You ever had the experience with your music where, if you look at all the tracks you’ve purchased or downloaded, you don’t really want to play any of them? But then you put your playlist on shuffle, and you like almost every song?

This happens to me all the time.

It’s a small example of a big problem. When I’m trying to decide which track to play, I’m comparing. But when I just let the music shuffle, I’m experiencing. And what I think I will enjoy while in a comparison mindset has little to do with what I actually enjoy while experiencing the moment.

Do you feel purposeless? Like you can’t find meaning, or your passion? You have to go out and try new things, and the more unlikely they seem, the better. It’s only through experience that you will find what you are meant to do.

Do you feel stuck? Alright, why not just move forward? (In any direction.) Your brain is stuck comparing alternatives, when what you need is action.

Feeling unmotivated? Here are good questions to ask: Who surrounds you? Who makes up your emotional family? What is your social circle like? It’s probably time to meet and learn from new people, and you won’t be able to figure out who those people “should be” by imagining or comparing. You have to get up, go out, deal with the risk of boredom, conflict and rejection, and make some new friends.

Do you just feel lost? You need to take risks, take action, and get out of your comfort zone. And you will never do that by thinking about it, because your mind will only want to compare what is already inside your comfort zone. Whenever your mind tries to compare something it hasn’t experienced, or that’s too far outside of comfort and certainty, it just kind of shuts down and says “no.”

I wasted a lot of my life trying to “figure out” what I should do, who I should be, and what I should surround myself with. It didn’t work. My mind can’t even figure out what song I should listen to next, and it certainly can’t compare its way to purpose, passion, or love.