Do you lead your life, or does your life lead you? Makes you ponder, doesn’t it? Do you decide on what you want your life to be, and then pursue it actively? Or do you live each day as it comes with what it has to bring to you?

We are all brought up with our elders – especially our parents – telling us what we should be doing and what we shouldn’t be doing. In a way, they lead our life.

Then as we grow, many of us choose what to do in life based on the trend followed by our friends or colleagues. And that happens because we do not know what we want for ourselves. We just want to move on and keep on moving, without knowing whether that is the direction in which we really want to move. And most of the time it is because we have not taken the time to explore the innumerable possibilities and choose for ourselves what we really want to do with our life. We have not chosen to lead our own life.

Many of us concentrate our lives around the activity that takes the most of our time. A student lives his life thinking that it is about schooling in order to be someone significant in the future. A sportsman lives his life around the sport that he is involved in. A salaried man lives his life thinking it is about going to work to get a paycheck. A businessman may live his life around his business. Professionally qualified people may set up their life around their profession. In a way, this main activity leads their life.

To some extent, almost everyone is bound by some obligations because of which we cannot start with a blank page. That means that almost everyone is in some way or the other being led by life – by parents, relatives, friends, bosses, coaches, teachers, or merely by ones circumstances. And although it may be close to impossible to be completely leading your own life, the goal is to be in control of your life as much as possible.

Life is about doing the so many things that you want to do and could possible do. And to be able to get what you want out of life, instead of letting it lead you, you have to lead it in the direction that you choose.

How to lead your life – A simple process