeling that you should do something or that you shouldn’t do it, but the motive isn’t that clear, maybe you should listen to your instinct. Not everything is lists and calculus. Instinct is something you cannot measure, but which weighs a ton. If you have a sneaky suspicion you want to be with somebody and you don’t even know them you should definitely try and maybe the match might take you by surprise.