Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

So you’re metaphorically stuck on an island, with a group of people who think, dress, and act in the same way. As your mind and body begin to reject the notion of spending your whole life on this island, you fall into a whirlwind of uncertainty and depression. You emerge on the other side, confused.

You want nothing more but to experience life, become an interesting person, establish which unique values you want to define you, and move forward in life – sure of yourself. There’s just one little caveat. In your state of confusion you’re just not sure how to plan your great escape.

Luckily for you, the usual flow of your day is interrupted when you meet a man that you’ve never seen on the island before. He tells you stories of the world beyond the island, which fuels the fire of your curiosity like never before. This is, as he says, your ticket off of confusion island:

1. Read everything. You’re tired of the same old thing, that’s why we’re even having this conversation. That means that up to this point, for the most part, you have been reading the same things, or even worse, not reading anything at all. That’s one surefire way to get stuck on confusion island with no chance of escape.

How can you tell you’re interested in something if you don’t know a thing about it, or know that it exists at all? Run, don’t walk, to the nearest library and take a tour of all the isles. Pick a few random books on topics you haven’t even heard of, and take a moment to think about how much you could discover if you read at least one book a week.

2. Learn from everyone. One of the biggest mistakes you could make is thinking that someone is “not enough” for you to learn from them. Not aged, smart, benevolent, or similar enough to you. Realizing that everyone has something to teach us, based on their unique experiences and perception of the world, allows us to tap into the consciousness of everyone on the planet.

Being open minded to new people doesn’t mean you have to believe or agree with everything that is said. It does however mean that you can keep asking yourself what you can learn from the interaction as a whole. This is how you learn new things, and find out about life outside of the island.

3. Always try new things. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got, and you’ll always feel what you always felt.” Whatever part of the island you find yourself on today, make a conscious decision to try something new. After all, variety is the spice of life, and the only way for us to learn something new is through a novel experience.

You can sprinkle variety all throughout your day. Take a different route than you’re accustomed to, read a new book and talk to a new person as we already mentioned, try a new dish at a new restaurant, or just do that one thing you always wanted to do, but never did.

4. Journal your thoughts. Let’s face it, we don’t always remember, and when we do, we don’t always remember with perfect clarity. The hard earned lessons that we’ve learned deserve to be written down, so that we can look back on our lives and figure out the skills we possess to take us of the island. These journals will be the greatest treasures that we leave behind for future generations.

Journals are also an excellent way to sort out and make sense of your thought process. Instead of getting stuck in confusion, and not knowing the chain of thoughts that led you to your current thinking, you can think with your keyboard and gain perfect clarity about yourself.

5. Define your values. The little secret about your values is this – you already know what you value, whether you’ve thought about it or not. It’s just a matter of sitting down with your journal, asking yourself “what’s really important to me” and letting the pen do the talking. Sure, you can choose new and exciting values, just make sure you want them because you want them, and not because they sound pretty.

As you move forward with a well defined set of values, you will be looking at life through a lens that is very unique to you. The values you choose and the way that you prioritize them, will be unique to you as your fingerprint, and assist you in making great choices with unshakable confidence and keen clarity.

6. Follow your passions. Want to make confusion island a permanent residence? That’s easy, simply put out that fire inside of you, and let your passions blow away in the wind. If your passions are not something you’re willing to give up, and they’re aligned with your values, then it’s time to stop at nothing in order to achieve them.

The funny thing about passions is that talking about them is not enough to make them happen. Sometimes it takes overwhelming force and giving it all you got, while other times a small measurable effort every day will get you there. In other words, when you want something real bad, work your face off to get it.

7. Be true to yourself. After you’ve read the books, spoken with the people, and filled yourself up with new experiences your only half way off confusion island.  Many people will tell you that you can take a person out of confusion island, but you can’t take the island out of the person.

It’s important to know where we come from, the lessons we learned growing up, and accept ourselves regardless of how many mistakes we might have made along the way. You can choose to be a brand new better you whenever you want, but not at the expensive of who you used to be.

All the man really did was give you a raft. It looks like you have some treading to do.

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