Not all those who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien

You’ve been wandering aimlessly without direction for days. You weren’t sure where you were when you started and now you don’t know whether you’ve gotten anywhere. You’ve just been walking in circles as people without maps and the ability to read them do. This isn’t last summer’s backcountry hiking trip. This is your life and in order to make your time and efforts meaningful, you need a really good map.
Birds & Butterflies
How do Cliff Swallows find their way each year on their 6,000-mile journey from Goya, Argentina to San Juan Capistrano, California without a map? How do Monarch butterflies complete a 2,500-mile migration across North America? While much of the science is still up for debate, it’s safe to say that they have some kind of an internal GPS and the physiology to interpret its signals.
Because they have complete clarity about where they want to go and the ability to understand the information about how to get there, it’s pretty unheard of for any of them to get lost.
Cue The Human
Getting lost may be one of the most common experiences modern homo sapiens share. We don’t just get lost in the woods with predictable frequency, we also get lost in life. When you realize you’re lost in the wilderness, experts say that the most important first thing to do is to sit down and find a way to become calm. If you haven’t brought a map with you, begin to create one in your mind. Decide whether you’ll be better off preparing to spend the night, or whether your best plan is to try and find your way home.
Just like the swallows and the Monarchs, clarity is essential for you, too. When you have a clear understanding of what’s important to you, like finding water or firewood, moving in the necessary direction has its greatest value. If you pass up that critical first opportunity to stop, take a look around, and make an intentional choice, you’ll be wasting valuable energy and going in a direction that won’t take you where you want to go. Reach your intended destination by creating a map, which is how you know where you are, where you’re going and why it’s important.
Your Life Map
There are many kinds of maps and each type fulfills a unique purpose. The good news is, you already have everything you need to create a customized and personal map of your life. It will reveal your deepest desires, innate gifts, and measure the motivation you have to take action. This map is less about your physical location and more about your inner landscape.
Inspired by Nature, below you’ll find a map that offers you the opportunity to check in with your internal GPS to see where you are now, where you’d like to be and why it’s important to you.
On its surface, it looks like a measurement of how satisfied you are with your life, which it is. That’s how you know where you’re starting from. As you spend time diving deeper, it will reveal a great deal about what you desire and, most importantly, why. This rich reservoir of awareness becomes your source for connecting to your purpose and passion for life.
The time you invest in getting to know the map of your inner world will yield a decrease in frustration and insurmountable barriers, and best of all, an increase in the joy of knowing that your choices are taking you somewhere you actually want to be.
When this happens, you’ll be one of those rare people who doesn’t get lost, even when they choose to wander.
How to Use This Map

Look at each direction and consider how satisfied you feel with each area in your life at this time.
There are 10 dots going from the center of the circle to the outer circle.
Using the dot nearest to the center as #1, meaning “not at all” and the outer edge as #10, meaning “completely” place a mark at the dot which best represents your level of satisfaction.
After you’ve marked all 8 areas, connect the dots. This will allow you to see which directions are important for you to invest in.
With the help of your coach, go deep into your vision for how things are now, how you’d wish them to be, and when you’d like that to be true. Together, you can uncover why this feels important to you and how it is a part of you becoming who it is you are here to be. Then, you can choose one to three of these areas and design the pathway for reaching your desired destination.