“What should I do with my life?”

This is a question I have asked myself for many years, and I know I’m not the only one. I’ve longed for an answer. Sometimes I felt as though there was no answer. Or that the answer would evolve over time. Or that I would discover it a few moments before I die.

I prefer not to focus on the tragic, however, and some of those thoughts came to me when I was in a state of frustration. Still, the question remains, what should I do with my life?

To solve this problem, one must first accept that it is a solvable problem. If you focus on the negative, as I did at one time, you will get nowhere. It often takes a long, conscious effort to come to the understanding that you really can decide what to do with your life. I know very well how painful it is not to know — and to have all kinds of real-life problems like bills and hateful people coming at you, as well.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that there is no solution. If you’re in that trap right now, take it from someone who’s been there: it is possible to make a decision or find an answer. Truly accepting that the problem is solvable is an important step. Whether you find what you are looking for or give up hope entirely and slog through your life defeated, as so many do, depends upon your attitude toward life in general.

To triumph over frustration, you need to become acquainted with the benevolent universe premise.

The Benevolent Universe Premise

Ayn Rand coined the term “benevolent universe premise.” Since it’s not a commonly known idea, I will define it for you using her own words:

There is a fundamental conviction which some people never acquire, some hold only in their youth, and a few hold to the end of their days — the conviction that ideas matter . . . . That ideas matter means that knowledge matters, that truth matters, that one’s mind matters . . . .

Its consequence is the inability to believe in the power or the triumph of evil. No matter what corruption one observes in one’s immediate background, one is unable to accept it as normal, permanent or metaphysically right. One feels: “This injustice (or terror or falsehood or frustration or pain or agony) is the exception in life, not the rule.” One feels certain that somewhere on earth — even if not anywhere in one’s surroundings or within one’s reach — a proper, human way of life is possible to human beings, and justice matters.

“The Inexplicable Personal Alchemy,” Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, 122.

“The inability to believe in the power or the triumph of evil” sums it up for me. We live in a universe that may be mostly inanimate and unconcerned about our suffering, but it is not hostile to us. Bad things — disease, wars, sadnesses of all kinds — are possible in this universe. But they are not an essential feature of this universe. Happiness and love are just as possible as suffering and evil. Remember, no matter how bad things get, the universe is not out to make us miserable. Neither is it out to help us. But you can change and adapt to reality and succeed, because there is nothing stopping you, not fundamentally.

Now you have some proof of my assertion that you can figure out what to do with your life. Let me share some ideas on how to do just that.

If I Had a Million Dollars

Have you ever heard this question: “If you didn’t have to work, what would you do with your life?” I don’t remember where I first heard it, but I doubt that its origins could be traced (if so, I will be glad to give credit). By removing money as a constraint, it allows you to focus on the question of how you want to spend your time.

People always answer this in the same way. They say they would travel, relax on a beach, buy a new car, live in a huge home, live in a modest home in a scenic place, eat the best food every day, finally lose some weight, wear really nice clothes all the time… you get the idea. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with wanting or getting any of these things, but these answers are a dead end. You would get bored if you had a life of nothing but one pleasurable experience after another.

But wait… you’re supposed to be pursuing happiness, right? So what if you suddenly had millions of dollars in your bank account and you could do all the things you enjoy? If you did not have to work ever again, then you would have to spend all your time doing something. But with nothing to strive for beyond the easily achieved pleasure of the moment, you would become a zombie. Relaxing is only fun when it’s a break from the productive work you do; if your life was nothing but relaxation, you would be bored.

The way the question is posed — how would you spend the rest of your life, meaning the period from now until you die — one often thinks of the years ahead stretching out into infinity. And so one answers the question with a list of the most pleasurable ways to spend time on this Earth.

To come up with a good answer to the question, you must reverse the way you think of time. Rather than thinking forward in time, think backward.

Thinking Backward

Imagine that you are going to die when you reach age 60 (If you’re close to 60 now, you might want to imagine a different age. ) Give yourself that hard limit. How much time is left? Thirty years? Twenty? Ten?

Now could you imagine yourself sitting on a beach eating ice cream every day for even five years? I sure couldn’t! The pleasure would quickly disappear and I would become acutely aware of frittering away what little time I had left!

When you look forward, there is no set date of departure from this Earth. When you will die is not predetermined; the date truly does not exist yet. However, if you imagine that date as real — as morbid as it may sound — you can look backward from then until the present. And you will see that you have very little time to waste.

Taking Action

Now we can get a little closer to answering that tough question, “What should I do with my life?” You now have a serious time limit in which to do whatever you end up choosing.

I can’t tell you specifically what to do, but I can tell you what kinds of things are the most interesting and engaging answers to The Question, in light of the fact that you now have a deadline.

Sitting around and “enjoying” life isn’t much fun. Challenges are. Struggles are. Trying to reach something beyond your grasp is.

By pretending that you know the day of your death in advance, you can become incredibly focused when deciding how you would spend that time. Personally, I would go for broke trying to achieve a huge goal that is important to me. And if I achieved it, I would pick a bigger goal. I would still enjoy the pleasures of life, but considering that my time is limited, I would derive an incredible amount of real happiness — not just pleasure — from pursuing the not-easily-achieved.

That might give you a better framework in which to answer the question “What should I do with my life?” but you might also become nervous. If time really is limited and the choices are numerous, how do you make the best choice?

Choose any goal that is important to you and bigger than you think you can handle. Even if you moved in the wrong direction for a year, it would be easier to make a 180 degree turn than waste more time going nowhere. By pointing your ship toward a goal, you will eventually reach it, even when you’re not sure which direction you really ought to be traveling. And once you reach that goal, you can correct your course and move closer to where you “ought to be” on the next leg of the journey.

The question of what you should do with your life is best answered by taking action. You may not have an ultimate purpose for your life yet, but it is possible to get one. Start by doing something with your life; move toward some goal that matters to you, even if it won’t solve every problem you have. Remember that your time is very limited, and it is best spent trying to achieve things beyond your present abilities — not wondering how many ways you could be idle if you had a million dollars.

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