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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

It is my belief that life is about learning lessons. Early in life we were taught lessons by adults and siblings who might have passed on incorrect information to us and maybe we’ve spent a long time sorting out for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, what is correct and what is incorrect, what works for us and what doesn’t.

One way to frame these life lessons, a metaphor which I like to use, is that they are maps. Maps are not always accurate. Topography changes, new developments make old maps obsolete, they are not static or constant, but fluid and subject to change. The maps we were given may not best represent our inner landscape and in that case, the maps will not lead us in the right direction. If they don’t agree with our reality, they are wrong for us.

Recalibrating and overcoming outdated maps is what self persuasion is all about. Charting new territory and creating new maps based on what is right and true for us where we are now, based on what we want our futures to look like, based on allowing our inner selves to reflect our outer selves and visa versa, is one of the hallmarks of a master persuader.

Persuasion ourselves in this way allows us to explore this new territory and like any good explorer or cartographer, we learn some new things along the way through self knowledge and exploration. Whether we decide for this to be messy or elegant is a personal choice. It can be done with struggle or it can be done with ease. I know a good many people who think that growth necessitates pain and difficulty, much like childbirth. This will be their reality as long as they continue to think this way. I choose to believe that change flows through me and the only struggles I encounter come into play when I decide to fight change. My father was the owner and proprietor of a very successful business, several convalescent homes, and when I was a young man, he offered to train me to take over for him when he was ready to retire. My path was laid out, financial success was inevitable, all I had to do was work my way from the bottom up.

I was at a crossroads. On the one hand, there was this ladder which led to a guaranteed position of success in a field that did not ignite my passion. Another way to go — and the path which I obviously chose — was going it alone with only my instincts and passion. It was a struggle until I realized it didn’t have to be. I simply needed to shed the outmoded information and inaccurate maps I was using to guide my life. My question to you is: Are you alive? If not, what do you need to come alive?