The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. —You wouldn’t think about starting out on a trip without having some idea where you’re going and how to get there. There are specific directions you have to follow.
These days, with detailed maps and GPS helping us navigate, that’s made all too easy. Of course, if you really don’t care where you’re going maybe it doesn’t really matter where you end up. And in that case, you can just get into your car, point it in any direction, and hope for the best. Who knows—you might just luck out.
Journey of life is a survival sandbox EARLY ACCESS game where the player finds himself on a group of islands where each island has a different biome with different flora and fauna. In order to build a village, the player needs to create a variety of stations that will process materials found on the islands into components used in crafting tools. The Life Map of a client. This was created live during a face-to-face Life Mapping Session. The original size is 4 feet by 8 feet. Photograph was taken and file was.
I think you’re getting my point. Your life is a journey with lots of stops along the way and if you could have some idea what to expect, at least some of the time, you might feel a lot better about the whole thing. The image of the journey is so much a part of our language that I don’t think we even stop to think anymore about what we’re actually saying.
There are crossroads, back roads, peak experiences, mountains to climb, valleys of despair, deserts and oases, wildernesses and wastelands, rivers to cross, forks in the road, detours, dead ends, and the open road. They’re all descriptive of places we’ve been. Wouldn’t it be nice to know beforehand what lies ahead in order to avoid an unpleasant, or difficult, or seemingly insurmountable obstacle on our path? For example, The Odyssey is not just about the travels and adventures of the Greek hero, Odysseus.
It is a story about life unfolding, about transitions. It’s a great example of one huge rite of passage, or if you choose, several consecutive passage rites that encompass all of the adventures and tasks of the journey for the hero. But in actuality, the events are as dependent, if not more so, on the choices made by the people left behind, namely the women and the common folk, as on the actions of the heroes. Interestingly, the original poem was composed in the oral tradition and was originally more sung by a poet/singer than read. I’ll assume that many of you have done a fair amount of reading in order to understand yourself better. Or maybe have spent some time writing or journaling in order to express feelings and make sense of what has happened to you.
Now I want you to try something different. I want you to envision things, not in words but in images. Create a road map that shows the course of your life thus far. On a blank piece of paper create a map of your life complete with physical landmarks to depict places you’ve been. Include mountains, valleys, rivers, deserts, back roads, and detours. Make sure the paper is large enough to allow you to spread out. Notice directions and change of directions.
How many of the directional changes were initiated by you and how many directional changes and course corrections were imposed upon you? Notice how often you returned to the same old places. Did you return due to habit or necessity? Were difficult passages overcome? Did or indecisiveness keep you from traveling too far from home base? Your personal road map depicts your journey so far.
It shows you where you’ve been and where you’ve come from to arrive at this moment. YOU ARE HERE.The road map for the next leg of your journey starts HERE. Understanding the nature of change in the broadest sense (that there is a rhythm, a predictability about the way change unfolds) rather than from the narrower perspective of our own private experience, helps create a feeling of familiarity and a sense of some control. No more shock or surprise or chaos when change comes; you now have some idea about what to expect and perhaps, a better idea about what to do moving forward.
But individuals can also benefit from journey mapping techniques. By applying them to their personal and professional development. When you map yourself, instead of your customer, you can model the barriers and opportunities in life. Understanding Journey MapsA journey map formalizes the interactions with a company, revealing all the positive and negative experiences at each stage.When something isn’t working or could be working more effectively, this map then helps the company more easily redesign experiences for the customer or create altogether new ones. Sometimes the journey map focuses on one specific aspect of the interactions that a consumer has with the business, or it may provide an overview of all their past experiences with a corporation.
This map helps a business implement plans for the customer, and it also helps with communication of past, current, and future needs. It does this by showing the customer’s motivations and feelings in relation to the actions they choose to take.In the end, it reveals the higher motivations of the customer. A business owner can look at it to see what the customer wants to achieve as well as what the buyer expects from the company.Although journey maps can be presented in several ways, they most often take the form of an infographic. Regardless of format, they are versatile tools to help make sense of customer problems and stake out opportunities for improvement. Personalize Business LessonsYou can use journey maps to enhance your own life experience in much the same way you use them to enhance your customers’ lives.You can take control of your own career plans, personal choices and overall goals and aspirations by applying these same journey-mapping techniques to your own career.As a business professional, this map can put you front and center as the hero and agent of your own life.
For the purpose of this exercise, think of your own life as a company.You will be a more effective boss and CEO of your own life when you truly make choices that are well informed and examined, with the same dedication and methodical processes that make up customer journey mapping. How to Journey Map Your Own LifeThe process of journey mapping your own life and career need not be complicated. In fact, here are a few easy steps that can empower you to use this valuable tool to get ahead in your own life. It can provide clarity regarding your past, as well as help accelerate your future in terms of career and life. Step 1After you decide that you want to apply journey-mapping techniques, the next step is to identify the gaps in your professional life.
When this mapping is done for the customer, a company looks at gaps between certain departments of a business where a customer might get confused, or other areas of potential failures. In your own life, look at the gaps in your own satisfaction. Ask yourself the following questions:. What makes me feel fulfilled or unfulfilled?. What ongoing needs are unmet in my life?.
What are the chronic problems have I not yet fixed?. What are the things that I dislike that I can change?Step 2Next, look at your own actions and discern how they are contributing to the gaps and problems in your career. This should reveal the things that you may be doing wrong at work. Look hard at your professional choices. Examine the ways that you are moving forward, in addition to the ways that you are stuck. Maybe you are even moving away from gaining what you really want. Taking responsibility for your own actions is important.
Step 3Get clear on your own motivations. Think about what you’ve already learned about yourself through examining your own gaps and actions. It should be clear what is motivating you to keep “leveling up” in your own life and what causes you to backslide.
Sometimes journey mapping can reveal that your true motivations don’t match up with the decisions you are making. Instead of getting frustrated by these realizations, try to see the benefit of the awakenings. You can then take control of changing those actions. Step 4Identify your barriers.
Get clear on what barriers in your life are preventing you from reaching the next stages of success. Take your time to identify and truly examine all your barriers. Look at what it will cost you in all parts of your life, to get rid of those barriers. Your career may depend on this, so be thorough in your identification. Step 5Remove the barriers and go for what you want. This is perhaps going to demand the most time and effort, but it is the most crucial step. First, set long-term goals for getting rid of those barriers.
Break up long-term goals into actionable, short-term goals. Track your progress and implement changes until all the identified barriers are removed.Finally, keep in mind that life is not static. The benefits of regularly journey mapping your own life can be significant. Work through these steps to carefully achieve the career goals you set for yourself in an efficient manner.