The 3 Most Important Questions to Ask Yourself

Over the years, I've come to stop believing in goal setting. Why? Because goal setting, or at least the way most of us are trained to do it, actually gets us to be obsessed about the how of attaining our goals, rather than the passion, the vision, and the beauty of the goal itself. In short, we get obsessed with the 'means', rather than the 'end'.
And this is why so many of us wake up at the age of 40 one day, dreading going to work because we were forced to pick a career before we could legally buy a beer.

If everyone asked themselves these questions at the age of 18, we believe the world would be a much happier place. But no matter how old you are, it's not too late.

This exercise will change the way you plan your life and see your goals. It'll change the way you see your career, mission, and life purpose unfolding. The intro to the exercise takes no more than 5 minutes, and the exercise itself takes 7 minutes. This could be one of the most important 12 minutes of your life.

Download the PDF on the link below, print it out, and click play to get started.

[riajacinto]

I did this exercise last year in 2015, and I recently reviewed my responses and I accomplished so many of the things I wrote down that I thought I would never be able to do! Here I am in 2016, writing down new goals and experiences for myself. Thank you Vishen!!

[merryalexander]

At 69 this was a great exercise! Not only enjoyed it but had some interesting things "show up." One of the motto's I live by is: "The Best Is Yet To Come." Your questions helped to confirm that! Thank you!

[jamalali]

i have the vision of standing between the tables serving food at my own place, hearing jokes jumping from one table to another one and the big fat laughters following. the place where people feel accepted, loved, respected and where they feel themselves beautiful. i am struggling with my own shyness sometimes, not being able to push hard enough to achieve a goal, kind of mostly waiting for the things to happen themselves. just recently i understood that the table i am sitting at - someone really made it. thank you for the motivation.

also i had a vision once that never leaves: i saw some kind of epic movement of people from one side of the valley to another one, some kind of big shift happening with humanity. i was just standing on the top of the hill with my daughter on my shoulders and watching it with euphoric calmness.

[MikeKollin]

This truly turned out to be something very meaningful… 
By the time I got to contributions I began to cry… 

[krishnakapoor]

Hi Vishen, I would like to share this that you are currently living my exact dream life...calm compose financially free and most importantly touching peoples life spiritually, emotionally, financially and socially. Thank you for your contribution the the world.

What would I like to experience in life
1) Underwater diving
2) Hug mom and dad tightly
3) Kiss someone special passionately
4) Make parents proud
5) Make my grandfather free of all the financial barriers
6) Travel the world
7) How grateful does it feel to be to inspire someone’s life.

How would I like to grow
1) Entrepreneurial skills
2) Language- French
3) Leader
4) Marketing professional
5) Reiki
6) Crystal energy
7) Neuro Linguistic Programmin
8) Hypnosis
9) Meditation
10) Connect with the higher self
11) basic fitness workout and healthy food.

Contribute to world
1) Financially
2) Donating food clothing shelter
3) Training the trainers
4) Life Coach
5) Spread love and compassion
6) Contribute to entrepreneurs

[shevyshevTV]

My first shot. I look forward to taking some time to really think on this.

Experiences:
-Create music that others feel with their entire body
-Act in film
-Travel the world
-Experience incredible sex
-Surround myself with people I can love completely
Growth:
-Become an expert in music production
-Master singing, guitar and piano
-Become fluent in speaking Spanish, French and Mandarin (Russian too)
-Become someone that inspires others to live positively
-Never falter from positive flow
-Become better with organizing my personal spaces and life
-Sleep healthy, eat healthy
-Explore more of the outdoors
Contribution
-Create music that changes lives
-Show younger people a healthy path and help them avoid traps of insecurity
-Allow my parents to live with true freedom for the rest of their lives
-Spread love and positivity
-Do away with the "masculine" bullshit that confined myself and so many others
-Open minds at all times

[johnrainsman]

I asked myself some important questions, and It made me realize that I partly treated a caterer unfairly. I’m a high-ranking chef at a university and I was told by a student employee that her coworker (let’s call him Terry) had been touching crew members too much. Not _that_ type of touch, just casual ones, like on arms or shoulders. He was always very outgoing and tactile at work. Still, I took him to my colleague’s office for a chat and told him he shouldn't touch anyone without consent. Just handshakes. I said we needed the workers to be comfortable in a good work environment, that he pretty much shouldn't talk about anything other than work and school. How he shouldn't tell his stories because they may be inappropriate to some degree to the other workers; funny to him only. I think he’s about 25, give or take. He seemed pretty quiet and uncomfortable during my speech. Answered a question or two with a nod and headshake. The only question he had for me was if anyone reported his touching; I said, "It doesn't matter." Maybe that was a bit rude.

That day after work, I saw him being pulled out of the lake--with his eyes closed. I was so horrified. I could only hope he was unconscious. Some woman, who was being held in place by two strong people, was excitedly yelling, "Is he dead?! Is he dead?!" Turns out _she_ pushed him in the lake. Now, I _really_ don't want to go into detail, so I'm just gonna say she injured him in specific ways so that he couldn't swim back to the surface. According to the news, she tried to drown him because she hated his personality and unfiltered jokes and thought people's lives would be better without him. She even told him that before she pushed him in the water, so that he knew he was getting what he "deserved." Thankfully he was given CPR and taken to the hospital for treatment; he's gonna be okay. And that's just it. What if he hadn't? What if my last moment with him was in the office. I realized I may have gone a little too far too. Yeah, I was right about how he should be more filtered at work, and that the touching needed to be restricted for his coworkers’ comfort (and for him to be successful), but I should _not_ have spoken to him the way I did. I should _not_ have said to his boss (who was in the room with us too), “is there anything you want to add?” That was insensitive. I should _not_ have restricted him to handshakes and work/school conversations only. All or nothing isn't fair. I should _not_ have taken him to the office for a formal lecture. He didn't deserve that. He probably felt like a criminal in an interrogation room. Terry never meant any discomfort or harm. He only meant to joke around and have fun with his coworkers, not "make" them his "objects". I should’ve shown more patience and understanding and only given him a very brief and gentle talk in the hall---just me. Besides, it's perfectly natural to causally touch or tap people *without* it being creepy; maybe Terry deserved a right like that, within reason and limits so he didn't go over them and discomfort anyone. He is not like Dan Schneider...but I guess I treated him like the guy. When he recovers, I'm gonna tell him I'm sorry for being a bit too tough on him. That I mishandled the situation and could've done better. I was a jerk.

[rdege]

Thank you. I'm about to retire from teaching. Going to live as an artist...write, illustrate, paint and record music. You've enabled me make my approach more positive. Thank you!

[SonaalShandilya]

Thank you Niiraj R Shah for sharing this...

Following is what I came up with..
Experience
1. Live in a serene & clean mansion
2. indulge in Spa therapies
3. Enjoy Rich Nature views
4. Bungee Jump
5. To 25 Pull-up on bar
6. Get a hug everyday

Growth
1. Learn to speak French
2. Bend Spoon using my mind powers
3. Study and master psychology
4. refine my style to sharp business looks
5. Participate in advance programs of vipassana
6. Weight - 65 kilos (90 kilos as on 15th July 2015)

Contribution
1. Create a business that would provide for a 100 households
2.Give my sister a break in her professional career
3. Make a feature film
4. Write a book
5. Sponsor 1 child's 10th std education every year.

[wwpoovando]

Every 12 years or so I get into this "I need to search my purpose in life" mode and it's happening now. This video came in at the right time. I strongly advice to follow Vishal's cue on the video and do the exercise. Surprisingly most of the things I wrote were stuff I already know but these were jumbled up in my mind. Now it's well organised. Time to work on them.

Thank you again.. May need to revisit this in 12 years time. :-)

[cynthiacraft]

What a great exercise, even if it's played as a parlor game among friends and family. The timer puts everything in perspective -- if it didn't make my list in the allotted time, it did not rank very high in value. Nowhere did my answers mention anything about financial rewards; I believe those come with positive affirmation, energetic action, a drive to contribute to others through my own success. For example, many of my answers yielded clues that I deeply desire return to Peru to find the humble, welcoming, wonderful silver-working family who brought my designs to life when I lived and worked there for three years. It's been 10 years since then, and I'm ready to dive energetically back into creative pursuits that helped others besides myself -- ready to start my business up again, only this time for real. Thank you for helping me reveal to myself what's important: my own growth, success, fulfillment and happiness -- if it's also tied to others' growth, success, fulfillment and happiness.

[coachreneeofqeinspire]

I want to experience connecting with people all over the world communicating messages of LOVE, Power & Hope thru singing, speaking, writing, acting and service. I want to grow thru becoming fluent in Spanish, French & Italian and creating interaction to people thru these languages. I want to contribute to the world by overhauling what we call education, especially as it relates to the underprivileged, "at-risk" and others who do not have opportunities because of high aptitudes, excellent grades and other accepted models of scholastic achievement.

[Tkb_Art]

Contribution: to see happiness in people, to teach as a mechanical engineer, passing messages through paintings such as protectin nature/sharing feelings..etc and helping my parents, family and freinds. some of my thoughts i wanted to share and thanks again to vishen. now i know what i need to do

[TheTheOnlyK]

Experiences: I wish to visit every country. To be in a Korean pop band. To go to the beaches in every country.
Growth: I wish to master witchcraft (nothing with black magick though). To learn and speak Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and German perfectly. To gain confidence and get rid of my fear of public speaking. To become more friendly and caring.
Contributions: I wish to have a Doctorate in Forensic Chemistry, to have a good job so I can help my parents financially. I wish to donate to charities and do volunteer work. To create my own foundation for helping ALL animals in the universe. To petition for laws that give harsher punishments to animal abusers. I wish to help my family in Ecuador have the life they so deserve.

[mikawonderdoll]

Eliane Blanchard 

Wow, love the video. I have been trying to make my vision clearer of what I want so I can actually go towards that goal, but was too much detail oriented. That exercise helped me put down my toughts with no filter whatsoever. Here is what I got :
Experience
Career - Create an inspiring magazine. Working in an environment of community, teamwork and creativity. Having my own studio-creative workplace. Be an entrepreneure. Write a book.
Love and Friends - Find my true soulmate, my bestfriend and my everything. Have deep and profound relationships. Have quality time with friends, family and love. Feeling love and giving unconditionnal love. Effortless.
Other - Travel the world and discover different cultures. Be a succesful artist, photograph and entrepreneure at the head of an awesome magazine.
Growth
Master photography (digital, film and alternatives processes), be vegan, learn spanish, be a good communicator (especially oral), have effortless deep conversations.Read 1 book a week. Having a regular physical practise of yoga and running. I hope to have a flawless health both physical and mental and to please be rid of epilepsy. 
Contribution
Inspire others with my work, photographies and my magazine. To volunteer. To travel the world to help others in need. Be vegan and help animals. Having zero garbage (not buying things that come in plastic). Be a good friend, good listener.

[davekestler]

Hello Blyani. I am 50 and work at three different Jobs. None of them can support my bills and food needs. But I am learning, I have learned that the old way of doing things does not work no more. I have not worked out how to get what I want yet but looking at things on paper helps us learn about ourselfs. I just did this and I found out I still want to fly planes, travel the world, own homes in different countries and a few other things. I relearned if you will things I desire in life.

[stevesmith]

I could not disagree with you more if you feel you are too old. I am 53 years old and I have been frustrated with my life for most of my adult life. I have had several books, both fiction and non-fiction, published, helmed successful companies, but only recently did I realize I was stuck in the "means" goals mode. I am more interested now, and more focused, than ever on the end goals. This was an excellent exercise, albeit brief. But if it gets your mind thinking, then embrace it.

[avikmitra]

VishenJi, Have encountered Experiences that will make me Happy, Healthy, Be in Good Relationship, motivated to be One to Our World, to love where it is abundant, free from any barriers.2)Growth-want to grow up as a reliable Son, be graduate in life, get to learn things, to travel where our mind and Soul wants to be, be honest, confident to tackle most embracing moments to most Success Path to mine Life..3)Contribute-To Love to Be One, Peace,Happiness, Clean Mind, Educate Others who are downTrodden to fight for their Rights for They are entitled to Get, and last but not the least that to be Self Assured that what I am doing I am doing for Good and that I Can Do It...

[ashvedlochun]

I'm actually facing family problems they keep on bringing me down in my studies my manners although i do everything they say..but after viewing this video i have realised what i need to do in my life to become a great man and a great leader in the future . Thank you :)

[Travelvlogswithdelilah]

experiences
- travel the world and understand different cultures
- try different food around the world
- learn how to speak Italian, French, Japanese
- explore beaches, jungles, mountains around the world
- find great and meaningful connections around the world
growth
- graduate college
- find my true calling in the medical field
- finding natural ways to feel more confident and healthy
- eat and sleep better
- work out and find different ways to work out that's fun for me
- explore more in myself and the outside world
- cooking more dishes
- finding the best skin care products for my skin and what works for me
- getting closer and closer to God and my faith
- being more organized in my space
- sharper mind and better memory
contribution
- help people
- help people that are in poverty
- help children who's been sick or abused
- help my family
- kindess
- showing more love openly and freely