I am not sure if it is coincidence but recently I have been spending quite a bit of time with people that are confronted by this question. Perhaps in a way we all are? I came across it recently as the header question from the Microsoft ‘Edge’ web browser. Where to next? is working on several levels for me:

1. To move away from Microsoft Edge – it’s horrid!
2. To reflect on how I choose to spend my waking hours for the next three months
3. To reflect on why so many people find this such a difficult question to answer!

In my experience, it seems that most of us make surprisingly few decisions in life, especially the ones which one could loosely be described as option based. ‘Maybe I’ll go to Amsterdam, maybe I’ll go to Rome, maybe I’ll rent me a grand piano and put some flowers in my room.’ Society and circumstance keeps us where we are, where we feel safe. Therefore, the decisions we take are often just simple responses to incoming stimuli: Job offers, invitations, adverts – you name it. Logically it’s the really big decisions (usually arising at times in our lives when we are unhappy and major change needs to happen) that are the decisions we struggle with the most. After all – ask it: ‘where to next?’ Options:

• If you could answer it easily, I applaud you.
• If you found it tough, then this is where good friends and professional coaches can be of great help.
• If you found it irrelevant, not even worth thinking about, then probably you’re just fine where you are right now and long may it continue!

Have a good week, Harley

1. Oh yes, I nearly forgot to say why I think we find ‘where to next’ such a difficult question. Surely it’s because very few of us are able to see ourselves in any way other than our own experience. That’s why we need an external perspective from time to time. It used to be the role of grandparents and priests, not sure who it is today. In any case, there are many more options than before – of that I am certain!

Thanks to Joni Mitchell for the quote!