With friends, family, colleagues and clients, I have conducted recently a decidedly unscientific study on the makings of an extraordinary life. I have a number of clients who have enthusiastically offered me their take on what makes up the extraordinary life.

As you might guess, a number of teenagers and young adults include the idea of putting forth minimal effort for maximal gain, what one seventeen-year-old referred to as the “pimp effect”. In my understanding, within the tenets of the pimp effect, one would work as little as possible, but live “large”. Large living entails daily partying, until sun-up at least once or twice a week, lots of booze, and significant smoking of the weed. Curiously enough, no “hard” drugs are allowed in this particular definition of the extraordinary life. This guy tends to model himself after the Hunter S. Thompson archetype, but with a helmet, kneepads and the occasional Slurpee.

Another client claims the extraordinary life is one led free of significant anxiety and depression. Whether through psychotropic meds, therapy, yoga, life coaching, acupuncture or exorcism, you eradicate those demons that have haunted your daily existence. Once this rather arduous chore is accomplished, one might assume, life is good. Oh, and extraordinary. Hard to disagree with this definition, especially for those who chronically suffer these maladies.

Yet another client feels as if the extraordinary life is one led entirely in the service of others. The more you live like Jimmy Carter or Bono and the less like, say, Paris, Britney or Lindsay, the more extraordinary your life becomes. In contrast, a coaching client defined the extraordinary strictly in terms of fame and fortune, and her stated goals line up in accordance with this value. What you want to do, she would say, is become a millionaire actress/singer/dancer/producer/perfume magnate. In this model, you have to be known to be extraordinary.

Study result: there is apparently little consensus on the meaning of an extraordinary life. With so many conflicting viewpoints on the extraordinary, how do we choose an extraordinary path for ourselves? How do we encourage others to do so?

In the end, I believe that if we strive to achieve our own dreams, we will make some significant contribution to the dreams of others. I think the world works in that synchronistic a manner. This is the most important component of an extraordinary life to me.

So what do you think? In your experience and in your opinion, what constitutes an extraordinary life? E-mail me and let me know. I promise I will summarize what I learn from you in future blogs.