Is Your Life on Track, or Have You Been Derailed?

Improving your life means having some idea of which direction you want to go. Think about it: Do you feel that you are on track and moving closer toward your dreams? Are you clear about how to get there from here?

If you are like most people, the answer to these questions is probably no. Instead, you may feel that—somewhere along the line—you have gotten derailed from the life you want to lead. Feeling derailed may cause you to simply push harder to get what you want while still remaining on a wrong track—instead of looking for a better one. Pushing harder along the wrong track is simply not worth the effort and can lead you further away from your true destination. In short, recognizing the best way to improve your life can be challenging.

The one result you are guaranteed to get from well-intended but misdirected efforts is stress—as if you needed more problems! But what if stress is not all bad? What if stress is simply nature’s way to help you find the right track to be on? Instead of being a problem, stress can be a signal to help you become more deeply aware of underlying conflicts in your life. In short, stress shines a spotlight on differences between where you want to be versus where you are most likely heading right now.

Timeless Tools for Getting Back on Track

Would it not be nice to have a system that you can use to move toward the life you really want—a way of finding the right track and staying on it? Throughout history, great people have pondered the question of how to create such a system. Over time, a number of elements have emerged as being critical for achieving personal success. We call these the Five Elements of Success.

These five elements are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that symbolize different aspects of your life. Each piece must be understood individually and as part of the complete image of your life’s puzzle. When combined together, these pieces create a “picture” for achieving success, where each element takes direction from and supports the other elements. Failing to give each element its share of attention prevents the system from working ideally.

These five elements must also be aligned together to provide you with a clear picture. Unlike a store-bought jigsaw puzzle, your personal puzzle does not come with the final picture printed on the box top. One of life’s rewards is that you get to design it along the way, sort of like creating a masterpiece—bit by bit. Over time, you can add the important lessons learned from experience and insights drawn from personal reflection. This personal work of art brings together essential aspects of what makes you a unique person.

Persistent feelings of stress are a symptom of something being out of balance or misaligned among your five elements. When feeling stressed, life often seems as if it is not moving in an ideal direction. We may lose confidence in our ability to act to improve our situation. The philosopher Charles Peirce called this loss of confidence the “irritant of doubt” that spurs people to grow and adapt successfully to life’s challenges. One way to grow and adapt is by allowing the Five Elements of Success to work for you.

The Five Elements of Success

In simple terms, they are
1. being—discovering and experiencing—your core self
2. envisioning a world where you can be your best possible self
3. committing to a mission that guides your actions toward your vision
4. connecting with others who support your mission
5. crafting the specific means to actualize all of the above.

The “secret” of success—we think—is found in keeping these elements balanced and aligned. The first step in doing so is becoming more familiar with the elements as they apply to you. Here is an exercise you can try whenever you feel a need to get your life back on track. Each step will help you to become more keenly aware of how the five elements can work in your life.

Step 1 (Being): How am I?

Sit quietly. Close your eyes. Make the world go away—just for a moment. Take a deep breath in, then a long breath out. Repeat. Then start a simple breath count.

Ask yourself, How am I? Acknowledge but do not dwell on any internal conflicts or ways you feel out of balance. Simply thank these “irritants of doubt” for serving as a friendly wake-up call.

Continue this process until you feel at ease. By focusing on your core self, you can resume being the powerful engine of your life, rather than a helpless victim passenger.

Step 2 (Envisioning): What is on my mind?

Now begin to focus on what is on your mind. Let those stress-induced thoughts pop up. Most of the time, we push right past these bothersome thoughts. Instead, deliberately put on the mental brakes, slow down this runaway train, and make a “what stresses me out” list.

Now think about possible changes in your world that would reduce these stresses. When you clearly envision your destination, your mind will experience it as if you have already arrived!

Step 3 (Committing): Move into action.

Now you can prioritize the stresses that popped into your mind. Ask yourself questions such as, What thoughts kept recurring? What gives me the most pain?

In this way you can turn agitation into action that is aligned with the life you choose to lead. Commit now to taking just one action within a specific time frame. Do not wait until you find some “perfect” task.

Step 4 (Connecting): Smile and the world smiles with you.

Now you can relax. You are committed to taking action and are on your way to success. Allow a big, warm smile to spread across your face. Feel the pleasant sensation of that smile flow through you like a healing potion.

Not only does it feel good, but that smile will help you connect to people who will want to help you make your life a masterpiece.

Step 5 (Crafting): Embody a new habit.

Now resolve to change one personal habit in your life to help you accomplish the action you committed to take. If you want to transform any part of your life, you will need to deliberately craft a new “infrastructure”—that is, embody new habits that support you in making this change.

Think of it as laying down tracks, one at a time, in front of a train that is moving to your desired destination—one where it will feel incredibly good to arrive.

This exercise provides an introduction to the Five Elements of Success that are the foundation of a broader system that can help you improve your life in many practical ways: personal planning, career transition, relationship improvement, and professional or leader development. Please use them to help you lay tracks to the life you truly deserve!

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life”, visit http://www.selfgrowth.com/greatways3.html