I promised you an example for yesterday’s prompt in today’s, and I will deliver.
I think it will help us bridge the gap between yesterday and today.
I want you to think of an example purpose for this one, so you can follow along with what I am doing.
My example is this one: say your life purpose is that you are going to become a pilot. Maybe not the world’s most celebrated pilot, but your purpose in life is to fly planes.
First ask yourself – what purpose does this serve?
Well, as a pilot you can fly fighter jets, cargo carriers, commercial planes.
What purpose do you want it to serve? Do you want to fly stealth fighters through war zones undetected, taking out enemies from the miles above in the sky?
Do you want to carry supplies and/or soldiers to various war zones and drop them for the soldiers and/or civilians on the ground?
Or do you want to fly for American Airlines and make sure everyday people get to their destinations safely, thus providing a safe way for families to see each other at Christmastime and businessmen and women to execute their endeavors domestically and internationally?
Which one speaks to you most?
Once you decide your path in life, we will work on the holes and restrictions in the structure to get there. I am going to choose the fighter jet for this one because it’s the coolest. It’s the one that requires you to be on your toes the most, making sure you dodge every missile that gets launched in your direction in an attempt to block your victories in battle.
It can be frustrating to look at the system in it’s entirety. Once you do, you start to notice some weird things.
So…let’s say I’m 18, graduating high school this year, and my next step, my mission in life, my purpose, is to become the world’s stealthiest and greatest fighter jet in all of American and World history. Ever. I can feel it in my chest. I can feel it in my bones. It is calling to me. I can’t think about anything else. I’m obsessed with flying F-117s and maybe even learning how to fly big bomber planes once I’ve mastered the art of flying the little guys.
What is the next step, exactly?
Do I go to college? Do I go to flight school? Do I join the military right out of high school, since that is where I want to go to fly these planes? Or do I go to college, get a Bachelor’s degree, and then join the Air Force as an officer?
It’s okay. Questions are a good thing. They open the doors to building your plan.
But…who do you ask those questions to? Because if you talk to a guidance counselor who has never thought of this life path before, he or she probably won’t be able to help you. Hopefully that person knows someone else you can talk to.
If you talk to an Air Force recruiter, obviously he or she is going to be seeing $$$ dollar signs and work his or her magic to get you to sign up right out of high school.
Who can you trust to help you make the correct decision? Your parents? I mean, it all depends on what they believe and what their values are. Most parents in 2026 say “go to college and get a Masters degree because that’s what you need in order to be competitive in the work force”. But that doesn’t sit right with you, for some reason.
They say “what if being a pilot doesn’t work out? At least you’ll have the degree to fall back on.” So now you have two problems.
One is that now you’re being directed to a path where you’re going to spend, what 5-7 years studying something that has nothing to do with becoming a pilot, and God knows how much money it will cost to obtain a Master’s degree at a University that won’t go out of business while you’re in the middle of studying. The other is that you’re still going to have to go to flight school and join the military after you’re done getting your degree.
The other option is to join the military right out of high school, go in as a grunt, go to school and train to become a pilot while serving. If you hate the military at that level, too bad, you’re in it, whereas if you get your Bachelors degree..
See how overwhelming it gets just to even begin to imagine the next steps after high school?
School does something weird to us. It sets us up to fail in regards to figuring out our own path in life, because for 18 years we’re told what to do. We’re punished if we ask too many questions, but then they kick us out of the system and say “either pay lots of money to stay in a system where we’re not going to teach you how to avoid this problem in the future when you’re 39 and starting to experience a midlife crisis because you spent your whole life doing what we said was the next right thing, and ignored that voice inside that was saying ‘I hate this, please, can we do something else? This is killing me.’ or fail. Those are your options.”
And this is just the first crossroads. You’ve already figured out where you’re headed and the way forward is clear as mud.
So, you find a mentor, make a decision, and follow through with it.
But at 18, you have to contend with the costs of venturing out on your own. You either go into debt in school and face all of the real world consequences no one prepared you for, or you join the military and get paid while you train and face all of the real world consequences no one prepared you for, or you attend flight school and face all of the real world consequences no one prepared you for.
What if there was another way?
What life purpose did you choose as your example to follow this thread?
What holes can you uncover in the process of moving through the steps to achieving your life purpose, even if it’s just a fake one?
Tomorrow I will continue with this example, because I want to show what happens next.
Come prepared with…well I don’t have to tell you that. You’re here by choice, not accident nor force nor because “you have to be”. Of course you’ll come prepared. You want to be here. You know where we’re going next.
See you tomorrow, my friend 😘.
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