2. Where do you see yourself in five years?

No, this is not a job interview or date interrogation.

This is only your life.

Maybe five years is not enough. Maybe five months, or minutes, will suffice. Or maybe you’ve reached the point where you don’t think you can change—that growth and goals aren’t important.

This question of projection that slows down and distresses so many in-the-moment modern thinkers is important. For five years or fifty, not having a confident answer does not make you devoid of goals, but it does indicate a lack of deference for mobility.

A final destination dictates a direction and requisite course of action. Without it, you meander, and the awesome being you strive to become is never born.

Not to say you aren’t trying. Your accomplishments are many and admirable. But when you fall short, you tend to cut the wound deeper with sharp thoughts and self-deprecation.

Ensnared in a cruel yet common expectation, you are pressured to succeed but not instructed how to do it. How do you proceed—and consistently thrive—when hearing the demand for ground-breaking scientists and death-killing doctors along with no less dedicated, no less fully actualized line cooks, custodians and parking attendants?

Pay more attention than you produce, and don’t be shy to sacrifice talent for stability. Hate your job? At least you’re participating. Deciding between doing what you love and doing what is right is a difficult lesson to earn.

Even in poor economies, opportunities abound—the ones you take, and the ones you make.

• Concentrate on the surefire.
• Put on hold or choke the untenable.
• If something is meant to be, it will happen anyway.

If compelled to actively pursue the frivolous, at least ensure the payoff if achieved will be generous. Demand-driven ventures not only butter your bread, they eat it for you.

So don’t chase personal projects fetid with hope. Stop nursing brainchildren foul with ambition.

Know what people want, and give it to them.