Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton in their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths (The Free Press, 2001), interviewed many religious leaders. One of them, the prioress of a Benedictine convent, described her philosophy of life this way: "I try to live my life in such a way that when I die and my Maker asks, 'Did you live the life I gave you?' I can honestly answer yes."
No matter what your religious beliefs, the question, "Did you live your life?" can be quite intimidating. It implies you have a particular life that you are supposed to be living and that any other life is false, inauthentic. Since many of us wander through life plagued by the nagging suspicion that we are making up our life as we go along, we are fearful of even considering this question. And this fear confines us. Unsure of who we really are, we define ourselves by the knowledge we have acquired or the achievements we have racked up along the way. By defining ourselves in this way we become reluctant to change careers or learn new ways of doing things because then, in the new career, we would be forced to jettison our precious haul of expertise and achievement. We would have to jettison our identity.
To learn how you could best live your life, ask yourself some tough questions and then go to: www.LifeSignature.com