Living by design means living according to a plan in order to achieve your purpose in life. Living by default, on the other hand, means just following the crowd. It’s just letting things happen as you go.
Living by default is a recipe for mediocrity. Your life will be no more than average.
Here are some characteristics of living by default:
- You have no meaningful dreams. You don’t know what you want to achieve ten years from now. Or if you do, it’s not something that deeply resonates with you.
- You have no plan on how to reach your dreams. You may have a dream, but you don’t have a plan on how to make it a reality. The dream is just that—a dream.
- You don’t take action according to your plan. You may have a dream and a plan, but you don’t put your plan into action. As a result, nothing happens.
- You aren’t consistent in your effort. You may have a dream, a plan, and take some action towards it, but your effort isn’t consistent. It takes years of consistent effort to make things happen, so you won’t achieve anything significant.
So how can we live by design?
You need these five things to live by design:
1. Purpose.
Your purpose is your “why”—it’s the cause that makes your life fulfilling. It’s something that matters to you. It’s something that resonates deeply within your heart.
What is it that makes your life feel alive? What is it that makes your life feel full?
2. Dreams.
Knowing your purpose, you should have some related dreams. What do you want to achieve? How do you imagine the future?
3. Plan.
To make your dreams come true, you need a plan. You need to know how to get to your destination.
4. Actions.
Having a plan is not enough. You also need to put it into action. It’s your execution that makes things happen.
5. Consistency.
Your effort needs to be consistent to get results. You need to keep working on it for years.
Bharat Bhushan Wadhwa