Waiting for a Sign? Don’t.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
- Steve Jobs
I wasted years waiting for a sign on what my bigger purpose in life was when I should have been taking action to get clarity.
What I was waiting for clarity on was the missing piece within me I couldn’t pinpoint. What I was supposed to start, stop or do differently so I’d lose the feeling of being stuck or things being “not quite right.”
What I wish I’d known 10 years ago that I now know is this:
First, you don’t get clarity by sitting back and waiting for it to come to you.
Second, clarity doesn’t usually come along like a bolt of lightning; it’s more like a trail of breadcrumbs.
Learn from my naïveté. Don’t wait one more day to start creating a version of yourself and your life that you love.
Lesson 1: You don’t get clarity by sitting back and waiting for it to come to you.
I wish more than anyone there was an easy button that could bring me the exact answer I needed with a side of total confidence and guarantees. [sigh] But the hard truth is that you can’t be a passive participant in any kind of journey to self-discovery.
Even if you’re a believer in manifestation (which I am), you have to make your request to the Universe. (Or “place your order” as my coach tells me).
Whatever clarity it is you’re looking for — “Should I make that career change? Should I end this relationship? What’s my real purpose and passion in life? “— you have to be an active participant and willing to take some action.
Taking action is the single most effective way to accelerate your path to clarity.
“But what action am I supposed to take?” you may be wondering. There isn’t a wrong answer, except to keep doing nothing. What is the next one little step you can take to figure this out? Not step 12. Not step 1,200. Step 1. Figure out what’s doable and that’ll give you just enough insight to figure out step 2, then go do it.
When I finally took an active role in my own journey about 6 months ago, step 1 was to start journaling again. I didn’t know if things were misaligned when it came to career or some other aspect of my life, and I hadn’t picked up a journal in more than a year. So for me, the best next step was to simply start writing down all the thoughts that were swirling around in my head.
After doing this for only a couple of weeks, my step 2 presented itself to me. And then the next one, and the next one.
So yes, the Universe, God, or whatever form of higher power you believe in will pull you in the right direction. But you have to be willing to get up and do something, consistently, that says “I’m ready to receive this” over and over until you get that “aha” moment.
Lesson 2: Clarity isn’t a single lightning strike; it’s more like a trail of breadcrumbs.
Wouldn’t it be phenomenal if we went to sleep and woke after a vivid, life-changing dream with a deep knowing of the exact path we’re meant to take? It can happen. But it’s rare. Really rare.
If you’re not one of the lucky few who will have this kind of single-moment experience, you’ll be waiting around for something that may never come.
More often than not, clarity comes only after looking back at all the little morsels of insight and actions we take in our quest for answers.
Steve Jobs said it beautifully:
You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
Start by taking the first step today. Then the next. Then the next. At some point, you’ll reflect on all you’ve learned, tested, failed at, succeeded in, loved and hated and the picture will start coming into focus.
You’ll see patterns. You’ll surprise yourself perhaps. Or if you’re like me, you’ll realize the thing you needed to acknowledge and give energy to was staring you right in the face.
My picture hasn’t completely come into focus yet. (More on that here.) But it’s becoming more clear every day. It’s led me to writing this.
Are you someone who’s been waiting for a sign? Or come out the other side of this process with the clarity you were searching for?
Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
