I could have given this particular blogging article the title, “Are You Happy?” but you would have probably cringed, said to yourself, “Of course I am” and clicked away to a more interesting question.

Now don’t panic, I’m not going all religious here either! (That’s definitely not my style!)

Let’s expand on the question at hand a little…

Here are three sub-questions for you to consider…

1. “Are you the person you want to be?”
2. “Are you doing the things you really want to do?”
3. “Do you have the result you wanted?”

Let’s strip away some of the dirt that may be preventing the diamond you know that you are, from sparkling to the full extent that you could be!

1. What if you had unlimited time?
2. What if you had ‘enough’ money? (Let’s say that money was no object – indulge me here for a moment!)

Are those easy questions for you to answer? Do the answers immediately leap out of your mouth or are you stuck?

If you did just go blank, then I would really recommend that you create a few minutes of thinking time today in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, grab a pen and paper, throw caution to the wind and write down whatever comes out of your head.

When you were just a child, if someone asked what you would like to ‘be’ when you grow up, you could say whatever you wanted and noone would have laughed. They would have said, “Of course, you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up”.

I have now come to terms with the fact that my childhood fantasy career as a professional football player is highly unlikely to come to fruition, although my team did have a spell a few years back when I considered making a phone call to a certain Premier League Manager!

Even had I been of a suitable age and fitness level, however, had I said in my 30’s that I was quitting my job and flying to England to pursue my childhood dream, people would have said I was nuts.

Had I said anything out of the norm, like “I’m quitting my job to go travelling around Australia”, people would have said I was nuts.

In fact, they did – I was nuts (ish) and I did it anyway, except that half way around, I changed plans and flew to London from Darwin to chase after a girl with whom I had fallen in love.

So what’s even more amazing about that is that I had no money. I created the time of course by quitting the job. The funny thing is that when you ‘go with the flow’ and trust in your own ability to handle whatever comes along, you’ll figure out the small details as you go.

The trouble is of course that it’s a bit addictive. Once you’ve broken the shackles and escaped the rat race, you know that, if you can do it once, you can do it again.

After my second marriage break-up, which was a really low point in my life, and having had no holidays for two years while I slogged away in a 24/7 business, now 44, I followed my staff’s advice to take a break.

I had started dating a lovely 29 year old Swedish girl, named Vicky who was backpacking around the world with her friend. So I volunteered to drive them to Monkey Mia, about 800 kms north of my home in Perth, Australia.

Having finally escaped, I was able to process some of the traumas I had gone through. Nature has fantastic healing properties, so climbing into the Kalbarri gorges, hand feeding a dolphin at Monkey Mia and looking at Dugongs from a catamaran had a big impact on me.

My staff were doing great without me. I decided to continue and continue I did.

I found myself snorkelling with manta rays and a whale shark, riding a camel on a beach at sunset, taking a helicopter ride over the Bungle Bungles, swimming under waterfalls and in thermal springs in the Outback, watching crocodiles jump out of the water. It was all incredible.

I managed to visit an old friend in Darwin, where he recorded me in his studio, playing and singing a song I had written. I drove down the centre and across Australia as we continued on to Townsville and up to Cairns.

I wasn’t being a total slacker though. I was learning a lot about how other people in my Industry did things, networking, interviewing business owners and getting ideas I could adapt for my own enterprise. I could talk with authority to my customers because I had done the things they wanted to do.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you that is that it was one of the best things I could ever have done for my own soul, which in turn benefited my business and many other people in a sort of butterfly effect kind of way.

Put simply, there will rarely be a ‘perfect’ time to do the stuff you have always wanted to do, but if you keep putting it off until ‘someday’, that could suddenly turn into what we call, ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda’, ie the stuff you wished you had done.

My one week to a destination 800kms away became a nine week, 12,000km adventure that I would not trade for the world – the memories are priceless. Vicky and I always knew she would return to Sweden but we will remain friends for life.

Was I irresponsible? Was I unrealistic? Some might say so. As it happened, my staff achieved a record trading month; I picked up loads of ideas and knowledge; and I returned, refreshed, re-energised and buzzing with excitement.

An interesting book I read again recently was ‘Personal Action Planning – How to get where you are going in a hurry’ by R. Henry Migliore.

“We owe it to ourselves to bring out the best of who we are, to use our talents for something beautiful and worthy. That requires a staying power that comes only with vision and determination.”

R. Henry Migliore

So, I challenge you to answer those questions I have posed for you today. Write them down. Think about how you would feel and what it would mean to you if you achieved those things (or even just one of them).

Then ask yourself, when you are lying on your death bed one day (hopefully a long way into the future) which things will I regret – the things I did, or the things I will wish I had done?

My Grandfather was always going to take me fishing when I was a kid. Alas, the closest he came to it was to leave me his fishing rod. It wasn’t quite the same without him there to show me what to do.

I’m not saying you have to quit your job, unless it’s making you unhappy. Here are some ideas for you – places to visit; new skills or hobbies to learn; people to meet; learning another language; starting a home business; buying a car, yacht, house etc.

If you don’t have some kind of course to sail, you’re going to drift awhile.

Until next time, live life in pursuit of your passion.