“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why” – Mark Twain
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away” – Pablo Picasso
Chris Guillebeau, the author of The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, certainly took Mark Twain and Pablo Picasso’s words to heart. In his book, Guillebeau discusses how choosing a quest can give purpose and direction to your life. In addition, it can provide you with happiness as you pursue it. In fact, he argues that the pursuit of the quest is the part that gives you happiness, and not necessarily its completion. While I found some of what he writes to be a bit impractical, and at times counterintuitive, I do think that if we can find ways to incorporate mini-quests into our own lives, we would be happier and ore fulfilled.
Guillebeau describes being in an African airport, sleeping on chairs with his laptop bag tied around his leg, and being bitten by mosquitoes. He was in the airport waiting for a connecting flight to an African country he had not yet visited. His quest was to visit every country in the world and he was well on his way.
What is a quest? Guillebeau outlines the criteria:
A quest has a clear goal and a specific end point.
You can clearly explain a quest in a sentence or two. Every quest has a beginning, and sooner or later, every quest will come to an end. (Not everyone will understand why you undertook the quest, but that’s another matter.)
A quest presents a clear challenge.
By design, a quest requires that something be overcome. Not every quest needs to be dangerous or next to impossible to achieve, but it shouldn’t be easy, either.
A quest requires sacrifice of some kind.
There is no “having it all” when it comes to a quest – to pursue a big dream, you must give something up along the way. Sometimes the sacrifice is apparent in the beginning, other times it becomes apparent only later on.
A quest is often driven by a calling or a sense of mission.
A calling need not be some form of divine inspiration. It is often expressed simply as a deep sense of internal purpose. Whatever form it takes, people who pursue quests feel driven, pushed, or otherwise motivated to keep going.
A quest requires a small series of small steps and incremental progress toward the goal.
As we’ll see, many quests are composed of a long, slow-and-steady march toward something, with moments of glory and elation few and far between. You don’t simply arrive at the holy grail the day after you set out to find it. (If you do, it’s probably not the holy grail, and it’s definitely not a quest.)
To sum it up, a quest is a journey toward something specific, with a number of challenges throughout. Most quests also require a series of logistical steps and some kind of personal growth.
If you are at all like me, you might be wondering why anyone would choose to pursue a quest. If a quest must be a challenge, must come with risks and sacrifice, what is the point? After reading the book, I still remain with the same question. Guillebeau says that a quest makes you happy as you pursue it. While I am sure that this is true, I do not agree that simply because something makes you happy, you should drop everything and pursue it. In fact, I think there is a very selfish aspect to Guillebeau’s theory that does not fit with our family-oriented communities. Instead, I would like to modify Guillebeau’s criteria and encourage people to create “mini-quests” that will both challenge and fulfill them. These mini-quests will also allow for people to feel continue to responsibly live their lives in authentic and conscientious ways.
So, how do you create and pursue a mini-quest?
Identify a need. Look around you: at yourself, your home, your community, your neighborhood. What are needs that you feel should be addressed? Write a list of things that can be improved in your life.
Identify your strengths. What do you do well? Do any of your strengths match the needs that you see around you?
Choose your mini-quest. Match the need with your strength and identify your mini-quest. What are you going to set out to change?
Count the costs. With any quest, even a mini one, there are bound to be costs (to your family, to your pocket, or to your personal life). Count them. See if you are willing to shoulder those costs in order to pursue that quest.
Create a step-by-step list. Figure out the different steps involved in making that quest work. How do you start? When do you continue?
Set an end goal. When will you feel that the mini-quest is complete? There needs to be an end in sight in order for it truly to be a quest. Otherwise, you will constantly be striving but you will never feel accomplished.
Ready, set, pursue. Figure out steps 1-6. Go for it! And, then repeat with a new mini-quest!
Try making the world a better place with your mini-quests. Not only will you feel happy as you pursue them, you’ll be improving the world one mini-quest at a time!