I few months back I participated in Jonathan Mead’s Trailblazer program (it was part of what motivated me to write my free relationship guide, with the goal of later expanding it into a paid course about online dating).
The other day I got a card from Jonathan in the mail. On one side was a ‘thank you’ note and on the other was a question. It read,
What is your deepest goal?
Under the question was a space for me to write my answer, so I could post it up and be reminded of my destination to move faster to my goal. Given that I’m a huge fan of writing motivational messages to myself on index cards on posting them around my apartment, I immediately took my pen, and without pause or hesitancy wrote:
FREEDOM
Freedom is my ultimate goal. Everything else I’m working for somehow leads back to freedom. Money, for example, is only useful to me in as much as it would permit me freedom to choose projects and work I find meaningful and challenging, rather than working just to pay the bills.
Freedom is locational. The “4-Hour Work Week” lifestyle doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, but I’d rather flit around different hostels and small apartments around the world than own a nice house with a fat mortgage that forced me to stay in one place.
Freedom is physical. It means appreciating and taking care of my body so it can continue to do awesome things like surf, snowboard, and ride my bike around town.
Freedom is psychological. Freedom is the concept that I can do what I want, when I want. While this may sound somewhat childish, the reality is much more meaningful. It means I don’t limit myself to what others think is possible but rather follow the belief that anything is possible. Freedom means you don’t need to live your life how anyone else expects you to. It means you can eschew social norms and care more about what you think of others than what they think of you.
Most importantly, freedom is spiritual. It means fostering self-awareness, living consciously, and reducing the burden of negative emotions such as anger, fear and greed on my life and psyche.
If you were to deconstruct your most important pursuits, what would they come down to? What’s your Deepest Goal?
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Image by dexxus
Great perspective on life. I share your thoughts :). Living as independent as possible to allow passions and ambitions to flourish, pursue dreams and get the absolute most out of the one life we’ve got. Thanks for sharing your ideas, great to see you back online.
Thanks Maarten, totally love that philosophy and agree that being free/independent helps you find your passions and ambitions without undue outside influence… and then so much more is possible!
Oh what a fun excercise!
For me, the deepest goal is acquiring Knowledge and trying to solve the mysteries of life and the universe – like consciousness, time, and entropy. Ill never get there, but the journey is/has been amusing.
Thanks Elana!
Thanks mom :-). Knowledge is an admirable pursuit.
That’s a lovely calming picture. I like your definition of freedom, especially psychological and spiritual. I think my deepest goal is LOVE & HAPPINESS. It probably all comes down to LOVE. I don’t mean romantic relationship necessarily, but also to feel and provide love for family, friends, patients, etc. and to love and accept myself (which often is the most difficult to accomplish!) I want to love everything I do as well, both at work and at home. I want to appreciate everything I have and love life, cherishing both memories and possibilities. 🙂
HEY! I just wanted to respond mostly to say this morning I put some post-it notes on my wall in front of my computer with positive messages for myself..because I want to be the kind of med student that I know I am in my heart and filter out distractions and self-doubt. This was before I read your post! haha nice to know you do this too. Yay!!
LOVE the post it note motivational messages! I’m collecting more and more around my desk area. My favorite is the one I kept by my alarm clock for a while to motivate me to get up early and work on projects before work – it was, “Do you want to sleep? Or do you want to HUSTLE.”
Love is a great goal – I think our connections with others are where there’s the most potential to derive happiness. You ARE a great medical student. Stay motivated and keep kicking ass!
Great article, Elana. It came down to three things for me: love, freedom and the state of ease.
The (crappy) situations in my life are teaching me about what matters most to me and the three things I listed sum it up.
Most times, I’m grateful for the crap. Some times, I’m tired of the crap. Other times, I question why it seems I have to get the crap.
Oh well, I guess I’ll keep on truckin’ and maybe one day I’ll permanently realize I have all three right now. Thanks for being such an inspiration Elana.
Great thoughts Marianne – ease is a great one and evokes a sense of acceptance but also power. So true that we probably already have a big part of what we’re looking for and need to stop searching for happiness in the future. I just read a quote where an older person was asked what the key to being happy was – he said, “Start being happy today.” Thanks for the comment!
Elana,
I think we are on the same journey….FREEDOM is my ultimate goal as well. I think I was meant to be a vagabond and have “wanderlust” – I just didn’t know it when I was younger.
Keep up the posts! So far I like what you have written!
Thanks Will! Yeah, I feel that same wanderlust… that desire to explore freely, never be tied down mentally, physically or emotionally…