Discover what you truly want

Knowing what you want to do and becoming who you want to be. It sounds lovely, but how do you achieve it? Catelijne Elzes checks out the options.

Before I start learning and practicing, I need to find the answer to one question: How do you know that what you are doing is what you want? Dutch therapist, author and trainer Hannah Cuppen tells me the answer is simple. “Does it give you energy or take energy?” she says. “If it gives you energy, that’s where your soul is, your heart. It almost sounds too easy, but it’s so true.”

Naturally the key thing here is balance. There are always bound to be parts of your work and life that cost energy. Meetings, for example, or doing the grocery shopping for dinner with friends. But when the work being discussed at the meeting or the dinner itself, gives you energy, that’s not a problem. When the balance shifts to the energy-losing side, however, you’re probably doing something that doesn’t suit you well. It still might not be caused by the entire activity—it could be just one part. Maybe you have one particular client who takes too much energy, or maybe the group you do sports with is too hardcore for you.