What gives your life meaning?

This Quiz is split into 3 distinct parts with a total of 11 Questions. The first section is about your values and how you see yourself. 
There are no right or wrong answers here, chooses what speaks to you the most. Sometimes we don't know why an specific answer speaks to us and that's completely okay.

You can also skip questions, but please take the time to think about it first. Let's start with the first question!

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When I was younger I loved to spend time outdoors. Luckily, I always had a forest on my doorstep -one of the perks of growing up in a rural area.

I spent hours exploring without any sense of direction or purpose. Only looking for treasures to discover. Often these expeditions resulted in quite the find. Old abandoned cars, caves and one time a stolen medicine safe. (A local drugstore got robbed and they dumbed the evidence -minus the money- in the forest).

It's this sense of "What will I find/learn today" that made each trip so exciting. To this day I can reminiscence about all the discoveries.
I also have some amazing memories of wild-camping. Painting a familiar place in a completely different light.
One thing I heard quite often was "Times will change and you'll grow up". In a sense saying enjoy the excitement while it lasts, because what follows isn't.

Yet, I never lost this drive to explore. Of course it changed shape over the years. But this drive is why I went to Australia for work and travel or started my journey of creating online content.
But as I got older another motivation started to blossom. Now I want to share the treasures I find. - To explore together and tell/hear stories of the things we discover. 

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How about you? What reason do you gravitate towards? Think about the times you forget the time. Or the things you love to do for the heck of it.
It's possible to have many fundamental reason to speak to you. And they also might change or evolve over time.

Some of the options are also inherently linked. So, try to find the more specific option that fits your personal motivation.
You can also create your own option, if you can't find it in my list.

Why do you want to Create?

"To live is to express, and to express you have to create. Creation is never merely repetition. To live is to express oneself freely in creation." - Bruce Lee

Work is the time to make your purpose reality. And to work is to create. The following 11 reasons come from the concept of "The Purpose of Writing". But they apply to any creative pursuit.

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So, I decided that I want to share my discoveries. But younger me didn't know anything besides the exploring part.
If I wanted to share experiences, then I had to learn how to create.

So, for me creation is about structuring the jumbled mess of ideas and discoveries. It's like building a house, a good foundation comes first. Without it any small disturbance might collapse the house. And it's a lot easier to build a house on a good foundation. Coincidentally, this process also helps to explore the ideas from a different perspectives. Because you always miss something during the first expedition.

Furthermore, a well structured idea carries a lot more weight. It's actionable, sharable and thought through. Which makes helping others on the same journey much more feasible.

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How about you? What is your reason to create?

Our motivation is often decided by a combination of different factors. Try to select the one that would describe the over-arching theme. Go with you gut feeling or write out your story. You can also create your own option, if you can't find it in my list.

What is your most important personal Value?

Your Values are like a roadmap to life. They help you choose which path you want to travel on the many crossroads you come across every day. Our Values and our personality are fundamentally linked. Knowing your values can help you navigate decision with more clarity.

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I remember going for a walk through the nearby fields. It was a nice summer evening towards the end of August. The sun was setting, illuminating the wheat fields with golden light. It was a fitting setting as a mark of the closing of a chapter.

I just came back from Australia. And during that walk I had to decide what I want to do for the next few years. Deep down I already knew what I wanted to do, even without thinking about it. What I lacked wasn't the idea of what to do, but rather the determination and reinsurance to follow that path.

Now the sun was almost down. But my thought went from "What do I want to do?" to "Why do I want to do this?". And what came up was my fundamental value of freedom. The common theme in many of the decisions I made/make in life.

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Now it's your turn. Look back at some of the big decisions you made in life, do you have a common theme? What are the things you consider when making a decision? What's the thing you wouldn't give up under any circumstances?

It's hard to narrow it down to the single most important personal value. But try to pick only one - either from my list or one you thought of yourself. This website can help you with ranking your values.

Who do you want to help?

Let's continue with the second pillar of the quiz.

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." - Carl Jung

Let's be clear about something, there isn't one specific purpose of your or my life. Purpose doesn't mean that suddenly your life revolves only around a single, incomprehensible task -taking a lifetime to complete. Purpose is more like a campfire. It's a place to keep you warm at night and helps you against the cold. But sometimes you also need to protect and feed it.

It's your choice whether you want to keep your fire going, start a new one or never build one to begin with. Purpose isn't obligatory nor essential. Yet, giving yourself a purpose can blossom joy, creativity and excitement. It's an Anker point; something to come back to and -if you choose- a vital part of you.

The easiest way to figure out a purpose is to ask yourself who do you want to help? Working on something exciting (passion) for someone you care about (purpose) makes a huge difference. Of course, you shouldn't neglect your own values. - Or choose something unsustainable, but you get the gist.

There are many benefits to have an outwards facing look at your purpose. It offers a clear picture about the general direction you want to go to. While leaving enough play to find a path that works together with your values and skillset/interests.

The same is true if you want to have a purpose centered around improving yourself. In this case look at your situation in 3rd person, and approach it like helping a friend. It might take some practice but that's a great way to improve as a person.

However, the point of this exercise is to be specific. The more the better. If you have a specific person in mind than that's awesome. Dedicate the next 5 Questions to this person. If you don't know a specific person but the general direction, than try to paint a picture. It doesn't have to be perfect and it will change over time but it's a good starting point.

Making the following questions into multiple-choice would defeat the purpose of this quiz. So I prepared a "fill the blank" text, which can guide you through answering the questions. Alternatively, take out your notebook and use these question as a writing prompt.

This exercise will either be a walk in the park, or quite the challenge. Don't worry if you can't come up with an immediate answer. Because that only means, that you'll get even more out of this exercise.

If you have multiple unique people you'd like to help, than try to offer each person the time and answer all the 5 questions. Afterwards review and think about what draws you towards each of those personas. Try to rank them in a way that makes sense to you.

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Who do you want to help?
What's their name?
What's their job and Education?
Single or in a relationship? Kids?
How old are they?
What are they passionate about? What's something special about them?
What do they do during the weekend? 
Hobbies & Interests?
What do you like about this person?
What's something that affects their life, you want to help with?
In what way is their life affected by the problem you want to solve?
What draws you to this person?

Here's a small sample text:
I'd love to help people like John. John is 33 years old and works as a data analyst for a medium-sized company. He moved to New York after getting a bachelor's degree in business management. Besides work, he's passionate about photography and the outdoors. He loves to go on hikes or spend the weekend camping, whenever he gets the chance. I think it's cool how he appreciates the little things in life. Unfortunately, John is currently struggling to balance his work and personal life, which causes him to feel unmotivated and unhappy. As someone who has been in the same situation, I would love to help John find the right balance.

What’s the biggest challenge this person faces?

Next, we want to look at the challenge your person is facing. I put together a list of common troubles of everyday life. Of course, it's impossible to boil a problem down to a singular cause. But, try to narrow it down as much as possible and only pick the most pressing challenge. 

Think about how you person goes through their daily life. The things they think about and the areas they'd love to have support with. If possible try to talk about the struggles they face in person. Or look for people that fit your persona online, and read/talk about their story.

What does that person want or need?

Now it's time to go into details. Try to make the text your own and add as much details as possible. The goal is to get a very clear understanding about the person you want to help. This also sets the basis of your product if you choose to build your own business. Otherwise you can use this Persona to look for a job working with that specific group of people. 

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What problem does your persona have?
What are some external obstacles they face?
What are some internal obstacles the face?
What's the Villain of the story?
What's their goal?
Why can't they achieve it? What are they afraid about?
What challenge do they face on a daily basis?
Why do they need outside help?
What did they already try? Why didn't it work?
What do other People with the same goal tend to do/struggle with?
What are some ways you intend to help him? Or prevent him from failing?

Example text:
John tends to struggle with work-life balance. One major obstacle he faces is high workload and long working hours, but other hurdles like lack of motivation and stress make it even more challenging. His goal is to have more time for hobbies and personal life, but currently, he is afraid that he might lose his job if he doesn't put in enough effort at work. One of the biggest challenges he faces on a daily basis is stress from work. He tried to solve the issue by taking a vacation and reducing work hours, but these solutions are not sustainable in the long term. Some other things he already tried are exercise and meditation, but they didn't work for him because of the lack of time and motivation. Other people with the same problem often struggle to set boundaries and need help with work-time management. It's also essential to set realistic goals and provide accountability.

How do they change as a result?

Let's say they decide to work with you and you help them out. What is the result of you help? Adam Leipzig, gave a great TED-talk about this topic. He also gave some examples with sentences like:

"I give kids awesome dreams"
if you write books for children so they can sleep at night and have awesome dreams.

"I help people look and feel their best"
if you design affordable clothing choices for people, so they can look and feel their best.

They highlight the essence of why you do what you do. Let's try to do the same for your Purpose and go a bit more in-depth about the person you picked.

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What do you help with?
How do they feel before and after working with you? 
Which internal struggles did they face? What was the problem resulting from them?
How did you change them as a result?
What did you achieve together?
What impact did it have on their life?

Examples:
Let's start with the short sentence:
I assist people in identifying what truly matters in their life.

When I started to work with John, my goal was to help him find a better work-life balance. Prior to our collaboration, John was overwhelmed and unhappy. He felt like he couldn't find enough time for himself. I felt like I was the right person to help him because I had previously experienced the same struggle. Through our work together, John was able to achieve a better balance and rediscovered his motivation and happiness. This also had a significant impact on John's overall well-being.

How can your unique Skillset help that person?

Let's take a look at your current skillset, interests and experiences. And explore why you are the right person to help your persona with their goals. The important part about this exercise is to figure what value you can offer.

Having a degree or X years of experience shows the time you already spend in the sector. But that doesn't tell us anything about you personal story. Maybe, you struggled with something yourself and now want to help other facing the same challenge. Or someone important to you had to go through a tough time and that's why you want to help. You could also have a passion for something and want to share the lessons you learned.

Don't try to add skills to your list you currently don't have. "Fake it till you make it" has it's place but overpromising doesn't help anyone. Consider making a concise list of the things you need to learn. For that talk to people, who struggle with the thing you want to help with and use this list as your curriculum.

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What relevant Skills do you have to help with the problem?
Why are those skills important?
What relevant experience do you have in working with the problem?
How do they affect your work or perspective?
What are some skills you're currently working on to offer better help?
Why is this skill so important to learn? What do your clients get out of this skill?

I really want to help people find a good work-life balance, just like with John. For that reason, I have spent a lot of time learning relevant skills such as counseling, communication, and goal-setting. These skills are essential to help my clients find clarity and focus on what's really important in their life. I worked with a lot of different people, this experience help me realize, that every person has a unique situation and one solution doesn't work for everyone. I still try to learn new things to improve my services, and one of the skills I am currently working on is time management. I first noticed how important that skill is when John shared with me how he struggled to balance work and personal life. I think I can further improve my services if I learn more about how to help people create a realistic and effective time management plan.

What do you want to do with your life?

Now let's finish up this quiz with the 3rd pillar of self-exploration. This section is all about the person you want to be and the direction you want your life to go to.

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I asked myself that question a million times while growing up. Yet, I never really had a specific answer. It was more like a vague feeling of a direction, but nothing actionable. Furthermore, the answer to this question also changed - a lot.
There wasn't only one specific thing I wanted to do. It's more like a mess of different ideas and priorities.

For that reason I started to ask others for advice for all the wrong reasons. I actually didn't want to hear what they think fits me as a person. It was more about the validation and reassurance if they say the thing I'm also thinking about.

In a sense I did know what I want, but didn't take the time to properly explore it. What ultimately helped me find the "right" path was going through a lot of questions. And having lots of conversations about how others came to choose their journey. And most importantly, sit down in a quite place away from the usual distractions. Thinking about a decent starting point to just get going.

Even if I walk for a while and discover I chose the wrong path. I could always take the time to readjust and change your route. But at least I already started to walk some distance in the general direction of my goal. It's rare to have a complete change of hearts. So a lot of the experience and skills translate into your new path, giving you a head start.

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Tell me, what do you want to do with your life? Where do you need to start? And what's a small step you could do today towards that destination?

Who do you want to be in 5 Years?

This Question isn't about where you want to be or your achievements but about the person you want to become.

Think about the qualities you'd like to learn during the next 5 years. Think about the specific things that define you. Which qualities do you like about yourself? Which things would you rather improve? Try to stay away from achievements or goals but think about the things in your control.

So for example it isn't about having a six-pack. But being someone, who consistently goes to the gym. Focus on the actions you want your life to include.

What keeps you from being that person?

Almost done, only one more to go! You just lay out the person you want to be in 5 Years, now look at yourself today.

What keeps you from being the person you want to be? How do you encourage the behavior you'd like to be present in your life? What are the things you currently do, that don't fit within the vision of your future self? Are those things responsibilities, bad habits, or something else? How does your environment (friends, house, job, hobbies, etc.) support you in your journey? And what holds you back?

The most important part of this exercise is to remember, that change and growth take time. Look at your current situation through a lens of love and give yourself some benefit of the doubt. Even "pointless" habits aren't a bad thing - quite contrary. Only things that contradict your vision deserve a closer look.