What are you supposed to do with your life? What deserves your limited reserve of energy, attention, and time? What's making you anxious or frustrated right now? What would make you happy and fulfilled?

The world is shouting its answers to these questions, but the real answers are quieter—and right in front of you. They are in the details of your day, every day. But we usually look right past them. Or we are simply so distracted we've lost the ability to see and hear the life going on right in front of us. If we're not intentional about changing this trend, this "inattentional blindness" can rob us of years of joyful productivity. But when we learn to observe the details of our days, we discover new lenses through which to see and new practices of paying attention that add meaning to life.

Stop drifting. Stop worrying. Stop living distracted. Walk purposefully through life with a firm grasp on what's important to you and what you're working toward—all by listening to the details of your day.