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A life theme is a set of goals linked to an ultimate goal that gives significance to the things that you do. Your life theme guides you to what you will likely find to be enjoyable. It gives meaning to a lot of the things you do. And that meaning can be either positive or negative. Some life themes are discovered and others are accepted. Discovered life themes tend to be more authentic and intrinsically motivated. Accepted life themes tend to be inauthentic, assigned by others, and extrinsically motivated.

I saved the quote below on my Kindle almost 10 years ago. It’s from the book, Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. You can check out a review I did on the book here.

This idea empowered me to experience my work – with its successes and failures – as worthwhile and fulfilling. My work wasn’t always ideal, but in the context of my life theme, there were elements that served it.

This idea is especially important on the journey to reinvention where the road to your ultimate goal is not always paved. A life theme can guide you, through the ups and downs, as you move closer to what matters to you.

Life themes apply to the bigger life goals as well as our day-to-day work.

How Themes Help Me As I Move Through Careers

When I taught math (2008-2016), my “theme” was guiding my students to a breakthrough in the limiting beliefs that held them back. So many of my students used to tell me they were not “math people” which meant absolutely nothing to me. My mission was to help them break through those limiting and beliefs so that they could see how good they are capable of performing in math. There were ups and downs on this journey. There were times I lost a teaching job due to budget cuts. I lost tutoring clients. I also gained clients and found innovative ways to make progress on my mission. My life theme was my guide, it kept me on focused on what truly mattered to me in the work I did.

Today, I teach entrepreneurship at University of Pennsylvania and at Sarah Lawrence College and my mission is the same. The only thing that changed was the subject. In both of my courses, my north star is to help my students break through anything holding them back from taking an idea they are passionate about and turning it into a business.

In my coaching practice, my mission is a little different but still the same in some ways. Breakthroughs are still a part of my north star, but I also want my clients to have absolute clarity in the goals they choose to pursue. I know that clarity will make their goals achievable. Everything I do in a session with them is in service of that mission. Some things I try work out, others don’t. With my guiding theme, I am able to course correct and stay on the path.

My Highest Order Life Theme

My highest order life theme became clear to me when I left a successful corporate career in 2008 to reinvent myself. It was to help people achieve goals, grow skills, and pursue opportunities that mattered the most to them. It turned out that limiting beliefs were usually the source of the problem which is why I focused so much on breakthroughs.

I didn’t always know how I was going to do this, but I knew my mission and everything I did was in service of making progress. This life theme has led me to serve over 200,000 people as a speaker, teacher, coach, entrepreneur, and writer.

Biggest Lesson I Learned About a Having a Life Theme

It’s not about HOW you live your life theme, it’s all about making progress towards that life theme. A life theme drove me to reinvent myself into anyone I needed to become in order to help people achieve the goals, skills, and pursuits that mattered the most to them. It wasn’t about becoming a speaker or a coach or a teacher or anything else. It was about finding as many ways necessary to live by my life theme.

Zoom out for a moment. What are some of your life themes? Or what do you want your life theme to become?