Life is About Creating Yourself

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” — George Bernard Shaw.

We always thought the phrase “finding yourself” to be rather silly. It implies you somehow possessed your perfect self, then lost it under the bed somewhere. Instead of focusing on a searching for something that never existed, focus on creating yourself as you want to be. This allows for more possibility, encourages healthy incremental growth, and is simply more realistic.

As pointed out, the act of finding something means that it was possessed and then lost. The term “finding yourself” promotes the harmful idea that the real you is out there somewhere, perfect in every way, waiting to be discovered. It is not realistic to think one day you will trip over and fall onto your transcended self. The proven way to achieve goals is to first have them, then to implement a clear plan of action to achieve them¹. This takes planning, trying, failing, and repeating the whole process over again.

Don’t waste time blindly “looking for yourself”. Instead, put your energy into creating your best you. Set goals for yourself based on the person you want to be, then work on those things. Cultivate and spend quality time with friends who have the same goals as you. You will have setbacks and there will certainly be times you feel like you are lost. That is all part of the journey. Pick yourself up and understand that daily improvements are the proven path to create your best self.

Action: Start creating yourself. Who do you want to be? How do you plan to get there?

Further Reading:

1. How to Create an Action Plan to Achieve Your Goals