 So at some point in life, we've all felt lost and confused and disconnected and really unsure what to do in our lives and really what to do next. But in my opinion, there are only three fundamental questions that if you get these three questions right and answered for you, you will be able to build an incredible life going forward. What's up you guys? Alex Hine here over at Modern Health Monk. So before we jump into this video, check out the free journaling worksheet right below this video. It's the first link. It'll help you figure out not only what to do with your life, but how to design your dream life going forward. So check it out. It's the first link right below this video. Question number one is what the hell should I do with my life? Now, the tricky thing about life is that for humans, there is no map. The things that tell us what to do with our lives are our culture, our parents, our society, sometimes our limitations and where we're from or where we're born, but rarely is it ourselves. So the first question you have to answer is what the hell should I do with my life? And that's really up to you. I know you may have parents and friends and whoever that tell you that you have to do what they want, but really ultimately, it is your own life. And I think about the story of Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist, because his story is a great example of living your life from what society wants and then living your life from what your own soul wants. So he tells the story when he was interviewed by Oprah. He said that he'd always wanted to be a writer and a creative, and he was very clear on this internally. So he was getting those little whispers of fate that often come through in the times of quiet, in the solitude when you're not around people and you're not taking the advice from other people. And he said that he always knew this, but his parents had committed him to a mental institution three times because they wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer or engineer. You know, the traditional sort of immigrant dream where if you're from a culture or society or country where there's not a lot of stability, maybe if your family has suffered through poverty, then financial security is important. It's essential. Now, what's interesting about Paulo's journey is that up until a certain age, he had followed the prescribed path of his parents and his culture. But it wasn't until he had escaped those mental institutions and decided he was going to do whatever it took to be a writer and a creative. He was going to commit himself to his Dharma fully, that his life changed. And it wasn't overnight. The alchemist was not a runaway bestseller in a year. In fact, it sold only a few copies, I think in the first year. If you can imagine, that book has sold like 60 million copies of the alchemist to think that a book could have that exponential impact. And yet it didn't blow up overnight. There was no signs that it would be the best book in history, but his gut felt that that would be true. And his life before and after this dichotomy is so telling about following what Martha Beck calls the social self, which is living your life the way that other people think you should versus the essential self, as in following what your soul says you should do. Or your gut says, I wonder what if, what would that be like? Or I always thought that would be cool. And then exploring that path. The first question, what the hell should I do with my life is really fundamentally all about trusting your gut. What have you always wanted to do? What have you felt a natural draw towards? What have you felt has been one of your primal inclinations like Robert Greene, the author calls it. If you can trust that and follow that, you'll be able to answer what the hell should I do with my life from the truest, most accurate part of yourself, which is your core. Question number two is how do I find work I love? Now look, whether you like work, you hate work, doesn't really matter what you think about work. The reality is that most of us are going to spend probably 80% of our days and therefore 80% of our lives working. And if you love it, it can be awesome and creative and a form of expression and impact millions of people. And if you hate it, then you're going to hate most of your life. So if you ask me, because you spend so much of your life at work, whether or not you like that reality, whether you like who you hate your work, it is absolutely non-negotiable that you need to be conscious and deliberate about what you choose for work. I think the idea of grit, the author Angela Duckworth comes to mind is really, really important here. Because Angela Duckworth studied all of these really, really successful people and her book is called grit. But when you hear the book title, you think, oh, I just grind it out over time, the same old tired bullshit, just work hard over time. That doesn't sound fun. That sounds tiring. But there are some passages in her book that really were telling. She talked to a music producer and she said, you know, he said, on a Saturday morning, there's nothing I'd rather be doing than making music in my studio. So she didn't hear him say it was suffering, it was a grind. He was just grinding it all out, getting it done. He actually wanted to be doing that. And so I think of grit as passion over time as being the essential ingredient for career success. Both work, right? You can find people who work really hard at careers they hate and they're successful, at least financially. That's a real thing. And you can find people who are very passionate creatives who never make any financial success and they don't ever impact people because they never write that damn book because they're too busy talking about it. You can find both on either side of the spectrum. But to be someone who's gritty about something you enjoy and is meaningful and financially works, that to me is the ultimate secret sauce in life. So for finding work you love, to me, the essential ingredients are trusting your gut because it is really your gut that helps you find work you love and not your mind. Rapidly testing things. There was a guy that used to have a website that was called Around the World I think at 52 jobs where for one week a year he would try a new job trying to find work you loved. And I thought it was a brilliant concept for finding work you love. And the third is really having an unusual level of grit and commitment towards figuring out what it is you're really, really passionate about and always evolving towards increased passion, increased excitement and having increased fascination with what you're doing on a day to day basis. So the second question is how do I find work I love? Because even if you don't like it you're still going to be spending most of your life working and that's just the reality. Now the third question is how do I create a life worth living? I think at the end of the day there are the things you have to do in life and the things you want to do. A life that's only filled with the things you have to do is usually a life of regret. And a life that's filled with the things you only want to do is usually sort of a leisurely kind of life. And I think most of us would not be happy with either one on its own. You know about seven years ago I thought that if the average life that is so unfulfilling is just doing a bunch of stuff you don't want to do why don't I just take a year and do everything on my bucket list? So I spent a whole day writing out every bucket list experience that I wanted to have. You know go dive with whale sharks in Behold the Philippines. Go bunch jumping in New Zealand and skydiving in New Zealand. Go to the sacred sites of the British Isles. So over the course of a year I did all of these things thinking that if I just did everything on my bucket list it would make me happy right? Because daily life sucks and it's the same. Well I found that at the end of the year I didn't really find myself that much happier and it led me to the realization that bucket lists by themselves don't make you happy. Because at the end of the day those are just singular events and your life is a process. So figuring out what is a meaningful life to you on a daily basis is really the million dollar question. Maybe that means moving towards having more meaningful work. Like I went back to do a doctorate in Chinese medicine and I have a private practice where I help people one-to-one medically and psychospirically if I can use that term. And that's fulfilling for me. That's something I want to do forever. But maybe being clear on you know bucket lists these one-off events are not going to complete you because ultimately your happiness is something you do day to day. And as you can find what is meaningful for you to do every single day as a habit or a ritual or the way you live creating a life you don't need to escape from will ultimately be the greatest fulfillment hack that has ever existed. So if you approach these three questions what the hell should I do with my life? How do I find work I love? And how do I create an awesome life worth living? You will have answered I think what creates a great great great human life and you won't have to worry about your half-life midlife crisis or regrets because you'll already be living the dream. Alright guys that's what I have for you here today. Check out the free journaling worksheet right below this video and I'll see you soon.