Find Out Who You Really Are

ponder You or someone you know is probably struggling with this question right now. “Who am I,” or “What is my purpose.” The first thing to keep in mind through reading this is there is not a reason to be upset or sad about wondering who you are – no matter what your age or situation. It’s the people who never try to find out who they really are who should be embarrassed.

I’d like to start with a personal story of when I found out who I was. I’ve always been very reflective and analytical of why people do things, why I do things, where do I belong, etc. Since I was 14 – starting with “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, I’ve been reading books and listening to audios that delve into the questions many people never ask themselves. What separates one person from another in terms of success? Why can finding a passion come so easily for one, but it’s a life-long struggle for another? So many questions that may never have definitive answers – but I can tell you this much – after 16 years of personal study on the subject, some very specific things come to the surface every single time. It’s these things that you’ll hopefully find for yourself after reading this.

I was 20 years old when I moved to Los Angeles from Madison, Wisconsin. It was a warm September morning when I packed the car with enough room to fit myself in the driver’s seat, and I set out on the 20+ hour journey. Music was my passion; creating and producing electronic sounds that made people move… where better to follow my passion than to California?

Skipping forward, after 4 years and some success, I became disenchanted with my life’s passion up to that point. The rigor of production on other people’s schedules and whims was not what I considered to be fun. I spent a lot of time thinking at that point… “If it wasn’t the music I loved, what was it?” It took me months of daily meditation and consideration, but I worked out all of the little details about what I did and wrote down my feelings towards each piece. The two main things I truly loved about my process, was the creation process – and the reaction from people happily consuming that creation.

It was almost that simple! I remember vividly the night all of this realization rushed into my head. I sat outside next to a gas fire pit and a beautiful kidney-shaped pool in a million-dollar Los Angeles home, just looking at the notes I had jotted over the last months… and crying. It was the single most emotional experience of my life – for a couple of reasons. One, the flood of negative emotion regarding my sadness over realizing that music wasn’t my true passion (or maybe growing out of that passion), and two, the flood of positivity that came from the success of figuring out what really made me happy. I still had one big problem though… if I knew that creation and making people smile were the two things I needed out of life to be happy – what in the world was I going to do?

The next process for me, with all of the emotional stuff aside, was a time of logical planning and consideration that moved me in the right direction. I was able to set aside any preconceived ideas of what I wanted, and envisioned myself simply feeling creative and making people smile. Some interesting things started occurring.

First, I started dabbling more in web design and programming – something I used to do out of necessity – and self-taught myself everything I needed to know to physically build a website. Second, I began looking (and finding) the creative aspect in almost anything I did… from having a relationship, to driving, to watching a movie… almost all of it became an enjoyable process for me. The things I was doing and creating were absolutely making people around me smile.

After moving back to Madison, I was able to spend much more time with family – that, I didn’t know before, was a big part missing from my life. I found a job at a music company that happened to do all it’s business on the web… starting in sales and marketing and then, because of my new passion for web design, was able to move into a web development role.

I found a tool (that I now love sharing with everyone) that allows me to be creative by making and mailing greeting cards online — and the reaction I get back from people is nothing short of amazing.

I started Good Plum as a creative outlet for the knowledge and passion I have about personal development, productivity, and attracting success into your life. I’m able to share this creativity with people across the world and love receiving emails and comments from people appreciating it.

Another 4 years have gone by since I found out who I really was, but back then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you I want to write (I don’t even like writing that much) or I’ll start a web site, or be a web programmer… All I knew is what I wanted to feel, envisioned myself having that feeling every day, and let the universe show me the way.

Now, do I think I’m going to write Good Plum forever? No. But I do know that this site is going to lead to bigger and better things – both for me, and everyone involved – you included! I’ve found an outlet that allows me to create articles, products, and more that can affect the lives of people around the world. What could possibly be better than that?

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AN OUTLINE TO FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE

1.) Stop suffering. Many people are in your shoes trying to find what they want out of life… and it’s a good thing! The people who never think of this are the ones who should be worried. If you don’t truly believe you’ll find your way through this – you may never do it. You need to believe in yourself first.
a.) Read books like Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life

2.) Outline your life as you know it today. Write down every little thing you do during an average week, month, and year. When you have that list, go through and make notes on how each of those things makes you feel. Go with your gut reaction – it’s almost always right. Don’t worry if the answer surprises you and don’t fret if you don’t have an immediate reaction… just move on.

3.) Study your list daily. Look for patterns that might evolve from your notes about things that make you feel great. Is it when you helped someone? When you cooked? When you read a great book? Went shopping? All of these things are important for the next step.

4.) Break down your list into the top 10 positive things and the top 10 negative things. Take the list of 10 negatives, look at it hard so you remember and know 100% what you don’t like in your life, and then get rid of the list. From now on, you’re not going to think about what you don’t like, only what you absolutely LOVE.

5.) Take your top 10 list, and whiddle that down to 5, and then 3. These 3 things are the most important things to you in your life – write them on an index card and look at them daily. Imagine yourself feeling these emotions when you look at them. Close your eyes and think about how it feels to do and feel the things on your list.

6.) Keep experiencing your top 3. It’s that important. Live them, breathe them, know them and how they make you feel every second of the day.

7.) Open yourself to the opportunities that present themselves to you. Don’t pigeon-toe yourself into trying to figure out exactly what you need to do… just say yes and jump on the opportunities that present themselves to you. If you’re doing number 6 everyday, this will start happening sooner than you think.

One day, you’ll wake up to discover that you’re doing things that you love. You don’t dread work, because your work is what you love. You simply don’t waste your time doing things you hate – because they’re not who you are.

You’ve found out who you are! Even if sometimes it feels like you don’t know exactly what to do, you have a secure feeling knowing that whatever you need will present itself to you as long as you’re practicing the one law they don’t teach in schools – the law of attraction. You reap what you sew. You’re envisioning yourself feeling and doing the things you love daily and this will affect everything that comes into your life from this day forward. Congratulations!

Do you have a story about finding out who you are? Are you looking for yourself? Let us know!