The Default Life is Optional

For the first Field Note let's crack things open a little...

One of the strangest things about being human is that we're given this enormous, open-ended life and almost no one teaches us how to navigate it.

Weirdly, we're taught to play it safe:

Study hard.
Get a sensible job.
Be realistic.
Don’t change direction too often.
Don’t be too different.
Don’t take too many risks.
Wait until you’re ready.
Follow the path.

We're rarely taught:

• how to decide what we want
• how to be intentional about what we say yes and no to
• how to reinvent
• how to choose work that reflects the contribution we want to make
• how to think for ourself
• how to build a life we actually want to live

So most of us end up living a default life.

A default life is not necessarily terrible, its just unintentional.

Its the life we get when we never ask 'what do I actually want my life to be?'

The alternative is a designed life.

A designed life is not perfect, isn't always easy and doesn't always make sense to other people, but it's a life that you choose.

To live an designed life you don't have to figure it all out at once and you don't need a 30 year plan. You just need to start making decisions more consciously and believe that what you most want is actually possible.

You're allowed to change direction, to start again, to build a life that reflects who you really are.

You're allowed to ditch the script and do it your way.

Because who are you answering to anyway?