Today I visited IKEA with my girlfriend to look for a towel rail, storage box for our cupboard and toothbrush holder. That’s it. That’s all we needed.
We meandered around the store for at least 1 hour and finally got to the checkout with NOTHING on the list of things we went for. Instead we had a fake plant, some lamps for our bedside lockers and a couple of other random things.
It was hilarious arriving at the checkout and looking at the list of things we went for versus what we left with.
I was thinking of how this applies to life after leaving the shop. IKEA is designed in a way that you pick up things, look at things and eventually pay for things that you didn’t originally plan on buying! The shop is designed to distract you from the original plan you had before entering.
In life I think this is the same. We as kids plan what we want to be in life – “I want to be an astronaut”, “I want to be a pilot” or “I want to be a doctor”.
Then life happens and we see all this shiny stuff we could have in our daily lives. We see that the norm is to get a 9 – 5 job, make as much money as possible, buy the latest iPhone, buy a big car, big house, have a certain number of kids and work for about 40 years and then retire. We get distracted from our original plans to be a dancer, movie director, web designer or artist. Instead we follow this other path through life and try to fill the unhappiness with this stuff. I thought this was interesting today as I was leaving IKEA.
I think we get so distracted in our daily lives with all of other things we could be doing or stuff we could be chasing that we see on TV, movies, magazines and our Facebook feed!
So I decided to remind myself of my purpose, because I know I’ve been distracted by daily life. My purpose in life is to use my passion and positivity to motivate and inspire people to live lives that they deserve and achieve their goals using their gifts and talents to make the world a better place!
Watching TV on a Tuesday night isn’t my purpose. And yet I get distracted by this every time Game of Thrones comes on the TV! I’m not saying that I don’t watch it – I just think that it’s important to look at your choices and make sure you’re clear on what you’re giving up to watch TV. Once you’re aware of this choice, then you can decide and weigh up and make an empowered decision.
So back to IKEA! Don’t get to the end of your life and not have achieved what you wanted. Find your purpose, remind yourself of this, create a plan to achieve it! Make aware choices in following and living by this purpose, and take daily action towards your goals to bring them closer! Be aware that there will be distractions but reminding yourself of your goals, your plan and taking action will help you get past the distractions!
Your coach,
Phil
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