Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life Read Free Page A

happens while you’re making other plans”? Well, that really is true. But the key to a successful life is that you’re making plans, actively pursuing a goal, putting positive and powerful energy into the universe, and staying open to what comes back to you. This is totally different from wandering aimlessly and hoping happiness will just find you. It won’t! You have to pursue it, actively and in good faith. (Hey, this is even in our Constitution. You want to mess with the Founding Fathers? I didn’t think so.)
    Okay, so you get it. It’s important to know where you’re going, to have a goal. But how do you find out what your goal is? Like I said, most of us have forgotten how to dream for fear of disappointment, judgment, or whatever, so this is where I’m going to give you a little push. Nothing scary. I’ll provide just a few simple exercises to help you relearn how to cultivate your talent for dreaming and find exactly what you’re meant for. You do it by learning how to find meaning on scales large and small.
    When I was a kid, every Easter my mom would stage a massive egg hunt for me in our house. Man, I loved Easter. Halloween, too. Basically any holiday where candy was involved. I would go bananas, running all over the place, turning over every pillow, looking in every potted plant, scavenging through bookshelves, rummaging through drawers. You get the idea—I was very enthusiastic. Anyway, I’d always miss some of the eggs, and when I was ready to throw my hands up and quit, my mom would play the hot/cold game with me. You must have played this as a kid. The closer you get to the object of desire, the “warmer” you are; the farther away, the “colder.”
    Okay, so you’re not a kid looking for Easter eggs. But you’re avaluable human being looking for your purpose. So in an attempt to revive a childlike zest for life, we’re going to play our own little hot/cold game to help you uncover all the things that are important to you and that give your life meaning.
    COLD, WARMER, HOT:
UNCOVERING YOUR DREAMS, FINDING YOUR TRUTH
    At the end of this chapter there is a place where you can fill in your answers to the questions I’ll lead you through, and on my website there’s also space for you to “journal” your journey. So no matter where you are, you’ll have the tools you need at hand to “do this.” But read the questions carefully first and really think on them. Work it out for yourself. Along the way I’ll throw in some inspiring stories so you can see this stuff in action. (Would I tell you to do something if I didn’t know you’d get results?) The questions will have you focus heavily on your professional life, the reason being that our purpose on this planet is to do something that makes us happy and allows us to leave a mark. Yes, we’ll talk about how to find love and how to get healthy. But this journey starts with what you actually want to do to express your unique value to this world. Very few of us know what we want to do with our lives in the larger sense. The idea is to start becoming conscious of and paying attention to what makes you happy (warmer) and what doesn’t (colder), so you can build on those things and move toward your true calling.
    Throughout the book you will see sections under the heading “Working It Out.” Wherever you see this heading, it means you have work to do. So I want you either to grab a journal and keep it handy while you’re reading, or sign in to JillianMichaels.com and use the “Working It Out” journal on my website. You can log all the internal work we’re doing together, as well as all your goals, dreams, and aspirations. I’ve also created a number of onlineassessment quizzes so you can dig even deeper. Look for this icon JillianMichaels.com/Unlimited to take a quiz and to get your results, and to find other special online tools, charts, and support designed to enhance your journey. This is your space—use it, own it, work it.
    TAKE