Re-calibrate Your Life With These 3 Questions

The Statue of Liberty Crown and Torch

Have you ever woken up one day and felt that your life wasn’t very much more than a daily grind and wondered how you got there? I recently read George Kinder’s  Lighting the Torch: The Kinder Method(TM) of Life Planning and while the book is written for professional financial planners, Kinder offers a powerful and simple approach to uncovering the life values at any person’s core.  He designed three emotion driven questions and by answering his three questions, you can re-calibrate your life vision and focus on what really matters to you.

In his book, Kinder suggests addressing one question at a time and not reading ahead to the others until you’ve answered those before it. Some people may be able to answer these questions in a matter of minutes, others may take days.

Question 1: 

Imagine you are financially secure, that you have enough money to take care of your needs, now and in the future. How would you live your life? What would you do with the money? Would you change anything? Let yourself go. Don’t hold back on your dreams. Describe a life that is complete and richly yours.

Visualization is important with these questions. Imagine your ideal day, week, year.

Question 2:

This time you visit your doctor, who tells you that you have only 5-10 years to live. The good part is that you won’t ever feel sick. The bad news is that you will have no notice of the moment of your death. What will you do in the time you have remaining to live? Will you change your life and how will you do it?

With this question you’re really starting to get at the core of what matters to you (and probably realizing how much time you waste on activities that don’t matter to you at all).

Question 3:

Finally, imagine that your doctor shocks you with the news that you only have one day left to live. Notice what feelings arise as you confront your very real mortality. Ask yourself: What dreams will be left unfulfilled? What do I wish I had finished or had been? What do I wish I had done? What did I miss?

We’re only here for a flicker before our light burns out. Live a life you’re proud of. Once you’ve answered these questions, challenge yourself to make immediate changes that move you towards living in alignment with your values. If you initially think a particular goal could take you ten years to realize, challenge yourself to achieve it in the next 12 to 24 months. If something will dramatically improve your life and happiness, it doesn’t make any sense to put it off.

Lighting The Torch is available at Amazon.com