You already know your path. You know what your priorities
are. You know what’s important to you. You know why you’re here. You know what
you’re doing.
The challenge isn’t figuring out what to do next. The challenge is simply doing it.
The idea that you need to take time to “find yourself”- whatever that means- is a lie. If you’re on a path that you’re being dragged down and that you don’t like, you already know that. You know what aspects of your life don’t resonate with you. You know what you want to change.
Similarly, you know what is working and that you want to continue with. You have a great many ideas you can act on. Not only that, but you already know what step to take next. You know which task is next in line. It’s right in front of you. You already know what it is. You just have to summon the wherewithal to take it on.
Only One Possibility is Necessary
It’s true that there are opportunities and possibilities galore in our world. It’s also true that you simply don’t have time to sample all of them. That’s actually a good thing, because if you were certain that you had forever to freely sample anything and everything you would have a very unfocused life—and, of course, once it became clear that you actually didn’t have forever to do so, you’d be unhappy that you lived the way that you did.
You see, you don’t need all those possibilities. Sure, they are there. There are at least a thousand different things you could do right now. There are so many different words you could say in any situation, and there is an unending variety of thoughts that you could hold in your head. They are all there to be potentially entertained. But you can’t entertain all the possibilities—nor do you need to.
You only need one possibility. You can do only one thing at a time. You can choose only one thing. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have the dates and the cashews—you can certainly have both. However, of all the possible combinations, in the end, you’re only going to choose one. It’ll be one, the other, both, or neither. Whatever the case, for this meal, it’ll be only one of those possibilities. And that’s the only one you need anyway.
Self-Doubt = Self-Delusion
My experience has been that I only experience a lack of clarity about what to do when I doubt the path I’m already on. I know what excites me and matters to me and what I want to do. I only experience not knowing those things when I consider that maybe I was wrong about that.
I only experience myself as being delusional, insane, misguided, or on the wrong path when I consider that I might be any one of these things. When I just go ahead with what I know I need to do, I feel fine. On the other hand, when I doubt myself and say, Well, maybe that’s actually a totally pointless activity, and I should go do something more normal/socially acceptable/popular/obviously useful instead, I might as well be punching myself in the face. Doubt leads to the cessation of all action.
Self-doubt will try to tell you that you’re lying to yourself—that you’ve got it all wrong, wrong, wrong. Of course, the irony is that it’s the self-doubt that’s the real liar. Your desires are telling you the truth, but self-doubt wants you to think that they are doing the opposite.
It makes perfect sense why Jim Carey beat himself up in Liar Liar. The only person you can really delude is yourself. To tell a lie you have to convince yourself that the act of lying is somehow beneficial. That, of course, is a lie in itself, because there’s nothing beneficial about hiding the truth. It just makes things more difficult for everyone.
Because the only person you can delude is yourself, to lie is essentially to doubt yourself. Self-doubt, as we have established, is incredibly defeating and disempowering. As such, if you asked a liar what he was doing, when he lied, and he actually answered truthfully, he would answer the same way Jim Carey did: I’m kickin’ my ass!
Every time you declare that you don’t know what you want or you don’t know what to do, and you consequently do nothing about it and/or distract yourself from the pain of indecision, you are essentially kicking your own ass. You look silly. And I know you feel silly, too- dreadfully so- because I have kicked my own ass hundreds of times over.
The Bigger Picture of Life
There is no bigger waste of time, energy, or life than self-doubt. I have run the patterns of self-doubt too many times to count, and I can’t think of a single instance when it did anything remotely beneficial for me at all.
Let me clarify that statement. Never doubting yourself doesn’t mean never quitting anything. Total self-certainty doesn’t mean that the path you appear to be on is the path that’s right for you.
The key phrase is the path you appear to be on. That’s the micro-level path. The project you’re working on, the person you’re attracted to, the adventure you’re considering—those things might not pan out. Whether you’ve already been doing those things for a while, you’re just about to start, or you’re considering whether to start at all, those things might not be your thing. They might not carry you in the direction you want to go—even if they did indeed do that at one time. In one form or another, whether you adjust your approach or drop the endeavor entirely, it might instead be time to call it quits.
The path you appear to be on is different from the macro-level path, which is the entire timeline of your life. That path is always right for you. There’s no wrong way to go on that path. Because this larger path is ultimately the only path there is, you can only choose correctly. All roads lead home.
As such, I have found that all of my self-doubting has ultimately led to heightened self-certainty. While on the micro-level all of that doubting might look like a waste of time, on the macro-level it has been to my benefit. Because now I know- not just intellectually, but also experientially- that self-doubt is totally worthless. And my experience of that knowing becomes stronger as time goes on. Every time that I doubt myself now, I can remember the truth, recompose myself, and become that much more powerful. Each time I re-commit myself to the truth I experience greater internal certainty, and I become stronger. I’m that much more able to accept what I already know to be true and to act on whatever idea I get next. The friendship between thought and action strengthens.
When you take the macro-level perspective, not only do all of your choices ultimately serve you, but it’s much easier to make what you’d consider to be your highest choice anyway. When you look at the big picture of your life, as opposed to the micro-level individual pixels, it’s pretty easy to see what’s next on your to-do list.
If you’ve never taken such a broad view of your life before, then it might take you some time to sort out what really matters to you and how you can act in alignment with it. But once you have an approximate idea, you can simply start taking action on the relevant ideas that come to you. And I assure you—the ideas will come. All you have to do is not block them.
When you get an inspiring idea, it’s worth identifying its priority-level. If it’s something you want to act on as soon as possible, then consider how you can do that. You might not be able to implement the entirety of the idea right away, but perhaps you can get a simplified version squared away.
For example, if you get an idea to create music recommendation software, you could get a version of that idea going immediately by manually making music recommendations for people, using your brain and your words. While it may not be the entirety of the idea you had, taking this sort of action will help you to clarify whether the idea is really worth continuing with—and, if it is, the action you took will provide you with experience to implement the idea even more intelligently.
Not only that, but you’ll get to experience the realization of your desires sooner when you first go with a simplified version of your idea. This fulfillment of your desires will give you fuel to keep going.
The simple act of implementing an idea produces clarity. Even if that idea doesn’t pan out, there is always another one waiting in line.
How to Produce Inner Certainty (and action)
The following sentence is worth mentioning. Whenever I quit something, the thing I’m quitting was usually chosen from a state of self-doubt in the first place. This is what I mean when I say that the macro-level perspective makes it easier to make your highest choice. If you were constantly connected to the bigger picture of your life and were totally certain of yourself all the time, you probably would never do anything that warrants quitting. You would stop things for sure, just as all things naturally come to an end. But, you would never tell yourself that you’re going to do something and then back out before the thing has been done.
Of course, you don’t need that level of certainty. Maybe you’ll get there- I bet you can even get there right now, if you choose to- but you can still be perfectly functional even if you don’t.
Here’s all you need to do. First, enter a state of being that’s as well-aligned with what you currently value as possible. Connect to unconditional love and unlimited power. Raise your vibe. Go beyond trusting yourself and trusting life, and be certain that whatever happens is for the best. Remove any room for fear or doubt: they aren’t needed.
From this state, ideas that you are likely to thank yourself for later will come to you. The ideas won’t necessarily come fully-formed or in words. They instead might be a feeling or an instant knowing about the next best action you can take (“best” is relative to your larger path of life, the purpose of which is at your discretion). When you get an idea for action that feels particularly good to you, you can go ahead and begin acting as soon as possible—even immediately, if you’re able to do so. Take some small action towards the realization of the idea. Write the first sentence. Say hello to the person. Open the book. Step outside.
If at some point along your course of action you feel that this micro-level path isn’t right for you, return to that state of clarity and self-certainty. Don’t go dark—that’ll only make the contents of your mind murky. Of course, if you’re in a situation where it’s difficult to keep your energy high, it may serve you to leave that situation. Either reframe the situation (such as by seeing how it is helping you to grow), or just walk away. Don’t participate anymore. God won’t condemn you for it (or anything else, for that matter). You are free to leave.
Even if you do flub up at times by doubting yourself and then acting from that place of doubt, such an experience will help you to discern when you are acting from doubt vs. when you are acting from certainty. Ultimately, any action you take will be helpful to you—even if the idea and/or your implementation of the idea are out of line with what you know you need to do. You created a diversion for yourself, but it’s alright because in the end it still produced a growth experience.
What I’m saying here is that there’s no black-and-white right or wrong. There’s just kinda wrong.
For instance, it would be kinda wrong for me to take a job painting houses for the next three months, because I just plain have no desire to do that; and, as far as I’m concerned, I have much better options for benefitting both myself and others anyway. However, my life wouldn’t be over if I did that: I would still learn something. Something of value would be created and gained. It wouldn’t be a complete waste. Yet, it would indeed be a diversion from what I consider to be the right path for me. Overall, painting houses would be kinda wrong for me.
Step Forth
I’ve asked myself countless times, “Where is the path?” The last several years I’ve returned to the same basic answers over and over again. No matter how frequently and deeply I doubt myself, I ultimately return to the same truths and desires. The question hardly warrants asking anymore. Whenever I do ask, life responds with, “Well, if you need me to tell you again…”
The opportunities other people propose to me rarely pan out or align with what I desire. I don't live in a vacuum, but I generally have to create my own opportunities. Perhaps this is a call to create my reality deliberately. Perhaps this is what my path- my true path- is all about.
You know the answer. Hesitation and analysis are unnecessary. You know your path. You know what it is that you now desire to express. You know it’s all a matter of arbitrary choice, and that you can make the choice that now stands out to you.
Just go over the hurdle. You might clip your heel, but it won’t be the end of the world. Most likely you’ll be more startled than hurt by such an accident anyway. Acting imperfectly will produce more results and more growth than inaction, so go ahead and jump—every moment. You’re more likely to make it if you sprint, and then make your maneuver slightly earlier and more dynamically than you think you need to. To do the opposite and to stand completely still would guarantee that you will not make it.
The truth is, you already know how to go over the hurdle. Not only that, but you know which hurdles are yours to go over. You don’t need to be “broken in” and tamed and have someone else show you what they think is the correct hurdle for you to go over. You don’t have to punish your body to make it able to go over a hurdle—nor do you need to be out of your element in order to experience success in this life. You can simply tap into the high energy and total knowing that already exist within you, and then allow the action steps to flow out of you.
Accept the hurdles that are yours- the lane that is yours to run in- and tell your mind what you want it to do accordingly. It will know what actions to produce. It will know how to coordinate all that is needed to take these actions. When you know your path, your mind knows what actions are needed to stay on the path, and your body knows how to perform those actions. Your body knows, your mind knows—you know. You’re no different from the body and the mind that comprise you. As long as you get out of your own way, and resolve to doubt and delude yourself no more, you’ll know. Then, you’ll go.
Yeah, there are 50,000 other things I could be doing. The possibilities are endless. But I don’t need them. My path is sufficient unto itself: nothing outside it is necessary. All I could need and want is within. All I have to do to experience getting what I want is to stay on the path. In the end, it’s the path itself that I really want anyway.
Read Related Articles: