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Too Late to Change

your Life’s Path?
FREE Worksheet to Help You Start a
New Golden Age

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

MEET JEFF

Do you look at your life and wonder if there’s more in you than just this job and routine life?

Do you want to do something different and make a change but feel that your current expectations at
work and responsibilities in relationships are strangling you?

Is it really too late to do what you want? Jeff has the answer for you.

Jeff grew up in the city. His parents weren’t into the outdoors and his mother had horrible allergies;
but he had always loved nature.

When Jeff was small, he joined the scouts so he could camp in the wild and be surrounded by woods
and lakes. He even started a hiking group to go on trekking trips every other week with his high school
friends.

When he got into college, Jeff studied civil engineering because he was fascinated about how his
engineer dad built skyscrapers from scratch. He naturally landed a civil engineering job after college.
Jeff’s dad was proud of him for following in his footsteps.

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

After working in the company for 4 years, Jeff got a promotion. At the new position, he got to lead a
team of engineers and designers to focus on residential housing projects.

This involved a lot of chopping up prime lots (ie: trees) for houses, which was frequently an essential
step. Jeff didn’t really like this idea. But he was too busy to dwell on it because suddenly, he had to
step up as a leader and learn how to manage the team to work efficiently.

With a lot of hard-work and self-learning, Jeff pushed through his most challenging time. Within a
year and a half, he had led his team to complete every project on time and gained a stellar reputation.

The Turning Point

One day, Jeff had to sign the papers to confirm cutting down a section of forest to make room for a
new apartment complex like usual. But this time, the location turned out to be his favorite trail he’d
been hiking for years. His heart sank immediately.

This time, the action opened up the pieces of his heart he’d been burying away. The reality was that
he’d become a cog in a machine that, with each project, was relentlessly cutting away at the great
outdoors he loved so much.

A few weeks later, Jeff visited the construction site. He could barely recognize the place. The hiking
trail that was once filled with tall and dense trees was now just a big barren patch of dirt. The place
was lifeless.

When an engineer came up to Jeff to assure him enthusiastically that they’d surely meet the project
deadline, Jeff coldly said “OK” and secretly hoped there was another way.

Back at his office, there was a guilt that Jeff couldn’t bury away anymore. He couldn’t concentrate at
work and failed to finish reviewing a proposal that was due that day. For the first time ever, he had to
ask for an extension.

Questioning Himself

Jeff knew he had to figure out why he was feeling so lost, or else he wouldn’t be able to move on.

“I’m a good engineer like my father. I have led my team successfully and a lot of my colleagues look up to me.
My family is proud of me.”

Why am I not happy? What is missing in my life?”

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

New Opportunities

Jeff thought really hard to find out what he’d been missing throughout the time.

Looking at the photos he took in that forest on his phone, all the happy memories he had when he
hiked with friends came back. He remembered his love for nature since he was small.

Jeff realized the pride he had with his job wasn’t enough to make him feel fulfilled. He knew he had to
do something that wouldn’t go against his intuition -- his love for nature --to feel happy again.

Taking Action

Jeff tried to look for an opportunity to help preserve nature during his free time.

At that time, an eco-friendly organization was looking for professionals like engineers, energy
scientists and researchers to work voluntarily on a project dedicated to designing systems with
minimal impact on the environment in Alaska. Jeff applied for it and got recruited.

In spite of his full-time job, Jeff worked hard to make time for this side project. He would even fly to
Alaska whenever possible to help facilitate the project’s progress.

The project was completed in two years and had successfully kickstarted a sustainable development
moment in Alaska. Jeff was thrilled about it.

He was eager to continue his contribution to this, so he sought for a full-time opportunity to work
there and began preparing.

Two months later, Jeff resigned his position and moved to Alaska to pursue his mission. He worked
with people who were passionate about nature like himself to design different energy systems. And
most importantly, he finally felt fulfilled.

What does Jeff’s story mean for you?

When you know what’s actually meant for you, you’ll experience true satisfaction and happiness. This
will also actually lead you to success.

It’s not too late to change your life!

This worksheet will help you find out your TRUE PURPOSE so you’ll stop feeling stuck.

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Rate how important these statements are to you with the following scale:

1 - Not important at all

2 - Quite important
3 - Moderately important
4 - Very important
5 - Extremely Important

1 2 3 4 5

1. To make a lot of money

2. To move to another city or country

3. To get a Masters and/or Doctorate degree

4. To get promoted to higher position

5. To lead a team of subordinates

6. To have my own business

7. To have my dream house

8. To get married

9. To have my own family with kids

10. To retire early

11. To never retire and keep doing what I like

12. To travel the world

13. To be admired by many people

14. To be well-known

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

1 2 3 4 5

15. To be stable and safe

16. To grow and learn new things

17. To inspire, teach or guide others

18. To have no stress or anxiety

19. To have good friends that I can count on

20. To share my life with someone I love

21. To have an easy and comfortable life

22. To successfully hide the signs of aging

23. To always be physically active, fit and healthy

24. To work for the betterment of society

25. To be respected by others

26. To publish a book

27. To master a foreign language

28. To be better than most other people

29. To have friends from different parts of the world

30. To invent a new product

31. To come up with great ideas

32. To look back on my life as meaningful and complete

33. To help people in need or serve others

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

1 2 3 4 5

34. To make my hobby my career

35. To achieve work-life balance

36. To choose what I do instead of being pushed along by life

37. To make no mistakes or have no failures

38. To quit my bad habits

39. To make a difference in this world

40. To have adventurous experiences

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Finding out what you feel important to you is easy, knowing why it’s important to you is a tougher
question.

iSixSigma introduced a good method on finding the root cause of anything by using 5 why. By
repeatedly asking the question “Why” on something, you can dig into the root cause and the deeper
meaning you never realized.

Let’s take a look at an example. Say “To have my own family with kids” is extremely important to you:

1. Why “to have my own family with kids” is important to you?

Feel complete in life.

2. Why do you think it makes you feel complete in life?

Because that’s what I was taught about -- having my own family with kids will bring me
happiness in the future.

3. Why does it bring you happiness in the future then?

Then you won’t be miserable when there’re kids caring about you.

4. Why do you think you will be miserable in the future?

Because I’m afraid that when I get older, I will be all by myself, lonely and unhappy; and I won’t
be able to take care of myself.

5. Why do you have such thought?

Because I’m not confident in myself that I’ll be physically fit and mentally healthy when I
become so old.

Here, you see what’s the core thing that really matters to you -- You want to be physically fit and
mentally healthy when you become old. “To have my own family with kids” is only one of the many
paths to reach that.

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

Let’s take a look at an example. Say “To retire early” is important to you:

1. Why “to retire early” is important?

Work is tough, I just want to relax and enjoy my life as soon as possible.

2. Why is your work tough?

I don’t like my job.

3. Why don’t you like your job

It’s a 9-5 boring desk job and I have to deal with co-workers who are irresponsible and a
demanding boss.

4. Why are you staying in this job then?

I’m staying in this job only because it earns me money for a living.

Here you see why you want to retire early, because you’re staying in a job that doesn’t fit you! What
you really want is -- Work that you really enjoy and can support your living.

Now it’s your turn! Let’s take a look at the things that you find Very and Extremely important.

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

WHAT DO THEY MEAN TO YOU? TEST WITH 5 WHYS

Some questions to guide you:

• Why does it matter to your life?

• How does it affect your health, career, relationships and personal life?
• Does it make you happier?
• Does it make you a better person?
• Does it make you smarter?
• Does it make you feel more complete?

You don’t need to repeatedly ask yourself why for 5 times, maybe you can find the root cause already
at the 3rd or 4th why. Or maybe you find that the final answer for a couple of things are very similar or
even the same, and that’s perfectly okay.

Statement #1 - 5 Whys

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

Statement #2 - 5 Whys

Statement #3 - 5 Whys

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

Statement #4 - 5 Whys

Statement #5 - 5 Whys

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

WHAT ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING?

Maybe you have a couple of things that you find important right now, but only ONE of them is the very
thing that you need to break free of this bleak looking future, to pursue meaning, and make your life
truly fulfilling again.

Use this scale to assign points to the statements you previously evaluated with the 5 whys:

• 1 pts - Strongly Disagree

• 2 pts - Disagree
• 3 pts - Neutral
• 4 pts - Agree
• 5 pts - Strongly Agree

Rate what’s important to you by answering these questions using the above scale system:

1. If you’d die tomorrow, you would regret not having/being [Your Answer from the Last Section].
2. If money weren’t any issue, you would be doing something about/related to [Your Answer from
the Last Section].
3. You’d be happy doing something related to [Your Answer from the Last Section] every day even if
it’s difficult, challenging and goes ugly.

Now calculate the score for each item that you find important, which has the highest score?

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Total Score

Statement #1

Statement #2

Statement #3

Statement #4

Statement #5

The one with the highest score is what you’re meant to do -- YOUR PURPOSE.

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TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE’S PATH? WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START A NEW GOLDEN AGE LIFEHACK.ORG

HOW TO PURSUE YOUR PURPOSE?

Now that you’ve found what’s meant for you, you’re probably thinking so what’s next?

Imagine you can do anything, what will you do to meet your purpose?

Brainstorm some ideas:

I know, you must be thinking, but I can’t do these things because I don’t have the skills, knowledge and
time...

The good news!

Since you’ve already had a clear picture of what’s meant for you, Lifehack can help you equip yourself
with the skills, knowledge and even time to meet your purpose.

Just don’t miss out our emails to help you live a life with meaning and fulfilment!

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