Outstanding Club

Today’s Misdirectional Compass Point:

Seeking the World for Answers to Your Problems

“The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept” – George Carlin

I’ve read several personal development books and self-help guides over the last five years. Some of them I could not put down until I devoured every word, others I would slowly work my way through and digest. There were a few, however, that I could barely get through one chapter of without losing all interest in continuing. I wanted to minimize the number of times this happened to me, so I began seeking out a pattern to the books I found difficult to go far in.

As it turns out, the books I found the least accessible had one thing overwhelmingly in common. These intolerable works all took the approach of trying to tell me “the” answer. They tried to tell me what to do or how to think, instead of giving me helpful tools or asking me insightful questions to enable me to come up with my own answers. How could any other person possibly write some answer down in a book about how to live life, and have it apply to every potential reader? For that matter, who is any other person to think they can possibly know what is right for me, in my life, at any point of my life? They can’t. I am the only one who holds those answers.

Similarly, you are the only one who can truly uncover or decide what answers are the best for your life. So many of us are seeking externally for answers to many of life’s challenges, but really what we ought to be on the lookout for is someone that can ask us the right questions, or give us a way to look at things differently so we can have a better chance of finding the right filters for how we would choose to see the world. Finding the sorts of mentors in life that can help provide this sort of guidance can be challenging, but you might be surprised at the number of people in your life who not only have important perspectives to give you, but would love the opportunity to help.

This is, in fact, how counseling works as well. If you go to a professional to talk through a problem you’re having in your life, what they will do is get to know you and understand what you are really trying to achieve, then ask you questions and assign homework between sessions that will help you discover the answers to your life’s dilemmas. Again, I’m not saying that’s an easy thing to achieve, but if you’re looking for answers, there’s only one possible true source for your own life, and it lies within you.

More from OustandingClub

• The Virtue of Failure
• Writing Your Own Personal Mission Statement
• Thinking Through Your Personal Mission Statement

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