✨ Free Resource: A Notion Template to Help You Navigate Feeling Lost

If you're in a season of uncertainty, this free journaling & clarity-building template might help.
👉 Daily Journaling System

Takeaways from my own journey of surrendering to confusion to find clarity

We live in a world that prizes certainty, output, and visible progress. Yet, the magic happens when you come to natural realisations, those moments when an idea surfaces so insistently that it simply demands your attention.

Because what truly separates those who flourish from those who merely survive isn’t material wealth or raw intellect, it’s connection to the self. In the age of endless apps, side‑hustles, podcasts, and “Top 10 Things to Do When…” listicles, it’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed and paralyzed by the pressure to do things.

So what happens when you have too much time to do things or if you have no time to do things? You rush. You rush to distract yourself. You rush to find something that takes your mind off things. You rush to complete work on time.

When feeling aimless starts feeling uncomfortable, you’re forced to confront the blank spaces on your calendar and the swirl of competing impulses in your mind. It’s scary, but you open the door to deep reflection and, ultimately, momentum. It’s in that space of “not knowing” that you can tune into the small revelations that guide you toward what really matters.

Why Feeling Lost Is the First Step

I quit my “dream job” sooner than I ever planned. After years chasing a spot and finally securing it in the tech world as a content designer, I realised I was running away from my true calling. I’d always knew that I would want to building various businesses, have control over my time, but to do that, I had to take ownership and not instruction. I wasn’t ready, so I turned to the corporate world.

Torn between the two, I myself unable to focus on my full-time job, constantly wishing I could chase other opportunities. I knew them, it was time. I handed in my laptop, and I was free: no roadmap of quarterly OKRs, no more calls to align on things, just a wide‑open calendar and a mixture of exhilaration and terror.

Looking back on that now, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. If I hadn’t given myself permission to feel lost, none of the following would have happened.

Saying “Yes” to the Unknown and What It Taught Me

Within weeks of leaving my dream job, I found myself with an empty calendar and the freedom to chase curiosity instead of comfort. I booked a spontaneous trip to Seoul in August, armed with nothing but a suitcase and an open mind. Over the next few months, I:

• Accepted a midnight invite to a hidden jazz bar, and met an artist (now friend) who held their own exhibitions. She shared her process and showed me her art. Top 10 experiences of my life
• Wandered into a random meet-up and struck up a conversation with two founders, now partners in a project I’m passionate about.
• Joined a co-working community space, made friends with fellow “life‑designers,” slowly building a community of creatives who understood me, and we’re now actively collaborating on our projects. The Consistency Project lives there and we’re running our first event !
• Followed opportunities across borders—to Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, Dubai—each “yes” revealing new networks and new ideas I never would’ve discovered otherwise.

Of course, not every opportunity was aligned. I took on work I later realised drained me, simply because I needed the income. I floated between dozens of side projects, many fizzled out, but there’s always something to learn. At first, I worry about failing, about having to go back. But over time, a pattern emerged:

• I thrived on projects that married two or more disciplines (writing + sales, strategy, community).
• I found my energy soared in small, scrappy teams rather than in solo hustles because I loved to brainstorm and collaborate
• I burned out on anything driven purely by profit margins. Money as the only motivator was the fastest way to fail

What I Learned

1. Direction Follows Exploration. You won’t find your path on a straight line, it’s refined through wandering.
2. Trust Your Gut. Every misaligned “yes” teaches you to say “no” faster.
3. Multidisciplinary Sparks Magic. The richest ideas bloom at the intersection of fields.
4. Community Is Co‑Created. Saying yes builds your network; your network builds your opportunities.

Embrace the unknown. Say yes to the invitations that scare you, the projects that don’t fit neatly into your plan, and the friendships that form in the margins. Through exploration and failure, you’ll hone the clarity and confidence to chart your own course.

2. Learning When to Accelerate and When to Pause

There were months when I jammed my calendar: workshops, events, pop‑up dinners, travelling and meeting new people. Other months, I did almost nothing, sometimes not out of choice, things were just, slow.

I’ll admit, I don’t like when things are slow, but these slumps, these moments of feeling lost, were essential recharge periods and it helped me refine my strategy.

A lot of progress actually comes from negative emotions that demands unpacking. When you are busy, you have no time to think, when you have an abundance of time, you don’t want to think and wish for busyness. This is what I call the cycle of avoidance.

The Cycle of Avoidance

Diagram how busyness and avoidance create a self-reinforcing loop

When our lives are so full that we never pause, we trap ourselves in a loop: busyness begets busyness. We rush from one meeting to the next, never leaving space to reflect on what we’re feeling or why we feel it. Our instinct is to “do more” just to escape the discomfort.

On the opposite end, when our calendars suddenly clear, when a job ends or a project wraps up—we swing into another loop: we’re confronted by all the questions we’d been ignoring, and that confrontation feels so raw we distract ourselves with media consumption.

Both loops feel different, but they share the same shape: busyness or distraction silences the inner voice.

Negative Emotions are signals

Yet in that blank space, I discovered that anxiety, restlessness, even grief tell us that our values and actions have drifted out of alignment. Recognizing discomfort not as a problem to fix but as information to heed, transformed my stillness into a ground to understand myself better.

Default to Exploration and Discovery

So what did I do? I looked for things I enjoyed that were not revenue generating. As a business owner, we feel guilty indulging, but the “non‑billable” time spent wandering through Greek myths, tracing the evolution of animation, or diving into art history is crucial for self- discovery.

By anchoring yourself in curiosity instead of obligation, these low‑stakes explorations spark fresh ideas, refine your intuition, and compound into long‑term value, so that when you return to client projects or your own ventures, you’re equipped to create deeper, more meaningful work.

I used The Consistency Project to map these out, as you can see in the brain dump section, there is a dedicated space for me to write down what I’d like to research on:

I usually follow up with my media research material on my reading tracker. This allows me to dive deep and really engage with ideas that inspire me. I don’t pressure myself to complete anything. I let myself explore and see what ideas transpire from this practice.

In the last month, I had 3 very strong moments of inspiration that reminded my of what calls to me when I’m not chasing any specific metrics of success.

1. Iris van Herpen exhibition
2. The Renaissance period
3. Whisper of the heart, Studio Ghibli

When Curiosity Spans Disciplines: Iris van Herpen, Renaissance Polymaths

Looking back on quitting my “dream job,” there was a slow unraveling. It starts with your calendar being empty, the days blend together, then your heart starts racing every time you pay for something. You start panic dialing every friend, say yes to every freelance gig, and book a ticket to Seoul with no idea what would happen next.

One thing that really helped me was journaling every single day.

But what do you write? I found this structure to be quite helpful and put it in a FREE Notion template for you here.

It was only when I surrendered to that uncertainty, when I stopped running from boredom and let myself feel lost, that I discovered all the signals I’d been chasing were inside me the whole time.

Three artistic deep dives cemented that lesson for me:

1. Sculpting the Senses with Iris van Herpen

How interdisciplinary wonder gave me permission to wander

I took a trip down to Marina Bay Sands with a dear friend of mine to experience Iris van Herpen’s Sensory Seas. Learning about her process felt like a manifesto for my own mid-career drift. Her interdisciplinary work fused Ramón y Cajal’s microscopic drawings of neurons with the branching elegance of hydrozoa—3D‑printed silicone tubes twisting like dendrites, lasercut glass‑organza petals layered like living coral. She was also a huge collaborator, working with BMW to explore the intersection of fashion and automotive design, and with Magnum on a sustainable, edible couture concept.

I saw myself in those fluid shapes: part strategist, part writer, part wanderer, each role feeding the others. Van Herpen didn’t start with a crystal‑clear goal. Connections are everywhere, if you look hard enough. Her unconventional choice of partner also opened her work up to new audiences. To the untrained eye, this could mean a lack of focus, but to a connoisseur, she is drawing inspiration from everywhere and anywhere. She

She let curiosity guide her through science papers, artist collaborations, and technical failures until something alive surfaced. Watching her work, looking at how she documented her progress, I realized: my scattered projects weren’t a weakness but the raw data from which my signature work would form. Trust your own process, show people what you’re building, welcome an audience.

2. Rediscovering the Polymath in the Renaissance

Why crossing silos unlocks hidden breakthroughs

After Iris van Herpen’s spellbinding exhibition, I found myself thinking about the most famous polymaths- The Renaissance Men. Coincidentally, my friend and I decided to watch the movie, Angels & Demons, and suddenly the lesson I was meant to learn found me.

The protagonist decodes theology, cryptography, and art history in a single stroke, and I dug deeper into Michelangelo’s world: the same hands that carved David planned city defenses; the same mind that painted the Sistine ceiling sketched engineering blueprints. I continued exploring, researching how Leonardo da Vinci flitted from anatomy to aeronautics to devotional painting and never apologised for it. In fact, he was deemed a master at many things.

Their genius was never in specialization but in cross‑pollination. By braving multiple disciplines, they unearthed patterns that narrow focus could not reveal. I’m no renaissance man, nor am I an artist, but when I drifted from product design to sales calls, from positioning decks to curating events with other collaborators, each “experience” sharpened my taste radar. Every new skill became a lens that refracted fresh possibilities in my work.

3. Timing, Solitude, and Support in Whisper of the Heart

Why when—and with whom—you chase your dreams matters

Shizuku’s journey taught me that timing is everything. Early on, neither she nor I was ready; our creative seeds needed structure to sprout. In the film, Shizuku declines her friends’ invite in favor of the library, choosing focused learning over distraction. This month, I too turned down a spontaneous trip to Japan, because I knew Ning Collective needed my full attention and that half‑baked efforts without timing would have stalled me.

Shizuku’s was beset by anxiety as she asked Seiji’s grandpa to critique her novel, she was reaching for something premature, but Seiji’s grandfather reminded her that raw talent needs time to ripen. I saw my career detours and corporate grinds as essential soil for growth. And like Shizuku and Seiji pushing each other on, chasing their dreams independently but cheering one another forward. I’ve deliberately built a circle for Ning Collective of collaborators who challenge me, support me, and remind me that creative work thrives in community.

The months that once felt like wandering now reveal themselves as necessary exploration, sampling widely before focusing deeply.

Lessons Learned From Art

Giving myself the space to enjoy and dive deep into my interests, it cemented my belief that most powerful breakthroughs happen between the dots:

1. Trust the Experiment

– Iris van Herpen let materials and science guide her.

– Try This: Pick one “weird” combination—your day job + a hobby + a random curiosity—and spend one week jotting down every small insight that emerges.

2. Cross‑Pollinate Your Skills

– Michelangelo & da Vinci drew from every field, refusing to silo their genius.

– Try This: Map your own disciplines on paper. Draw arrows showing how one skill could inform another. Then pick one link and explore it for a day.

3. Honor Timing & Community

–Inspired by Shizuku and Seiji: Recognize when you need structure, solitude, or a supportive peer.

–Try This: Schedule a “focused weekend” with no outside invites to study or create. Then, reach out to one person who inspires you—share your progress and invite their feedback or collaboration

The Path to Confidence and Indispensability

Only by oscillating between speed and stillness did I learn to trust my own rhythm. Clarity isn't a finish line but the product of many cycles of charge, discharge, and reflection.

• Balance fast and slow lanes for complete development. Fast lanes build adaptability and risk tolerance; slow lanes develop depth and distinctive perspective.
• Provide value before it's requested. True indispensability comes from anticipating needs rather than merely responding to explicit demands.
• Authentic engagement > strategic calculation. When driven by genuine interest rather than external validation, the quality of your work naturally elevates.
• Intrinsic motivation creates distinctive work. Focusing on what matters to you personally leads to outputs that couldn't have emerged any other way.
• Confidence stems from proven adaptability. Knowing you can navigate unfamiliar territory successfully builds resilient self-assurance that transcends specific contexts.
• Financial courage follows professional versatility. Understanding how to provide value in various contexts removes the paralysis of money anxiety when taking calculated risks.
• Oscillation between speeds is strength, not compromise. The most resilient creativity emerges from knowing when to accelerate and when to reflect.

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Here is Your Invitation to Get Lost—and Found with The Consistency Project: A System Born from Stillness

Step 1: Month‑Beginning Reflection

Purpose: Rescue you from autopilot and surface the big questions you’ve been avoiding.

How it works: Prompts like “Where do I feel unbalanced?” and “What surprised me last month?” turn vague unease into concrete insights.

Rescue from “lost”

When your calendar emptied, panic set in. These prompts slow you down, giving negative emotions a context and transforming them from distractions into guideposts.

Step 2: Monthly Exercise—Intentions, Energy grid, Goals & Action Plan

Purpose: Turn reflection into directional energy.

How it works:

• Intentions (the “why” behind your goals)
• Energy grid (where you actually want to spend your life force)
• SMART Goals + Reverse‑Engineering (breaking big ambitions into bite‑sized steps)
• Anxieties Log (write down fears, then craft mini‑steps to face them)

Rescue from “lost”

Instead of chasing every opportunity , you clarify which projects truly light you up and which ones drain you.

Step 3: Habit Tracking & Insights

Purpose: Build a daily scaffold that sparks consistency without stifling curiosity.

How it works:

• Habit Wheel: Select 4–6 tiny habits aligned to your monthly goals.

• Insight Column: After each month, jot what worked, what didn’t, and why.

Rescue from "lost"

Random projects taught you your “taste radar.” This section fast‑tracks that intuition by showing, habit by habit, where to double down and where to pivot.

Step 4: Weekly Brain Dump & Spread

Purpose: Clear mental clutter so you can focus on what matters.

How it works: Categorise every thought into Home, Work, Personal, Ideas, Research, Decisions, or Random. Then distribute chosen items onto your weekly spread.

Rescue from “lost”

Rather than hiding in busyness to avoid yourself, you force each question or idea into the open, then decide, deliberately, whether it deserves space in your week.

Step 5: End‑of‑Month Reflection & Celebration

Purpose: Cement your learning, celebrate progress, and prime the next cycle.

How it works:

• Reflection Prompts: “What worked? What didn’t?”

• Celebration Page: Add photos, mementos, stickers—whatever reminds you, tangibly, of how far you’ve come.

Rescue from “lost”

In the frenzy of life, wins can disappear. This page turns joy into fuel for your next round of reflection and design.

Why It Works

Feeling lost is not a bug. You’re gathering experimental data on who you are and what you want.

Over time, the system reveals your personal pattern of “yeses” that energize you, habits that anchor you, and insights that point you toward your unique path. It doesn’t force you to choose a destination before you’re ready, it helps you uncover where you’re already being called.

By giving you just enough structure to show up every week, every month, and every day, The Consistency Project becomes your compass and discovery log, rescuing you from the “lost” loop and lighting the path toward your most creative, fulfilled self.

The soul‑searching, the stumbles, the wild experiments is at the center of self‑discovery. The most difficult part of life isn’t the work itself; it’s falling in love with the indefinite process of becoming. When you give yourself permission to be lost, you open the door to everything you were always meant to find.