Can You Map Your Life For Success? Articles | Self Esteem

Getting success in life is definitely much more important than becoming rich, famous or educationally qualified. And for success, you need to map out your life in the right way. Just like how a map defines all details of a geographical area, even your life map must contain the point from where you are making the start, the place where you want to reach, the mode of transport, your backpack, the milestones you will cross on the way and the route you will take.

The Starting Point – Self-Identity

Every map has a point of origin. Your life map's starting point is a revelation of your current self. When someone asks you for an introduction, most probably you acquaint them with your name, your place of stay and your current occupation. But people do not get to know who the real 'you' is! This is what you have to first identify in yourself. It is not just about how you stand in society and how much bank balance you have; but it is more about what you believe in and what principles you follow in life. Also, you must get an idea of your own virtues and vices, the good and bad within you. You might observe that you are purposeful, well-motivated, charitable, zealous about your work, etc. You might understand what you actually want in life. You might have some beliefs, like fear is the root of all evil. When you understand all this about yourself, it becomes your starting point.

The Reaching Point – Your Projected Identity

The destination in your life map is analogous with what you want to become in your real life. You must chalk out a clear idea of what you are looking at becoming. Certainly, there must be some things in life that you want to change about yourself – like some principles, some aspects of behavior, some habits, etc. Make a clear consensus of what you are and what you want to become in life. For this you will need to evaluate yourself based on your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual beings. Like, you might want to become more compassionate to the people in your family. That could be your destination in your life map.

The Mode of Transport – Your Objectives

We define transport as a medium which allows us to reach our destination. Compare it with the objectives you set for yourself in your life. Your mission or objective will definitely depend on your own self-realization. Suppose if you feel that you are better off becoming a lawyer, your objective would be to try and study to become one. When you assess yourself properly, you understand what your objective in life really is, and this becomes the vehicle that will take you to your destination.

The Backpack – Your Talents and Skills

Your travel bag surely contains things that you will need during your journey. Even during the journey of life you need certain things – you need knowledge, skills and even a particular kind of attitude. This helps to provide you with the competence you require to become successful in life. That is the reason why you should make a very fair analysis of what kind of knowledge and talents you have. If you need some more, you will have to try and acquire them, just as you might buy additional things for a journey. Taking the lawyer example ahead, you will need to pass your Bar Exam to become one. That becomes a part of your backpack. Other part would be the desire to help people who are legally wronged.

The Milestones – Your Specific Objectives

The specific objectives you make in life are different from the general objectives. Like, if you want to become a doctor that is a very sweeping desire. Once you make that objective, you will need to supplement it with smaller objectives on the way – like entering into a good college, studying hard, passing the exams, etc. These are the milestones that you are achieving in your journey of life. Among other things, the milestones assure you that you are not wandering off-track. Also, when you reach one milestone that is part of your journey covered. Just like that, in real life, it is a part of your life's objective realized. Some people make more specific goals. They might peg down these milestones with specific ages in their life. It is easy to understand why such people make better successes of their lives.

There will be obstacles on the way!

Sure, just as in any real journey, even your life's journey will be ridden with obstructions. You can solve this to a major extent by focusing very hard on what you really want. That will help you keep on track. Even though there are impediments, when you know where you want to reach, you will certainly make efforts to reach there. Expect such pitfalls to occur, and try winding your way across them.