just like as the old saying goes

"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." -- Marty McFly

no pdf can tell me what to do with my life(hacker).

JadeEmperor

I wanna ROCK!

Huh, huh? Twisted Sister? Anyone?

Besides, what I really want to do for the rest of my life is lounge about on the beach while servants bring me food and drink. Can his book help me find the funding for that?

HFC

Looks good, I'll check it out. But it better not get too scary...because I've got some ...umm... Firefox extensions to check out ;)

Nabeel Ahmed

@Darren W.: I'm with you on that. My purpose can wait until after Batman beats the snot out of The Joker.

Isarl

I always try to avoid that questions. It is scary just the idea of planning your future, well for me it is. I prefer the live and enjoy the present :)

ChambrasWeed

@Darren W.: I agree Darren, there's nothing wrong with the simple approach! David Allen often gets referenced here, sometimes ironically because what he advocates is too complicated. But he does have some gems about making things simple. My favourite is: "Make It Up and Make It Happen".

[www.the-happy-manager.com]

the-happy-manager

Get a pencil and some paper. Lock yourself into a room. Don't come out until you've discovered your purpose. Nothing that you have to do, short of life or death situations, could be more important. Why waste another day of your life wandering aimlessly in what is most likely the wrong direction?

Of course, I say these things, and have yet to follow through. I'll be watching Batman tonight instead. Yay avoidance!

Darren W.

I'll get to figuring out what I want to do with my life only after I can figure out why clicking on the PDF link keeps crashing my Firefox 3.0.1 every time. Alt+Click to direct download now worked, so I'm guessing I can blame Acrobat... or maybe it is one of my Firefox extensions! Gahh!

LastVigilante

@HFC: Thanks. I had successfully managed to keep that out of my head until *now*.

/trying to figure out how to turn down my internal soundtrack

four12

I gotta say, I like Peter Gibbons solution. What do I want to do with my life? Absolutely nothing.

I'm at my happiest when I've got no specific goal, except whatever project holds my interest for the moment. Maybe I'm writing a book, or doing photography or software, or music, or whatever. That'll last for a short while, than onto something else.

I don't particularly want a purpose.

t3knomanser

Wow. 'You do not have to live up to any "other or higher order"', says the introduction. That may be Glint's (and Rand's?) philosophy, but it certainly isn't mine. This book is a bust for me from the get-go. Life (this and the next) is about more than self-gratification. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to those firefox extensions I was lusting after.

sithel

All joking aside though folks, this really is the most important thing you could be doing at this very moment, and every moment from now until it's done. For yourself, your loved ones, your ancestors, and anybody else who has worked to contribute to the person you are today.

Darren W.

@Isarl: I've got it! Purpose=Batman! Step 1: Find a cave.

Darren W.

This is encouraging.
"For years I was wondering what to do with my life. To find my answer I travelled (sic) around the globe in both directions, read hundreds of books and thousands of articles in the pursuit of an answer."

And what did he come up with? He wanted to be a life coach.

Does anyone else see the irony of this? Perhaps, more accurately, it's really those who can, do, and those who can't decide to teach. I don't like to think that about teachers, but it might be the case here.

PotKettleBlack

@mahalie: Okay, let's see... *pulls purpose out of ass* You should join the Peace Corps.

You're welcome. -Life Coach Darren

Darren W.

I have polarized feelings on these things, I'm extremely skeptical they are just another time suck / distraction - plus I know quite a few personal and life coaches who themselves are a hilarious mess. On the other hand I deeply admire those driven focused people know and follow their dream, even if they're not yet successful - I know quite a few and have enjoyed watching the transformation of some.

I just don't know what to pick. I am interested and enjoy too many things and am constantly starting in a new direction. I know I lack focus, I do try...I GTD like mad (I am more productive) but what's my purpose? What's my one true dream or the best career path for me? Sometimes I really wish someone would just pick something for me since I can't seem to chose on my own.

mahalie

I wanted to spend my life smugly shining lights into cameras that are taking my picture. Too bad ol' Hans beat me to it.

mwschmeer

@PotKettleBlack: Yes, exactly. So what is one to do, that can't do yet? Er, who/what/where is one to turn to? Maybe I should just poll all my successful, smart friends with focus and real careers and find out how they decided...?

mahalie

@nightbirdsf: How about "Goals"?

Right now the tags are Ebook, Downloads, Featured Download, PDF, and Printables.

nightbirdsf

Could one of the editors tag this with something germaine to the *subject* of the e-book? Thanks!

nightbirdsf

@mahalie: I found The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine really helpful; the subtitle is "Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One." The book offers famous examples of Renaissance Souls in history as well as examples from among Lobenstine's clients. It's helpful to see that some people stick with one interest till they master it and then move on to a new one, while others need to juggle multiple interests at the same time; both are Renaissance Souls.

After reading Brian Tracy's Goals! and feeling like something was wrong with me for lacking the kind of focus Tracy advocates, this book was very refreshing, because I realized that the problem wasn't me but that Tracy's approach didn't fit my interests and personality.

This is Lobenstine's site [www.togetunstuck.com] and you see the book on Amazon [www.amazon.com]

Dan Butcher

I've read some 30 odd pages into thus far and this isn't about helping you attain your goals... It's about helping you figure out what those goals are.

Like an earlier poster, I have a hard time dealing with the idea that my highest purpose is my own happiness. I think that's horse puckey. It's a denial of everything that we think is noble about humanity. No one will remember the self obsessed... they remember the self sacrificing in the pursuit of a noble cause.

For personal reasons, this is a tough read for me. I KNOW what I wanted to be, and I blew my chance at it... so now even though I'm well compensated for what I do, I don't derive any pleasure from it. It's a job, it's soul crushing. But on the upside, it'll end when I'm dead.

sapguy

@sapguy: Im a sap guy too. I had to laugh at this:
"...so now even though I'm well compensated for what I do, I don't derive any pleasure from it. It's a job, it's soul crushing. But on the upside, it'll end when I'm dead."

It's a good thing I don't have higher order beliefs, although those christians must have got through to me somehow because I am full of shame and disappointment with myself.
Sigh.

fireblayde

@HFC: Good times. I saw this in my feed and that was my first thought...

greatodinsraven

I concur with @Dan Butcher . I have read that and think it's a good starting point. However I also know what I need to do yet lack the motivation to pull the trigger on that. So I sit and do nothing. How productive.

Kidd

Lifehacked.
Bandwidth exceed.

Boo.

PenguinPhjil

Bandwidth exceeded="42"

all my questions were answered. :D

resonanteye

Dan Butcher: Thanks for mentioning The Renaissance Soul. That's me, all right, and if I were younger I would read it. But at 69 it's too late in my life to start thinking about how to live it. I'll just continue to blunder along until I reach the finish line. [smile]

LaneLester

With that site's bandwidth exceeded for the near future, could anyone who got the PDF post it somewhere else? Don't know if that is poor netiquette, but it was free after all.

kookoobirdz

Google Cache will give you the HTML-icized version if bandwidth is still exceeded (as of this writing it is still down):

[www.google.ca]

crispy8888

I'm a life coach, a job I love in spite of the goofiness of the title, but I have to say I balk at some of these overly constructed approaches. Everyone wants the same thing - to have a sense of fulfillment in their lives - and that can be achieved in a number of ways - through family, through service to others, through hobbies, it doesn't have to be through finding that one job that "I was just meant to do" - though for some, that might be it, too. One certainly hopes not to spend the majority of one's life in a soul-crushing job. I think Martha Beck's book, Finding Your Own North Star, is the best book I've read about discovering who you want to be in the world.

Thanks for the recommendation of The Renaissance Soul, it sounds similar to another book I enjoyed: Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher.

Lianne

This actually interests me. I think the key though isn't just about making the plan but about being willing to scrap it when things don't work out as planned. Sort of like going on vacation with a map, then exploring off-road because it looks interesting.

OrtonMonart

That's got to be a good idea, but it's hours after posting... so the very best and the hardcore lifehackers have digested it, changed their life during a coffee break and have moved on; leaving us late-comers to this party to talk amongst ourselves.

Anyone been on their holidays then?

PenguinPhjil

Having read a number of "self-help" books, I now realize that most of them are a waste of time. "Flow", "7 Habits", and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" stand out as being good, and people tell me that Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" is worth reading.

There's infinitely more to learn from real literature (which is a window into the human condition), from other people and, in fact, simply living your own life. Live, experience, reflect, push yourself, move on to the next thing.

@PotKettleBlack: Thank you for adding some skepticism. Don't ever take advice from anyone who hasn't actually done what you're getting advice for. The logical extrapolation of this line of thinking is: NOBODY is qualified to be a life coach, because nobody has lived your life.

onesix18

Aha, Hans has a mirror site:
[www.whatdoyouwanttodowithyourlife.com]

I put it up on rapidshare so we don't kill that his other connection.
[rapidshare.com]

icecreamman

Someone please upload this to rapidshare. Thank you

icecreamman

There is a mirror of the book here:
[www.whatdoyouwanttodowithyourlife.com]

Farazfp

Think the way society's evolved, planning our lives is just an extension for the multiple plannings we're doing at work. Hence not for me.
I agree with sapguy, what most men want is happiness, and better off if we can 'obtain it', 'feel it', 'sense it' with the lowest amount of 'material things' being part of our happiness.
-

milan72k

Warning from title page: Don't be a fool! Close this book at once! It is nothing but foma!
[ 118 ]

Verse 1: All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies. [ 4 ]

Verses 2-4 (?): In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away. [ 118 ]

Verse 5: Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy

CedricTheCat

maybe it's just me, but after reading enough of Kurt Vonnegut, "The Question" is just a shortcut to depression.

I wonder if Hemingway ever tried to answer the question... Something along the lines "hmm... I want to be a famous writer, leave in Key West, have bunch of cats, and then I'll just shoot myself with a rifle"

CedricTheCat

The only trouble with a lot of these self help books that show the "success story" is as follows

Joe Wasn't happy as a Futures Trader (Insert well paying career that enables you to sock away big Bucks) so he gave it all up to be an Ant Farmer - he found total self fulfillment - with several million in the bank he doesn't really have to worry if the Beater he is driving is going to need repair. Or does he chose between Chemo therapy and not taking it so he can keep working.

The Self Help "guru's" are great if you have a comfortable base to fall back on and can afford to hire them in the first place.

Example on Renaissance man web site gave up being an estimator ... didn't go back to school but ... bought 167 acres .... hmmm really cheap way to follow your heart.

Recently article about "Merchant Banker" who followed his dream at 60 to become a chef - (after socking away a comfortable cushion of course) - not really worried about the ads that are offering Line cooks the whopping $8.00 per hour the "managers" of a chain that will work 55 hours per week.

Sorry If I sound Jaded but .......

Chefjohn1955

@onesix18: I've always wondered who actually reads self-help books. I agree, every one I've read seems to give the same advice - try thinking for a change. It seems that the people who actually need that that sort of advice are the one's who don't read the books.

Not that most of them would get out of it what they need to get out of it. I could hand my brother-in-law 7 Habits, but all he really needs is someone to slap the beer out of his hand 3 out of the 4 times he picks one up.

There was an old Dennis Leery bit about becoming a psychiatrist that went like this: "Doc, I'm depressed", with his shrink answer being "STFU! Next!". Why are the easiest problems to fix the the hardest to get across?

All rambling aside, there is a LOT of good to be said for actually sitting down, figuring out what you want to accomplish, and how you think you can do it. When you inevitably reach a point in your life that you ae spinning wheels, it's nice to look back and have an idea of what you can do next.

Although, you should be prepared for when you turn 30 (or some other number), realize that one of your goals was to have kids, and find out that there aren't any prerequisites left that you can use to stall. Ah well, I needed a reason to buy a PS4 in 2012 anyway :-)

Sbudda

*Getting hold of the file for the book "What Do You Want to Do With Your Life?.
I have just emailed the author, Hans Glint (hans at hansglint dot com).

----Text of email starts----
Hello Hans,
In case you didn't already know:
- at your web site here ([www.hansglint.com]), you direct readers to here ([www.selfhelpstartshere.com]), to download your book "What Do You Want To Do With Your Life".
(The actual download file is: selfhelpstartshere.com/book/book.pdf)

However whenever you try to access download fileserver at selfhelpstartshere.com, the following error occurs:

"509 error: Bandwidth Limit Exceeded. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

Lifehacker.com gives this book quite a good write-up, but nobody can access the server to download the .PDF file.

Someone in the comments here ([lifehacker.com])

- suggested getting an HTML view from Google.

Google provides this here ([209.85.141.104]), and gives the explanation:

"This is the html version of the file [www.selfhelpstartshere.com]
G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web."

Are you able to provide an alternative source for the .PDF file?

By the way, you could probably significantly reduce bandwidth utilisation on individual downloads of the file from that server, by putting the .PDF file into .ZIP compressed format.
----Text of email ends----

Slartibartfarst

For setting goals for your life and accomplish them, you might try out this web-based application, a system combining GTD and Stephen Covey strategies:

www.gtdagenda.com

You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version and iCal are available too.

Hope you like it.

dannielo

For setting goals for your life and accomplish them, you might try out this web-based application, a system combining GTD and Stephen Covey strategies:

[www.gtdagenda.com]

You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version and iCal are available too.

Hope you like it.

dannielo