“The choices (decisions) required of us come from having a strong passion for life. A passion for life is more than a nebulous feeling of optimism and love of living. It is the commitment to life that motivates us to do our best and strive to make a positive difference in other peoples’ lives. It is the determination to fight for what we believe in and to fight against suffering, injustice, and the waste of natural resources. It is the decision to transcend barriers that inhibit our best efforts. It reflects a commitment to be and to do more than we believed was possible.”

Muriel and John James, Co-Authors, Passion for Life

When I was in graduate school, I took a class in “organizational behavior.” The class focused on the psychological and emotional demands of building teams and addressing the needs of each team member in a business organization as well as in a organization in general. Our professor, Dr. John N. Younker, however would also use the class in a strategically brilliant manner to challenge our way of thinking about our lives. A lot of the concepts he presented were over the heads of many of his students because his way of thinking was very forward, progressive and unconventional. Dr. Younker was a consultant to CEOs and had a unique perspective on everything. One of his philosophies was it is more damaging to stay in a job you hate than to walk away from it even though you may not have a backup plan. He always said it can “take years off of your life.” I found an exercise he gave us in that class and I still believe this exercise is relevant for everyone as they seek to find their ideal position in life. Dr. Younker created a questionnaire entitled…

CREATING AN IDEAL FUTURE STATE FOR OURSELVES:
A QUESTIONNAIRE TO GUIDE THE DIRECTION SETTING PROCESS

He challenged us, through this questionnaire, to evaluate where we were in our lives and take the necessary steps to get to where we wanted to be. He has been, next to Dr. Rodney P. McClendon and Dr. Brian Williams, the most influential professor in my educational pursuits. You see, Dr. Younker was also a psychologist and many of the assignments he gave us were far deeper than we could even process in the alloted time we were given for class. How forward thinking was he? He gave each of us an opportunity to meet with him after our class was over to learn what he had observed about us. Dr. Younker, as I stated, was a well trained psychologist and he was willing to share with us what would normally cost hundreds of dollars an hour for free since we took his course. I took him up on the offer…

He told me he was not going to “hold any punches” in his assessment of me. I was curious and nervous with anticipation about what he might say. I never had a psychologist evaluate me before. As we sat and ate lunch, I realized then, more than ever, the importance of therapists and psychologists. In a nutshell he told me two things….I was living beneath my potential and maybe the ideal company for me just might be the one I have to create. He actually told me,” You can do better…you can live a better life than the one you are accepting.” He also told me, “you need to be in a high performance environment that constantly challenges you.” Not knowing me personally, he evaluated me psychologically and that meeting changed the direction of my life, even though it took me two more years before I began to pursue my own company. In a nutshell…he was right. He told me to also complete the exercise I mentioned above. I want to share this exercise with you and I believe it will be advantageous to you to answer these questions candidly and honestly in relation to your current position in life and where you would like to be…

I hope that this exercise will provide you with some direction as we all seek to discover the balance between purpose and opportunity, happiness and practicality, and life and risks…

Creating an Ideal Future State…