Do you ever wake up feeling that you have been led astray?

That the path that you are going down is not the path you thought it would be.

For the past 40 years we have been indoctrinated to believe that higher education is the only way to succeed in life. That working hard and grinding it out is the only thing that will get you ahead in life. And while yes I believe that hard work and discipline are what gets you ahead in life it doesn’t work if you are going down the wrong path.

For years we were taught to believe that staying at a company for 30+ years and giving them your all was the way to succeed, the way to live a comfortable life. But what happens when that comes crashing down? When you wake up one day and realize that way of life is unfulfilling and dark.

The true reason you are unhappy is because you are unfulfilled. Unfulfilled in your career, in your marriage, with yourself and more. I know because I was unfulfilled. I had the career that I thought I was supposed to have, I had the marriage I thought I was supposed to have, I was creating the life I thought I was supposed to live until one day that life came crashing down and it left me with the question of “is this really it?”

Nothing will open your eyes more to being on the wrong path than a hospital stay and unrealistic answers. When you are left contemplating what the meaning to your life is with no way to figure it out you begin to realize the true meaning of life. You begin to realize that everything you thought you were “supposed” to do was not right for you. You begin to forge your own path, you cut ties, you make tough decisions and you cut your own path to the future you feel in your gut is true.

Hitting the bottom is not a requirement to start a new path but it is a place that many of us have found as the beginning to living the life we were meant to live. You can read my story of how I hit the wall or bottom or whatever you want to call it and then how I built back in my book but today I want to share some common themes we see in our lives and how we can get off that path leading you astray.

First and foremost you need to understand yourself. This is hard as you are an ever evolving person but if you truly take the time to understand why you move the way you do, what motivates you, what lies you are telling yourself and what and where you are happiest you will start to unlock the ways in which you can move into the right path. It will take years, in all honesty. I don't like to sugar coat things, it will take a long time and will constantly change, but when you get there you will begin to catch yourself every time you slip off track and you will create more good days than bad. You will create more wins than losses and start to build that winning life. Take the time to read books, listen to aspirational leaders, be with yourself and your thoughts and start to question everything. When I started to question everything in my life I realized where my shortcomings were, where I was strong and how to rebuild a life that is the way I want to live.

Second you have to untangle every belief you have about the outside world. Please understand that every belief you have is because someone put that in your head. From the time we are born until we begin adulthood we are in a bubble of our family beliefs and values. When we begin adulthood our experiences begin to change which causes us to begin to question everything around us. The key that I have found though is not to just question the surface level things but to really dig deep inside your soul and the soul of your outside world and question that. Why do you do things a certain way? Why does society make you believe that college is the only answer? Why does the media only put certain things on TV? When you dive deep and start to question everything you may find some scary things but it will open your eyes to the path you need to be on to create the life you want.

Finally you have to dream. Take out all the beliefs put on you and couple that with understanding who you truly are and then dream. Create dreams so big it would scare the average person. No one has to understand your dream but you and certainly no one has to approve of your dream but you. Take the time to really look at what your dream life would look like, you only get one life so why not live out your dreams. Dream as big as you possibly can and then start taking actions on that dream. It will be scary, you will get some sideways looks for sure but this is your dream and your life who cares what others think. Dream like no one is watching and execute like you have something to prove. Live your life, you only get one!

I can assure you that I know more about myself than I ever cared to, I can call myself out on lies and push myself hard when I need to. At the end of the day it is all to live the dream life I want to live. When I finally got off the wrong path and started to forge a new one I realized that my life, my dreams are worth it.

Are your dreams worth it?

Will you step off the wrong path and choose the right one?