The last couple of months I have been asked a lot of questions. Where are you headed? Do you have a job lined up? What do you want to do with your life?
Those are all valid questions, since I just finished university, but they can be exhausting when I still don’t have any answers after some time. I don’t have a job. I don’t know what comes next. I don’t know where I’ll be ind a few months. I don’t know what my life will be like. And I barely know what I want to do with my life.
Everybody has goals in life – big things like having a family, have a successful career, earning lots of money, becoming famous or smaller things like eating healthy, keep a date, meet with friends or just survive an exhausting day. Without goals we wouldn’t be able to reach for something, work for something and wouldn’t have any plan what to do.
To have goals and directions in life is awesome. But just as important is to know, why you are taking this direction. Why are you doing what you are doing and not something else? 
Of course we do some things because we’re good at it and have talents. But even then we need more motivation – because talent is not enough if it’s not developed and improved. Is it enough to do something just because everybody else does it, too? Because family and friends expect it? Because the significant other wishes for it?
Not every decision is ours to make and some need to be made. But other things are in our control and we need to figure out why we are acting like we do.
For example, it’s not enough for me to just use my talents – I want to use them for others. I am more motivated if I know that others profit from what I do, and I am making an impact in their lives. I’d rather prepare a good meal for others than for myself. I’d rather write about things important to others as well not only what I am doing.
The questions from the beginning are important, but for me it’s more important to know the “why” behind it. Why things are relevant to me and why I am acting like I do.
Why are you doing what you do? Why do you have this job, study this subject, live in this city, have these friends and this relationship? Why are you reaching for these goals and what motivates you?Maybe it’s time to think about the “why” and not only the “how” and “where”.