How would you live your life or what would you do differently?

Now, before you think I’ve gone all New Age on you, I consider myself a practical guy and realize you can’t just “wish” your problems away.  Further, I don’t subscribe to the notion that if you blindly follow your passions you’ll find an emotionally and financially rich and rewarding life along the way, although it can certainly happen.

At the end of the day (or maybe I should say the end of the month), you still have to pay your bills and put food on the table.

Having said all that, I still think this is a valuable exercise.  Seriously, think about it … What if you couldn’t fail?

I know I’m guilty of making decisions and living my life, in part, based on preconceived notions of what’s acceptable and what’s expected of me.  I also know that some things are automatically categorized as too risky or not worth taking the chance.  These influences, whether conscious or sub-conscious, come from family, friends, co-workers and society at large.

But if you could mentally escape all that for a moment and forget about what’s expected of you or even what you expect of yourself, what would your life look like?

• Would you take that trip to Asia you’ve always dreamed about?
• Would you quit your job to pursue a long-held passion?
• Would you take a kick ass vacation and renew your vows with your spouse on a beach somewhere?
• Would you take drawing or dancing classes just because you’ve always thought it would be fun?
• Would you volunteer at a local shelter and do your small part to make the world a better place?

I mean, if you think about it, we all carry around a lot of baggage, and most of it has been loaded onto our backs, even if unintentionally, by our closest family and friends.

I challenge you, just for a moment, to put the “baggage” down and dream about what you’d do different if you weren’t so concerned about the consequences or what other might think?

I think most of us, and I include myself, define personal failure based on the thoughts and feelings of others.  But that’s not for them to decide, and you shouldn’t empower other people to have such influence over your life.

While this concept certainly has application in my work as a financial planner, I think it’s also a much larger issue with broad ramifications.

So, I ask you again, what would you do if you couldn’t fail?

I hope you’ll leave some thoughts, feedback and comments below.