The Big 3

Life can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. You can have as many pursuits and goals or as few as you want. You have a choice in deciding what is most important to you in your own life. Given this individual choice, nearly everyone will have different specific passions. But, if we view life from a top-down approach and with a high-level overview, there are 3 important pillars that guide everything we do. The big 3 of life are: what you do, where you live, and who you’re with. Everything else is the icing on the cake, the wall decor, the extra horsepower in the engine.

What you do. Simple enough, this is what you do with your life. What job or career path have you chosen? What have you identified with most strongly? How would you describe yourself and what you are? By answering these questions you find a basic description for yourself. You could be a mom, you could be an athlete, you could be a lifelong learner, you could be a scientist or a doctor. There is one thing in your life that defines who you are like no other. There is a strong correlation between what you define yourself as and what the rest of your life looks like. If you enjoy your “definition,” it is easier to assume you enjoy other parts of your life. If you are displeased with your “definition,” what steps can you take to change? How can you take what you do and change it from just a label and make it into your identity? What you do does not define everything in your life but it sets the standard for the rest of it.

Where you live. Where you live is very strongly correlated to what you do, unless you have the freedom to work remotely. Your location dictates the places you frequently go to, where you can go on the weekends, and your housing situation. Living in New York City is very different than on a ranch in Montana. Living in England is very different than living in Nigeria. Where you live helps bring you local culture and local styles for doing things. Location dictates a large part of the opportunities that present themselves to you. Where you live provides you with the opportunity to connect with others in close vicinity. Where you live does not box you into any specific life but it has a foundational impact on what you do on a daily basis.

Who you’re with. Who you are with starts inward on the family level and spreads outward to your neighboring community. In the age of technology “who you’re with” also stems outward to anyone that is a text message or phone call away. These relationships are cultivated by following the human purpose for connection. Who is your partner? Who is with you no matter what conflict occurs? Who do you have to share life experiences with? Humans need connection, it is a primal instinct. Who you are with is dictated by your choice of companionship. Who you are with determines the inside jokes you tell, the diction you use, and the pastimes you enjoy. The people around you shape your personality and characteristics. Who you are with matters more than what you do or where you live because it is the people who are with you that will outlast any profession and any location. You bring the people in your life with you.

Life is not easy to distill into a few pillars but it is possible. You have everything in your life based on the Big 3 of what you do, where you live, and who you are with. They are intertwined in ways where one cannot exist without the other. As one changes, so does the other. The Big 3 of life have much more impact than you have ever realized.