I was stressed out, asking myself big questions like “Where I should live? What kind of work should I do? What should I do with my life?
Having just graduated from university but having yet to secure a job, I was in between missions. It was a trying time, but I made it through by continuing to experiment with different activities, eventually landing my unique first job by meeting a cyclist on a group bike ride who happened to be a CEO at a local electrical engineering company.
If you’re in between missions, take four deep breaths and be grateful for the position you’re in. This is an opportunity to reset, explore or create opportunities and design your next mission - which needs to be Priority #1. My actionable recommendations for someone in this position are: Physical training and self-inquiry. Let’s go into a bit of detail on each one.
Physical Training
“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
–Socrates
If you have nothing to do, you might as well get into the best physical shape of your life. I recommend strength training if you haven’t explored that before. It’s challenging and requires self-discipline and humility.
For me, it’s been helpful to commit to a goal that is measurable and time-bound. For example:
“By December 17th, 2022, I would like to squat 275 lbs for three reps, deadlift 315 lbs for three reps, bench press 215 lbs for three reps, and complete 18 pull ups.”
A great place to start for strength training is Starting Strength, a basic plan and instruction for beginners. That book is recommended in James Clear’s wonderful blog where he curates a section on strength training, which I also recommend you read.
If strength is not your thing yet, perhaps endurance is more interesting. That’s fine. You can swim, cycle, run, row, or whatever you’d like. I would still recommend you set a time-bound fitness goal like completing a race, or finishing a specific race or distance under a certain time. Design a plan to achieve your goal (preferably with a coach or someone who had experience and can keep you accountable), and then get after it.
Self-Inquiry
Use this time to learn about yourself. What are your favorite skills? What interests do you love? What type of environment do you perform best in? What types of people do you want to surround yourself with? What is your ideal salary and what are you willing to give up to earn it?
This is a great time to ask yourself some important questions and provide thoughtful responses. You could just lay down and look up into the clouds, waiting for those questions to appear, but I recommend a programmatic approach. There are two frameworks that I have used and can recommend.
What Color is Your Parachute
This is a practical career alignment manual. The core of it is the Flower Exercise. You follow a unique self-inventory that helps you design your career and life around key passions, transferable skills, traits and more.
The Holistic Model for a Balanced Life
This is a framework taken out of Françoise Bourzat’s book titled Consciousness Medicine. The framework is designed for preparing and integrating an experience with an altered state of consciousness, but I think it also works great for holistic self-inquiry. It asks questions around body, mind, spirit, community and environment.
Becoming physically fit and increasing self-awareness are worthwhile pursuits for anyone, especially for those of us who are in between missions. You will become a more well rounded person and, through the process of these activities, may find your collaborators or your next mission.