One question I like asking clients goes like this: imagine yourself taking a leisurely stroll along the beach. Out of the corner of your eye, you see something glisten in the sunlight. You turn to look, and there in the sand is a lamp.
Ok, long story short, it’s a magic lamp, yada yada blahblahblah . . . out comes the magic genie (as if there’s any other kind), and he grants you 3 wishes.
Well—what are your 3 wishes? By the way, for our purposes here, I’m wanting you to think about your life—in other words, don’t wish for world peace (well, actually yes, go ahead and wish for world peace. We just won’t count that as one of the wishes).
I remember thinking about that question as a little boy. The typical 8-year-old “Sean Classic” answer was: a million dollars, a never-ending supply of candy and gum, and a permanent summer vacation. That pretty much covered all the bases for an 8-year-old boy (at least back-in-the-day).
Until one day, it was like a window opened in my young brain to a whole new world of opportunity—a true paradigm shift occurred, and the whole genie proposition became much more interesting—I really needed only one wish: that I would never run out of wishes!
As a kid, I had hoped to run into that genie and lay my brilliant strategy on him—“I want infinite wishes”. I pictured the genie reluctantly handing over the infinite wishes, and slinking back into his magic lamp with a frown. Game-set-match goes to youngster Sean.
I digress. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would you wish for? And no, you can’t go “Sean Classic” (the genie now mentions a footnote when he makes his proposition—“AND before you answer, infinite wishes are no longer honored”).
I like this question because it forces us to sift and clarify, which is crucial as we pursue living our best life.
It’s so easy to lose clarity about our most important goals in this over-caffeinated, under-focused, fast-paced life when everything is screaming at us to pay attention--our iPad, iPod, Facebook, Twitter, emailll, big screen TV, Netflix, smartphone, Netflix on our smartphone, surfing the web, hyperlink-hopping, Linked In . . .
Stop.
Take a breath—a deep breath.
How in the world can we hold onto what’s most important to us in the midst of all the clutter?
Clutter or Clarity? That’s the choice.
You only have a finite amount of time, energy, and resources. How will you spend them?
Our lives don’t have to be SO focused that we never stray from these core pursuits. We need balance. A healthy amount of our time, energy, and resources need to go to things that aren’t so serious. Come on. Work hard, play hard. I’ll have much more to say about this in future articles.
Your answer to the 3-Wishes question will tell you what’s important to you right now. You can also ask yourself this question for different parts of your life: 3 wishes for personal life, 3 wishes for professional life/career, 3 wishes for relationships, finances, fitness, etc.
Once you’ve identified your 3 wishes, turn them into GOALS.
We can get stuck simply because we don’t ask ourselves these questions that stretch and enlarge us and lead us to bust out of the self-imposed boxes of existence that we’ve confined ourselves to.
So do some pondering, go deep within your soul, and clarify your 3 wishes. You’ll be reminded, and energized, to pursue what you need to be pursuing.