A LOOSE IDEA

Really don't know what you want to do? Panic not, young Padawan. Life's not a journey on the underground, it's a road trip. It's never just about the destination.

Have a loose idea of where you're going, but enjoy the journey each day. That's much more important in the long run.

Remember, your journey has already started. Here's Push speaker Moj Taylor's tips on continuing it in the best way.

IDEA

I: Investigate things.

​You've got 696,000 hours on average on this planet, so don't waste time. The future should be exciting. You're a private detective investigating a fun case; all the things you might want from life. There's a great Oscar Wilde quote: "be yourself, everyone else is taken".

Use the internet, read articles and watch YouTube clips (we recommend interviews and presentations like TED Talks) on why people do what they do with their lives, and pay close attention to anything they say about how it makes them feel. 

Listen closely to what they say challenges them, or what difficulties they've had to overcome in life. 

Asking the word "why?" is the best possible thing you can do, to anyone and everyone.

It reframes your brain's perspective on life, and by getting a really deep understanding of why other people dedicate their lives to certain careers, causes or activities (and how they live off them), you're much more able to make decisions for yourself on what you think is important.

You can then take active steps to achieve those things, and this is done through three golden tools: education, training and experience. 

D: Do things. 

Don't get down thinking everyone who is happy and successful magically fell into their dream career. They didn't.

They probably had no idea either, but were brave enough to get out of bed and try things out until their mind and body told them something felt good enough to wake up on cold rainy days and keep going back to learn more.

They probably hustled, they probably sweated it out in whatever they really didn't like.

Here's all the jobs I tried out before finding real satisfaction in life as a performer and teacher of comedy (these include things I did alongside my GCSE, A-level and degree studies):
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• Gap retail assistant
• Domino's Pizza kitchen staff and delivery driver
• Cleaner in a furniture factory
• University tour guide
• Film extra
• Market stall seller and delivery driver
• Naked butler
• Actor
• Media monitor data entry employee
• Secret shopper
• Zombie in a scare attraction. 

Yes, I got bored or frustrated in some of them, but I never for a single moment considered any of them non-useful activities in mapping out an fulfilling life journey for myself.

E: Experience things. 

To add value to companies you need to be useful to an employer, and part of that means them seeing you really want to be there.

Really being there means a learning or working environment you feel comfortable and confident in, an environment you have spent some significant time in previously, and somewhere you genuinely want to keep spending time in going forward.

Sometimes being allowed to be in an environment means not being paid, or not being paid much, and sometimes it isn't possible to be allowed into an environment straight away, but that doesn't mean you can't imagine being there by asking the people that are allowed to be in that environment everyday exactly what it is like (almost like building a realistic film set for a movie).

Sometimes experience really is paid, and employers will want to throw you in straight away to see how you deal with it. Whatever the process, investigate it, do it, and note down if you really feel good there or not.

A: Analyse things.

So you did a day of volunteering, or a new evening class, or a new lunchtime school club, or a taster event for a new college course, or the first day of a part time job.

How did it make your body and mind feel?

Did you feel respected and able to express your ideas? Did you have a natural curiosity about the topic and realised that time flew? Did you like the practical things you were asked to do? Did you like the environment and being around the people who were involved in teaching or instructing you?

Get a notepad, release a stream of consciousness, and write down how you felt.

Now write down the feelings things you want from life. Are you starting to see some parallels?

Yes? Then go you, and keep going.

No? Give it another few days or weeks, and then if things still aren't making you feel good, be brave enough to drop it and explore something new.

Do remember however, every single moment spent doing things is a moment when you're developing your transferable skills (communication, team work, problem-solving, initiative, etc).