One of those inspirational videos popped up on my Facebook feed recently — you know the kind, with white text on a black background above and below the video declaring it to be life-changing as someone urges viewers to do everything they can to achieve their dreams.

It’s a common mantra for graduation ceremonies and for mindlessly thumbing through Facebook posts.

Basically it said there’s more to life than going to work, paying the bills and waiting for the weekend — not only is it right, it’s beautiful.

We’ve all heard that message, particularly during graduation season as the latest batch of graduates end one chapter and begin another.

It’s nice, it’s inspiring — but it’s old hat and misses a big step ... the first step.

Figuring out what you’re passionate about, what’s your goal, or what’s your purpose in life is the tricky part.

It’s like being hungry, but not knowing what you want to eat so you just keep opening cupboards and the fridge and saying “nope, there’s nothing to eat” even though there’s tons of food in there.

There are a lot of options, but you only get to choose one, right?

Wrong.

Try something new, give it a taste and see where that goes.

Failure is part of the trial and error process. Nobody goes to the store and buys jeans without trying them on — and the first pair rarely fit right.

Steven Spielberg was turned down by three different film schools, Beyonce was told she couldn’t sing, and the list of famous failures turned successes goes on.

They knew what they were meant to do, but how many people can say they know what their purpose is?

Like many Millennials and journalists, I’m a jaded guy.

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and it will be a hundred times worse than expected. 

For as long as I can remember, TV news has been shouting that “today’s events are without a doubt the spark of the end of it all.”

If this politician is elected, it will mean the fall of America.

The majority of marriages fail.

Going to college means crippling debt, and not going to college means unemployment.

Everything causes cancer.

The sky is falling, so you better stay tuned — and stay scared.

The more you know, the more you should be scared, right?

Well I say wrong, of course there are things to worry about — but don’t let the “what ifs” stop you from thinking outside the box when figuring out what you want to do or who you want to be.

Stop frantically opening cupboards looking for something to hold you over.

What sounds good? What’s the most satisfying thing you can think of?

You might have to really think outside the box and order off the menu.

The options directly in front of you aren’t the only options available.

You might have to go out and find something new and different. It could be something you’ve never encountered before, such as Indian typist turned world champion pool player, Revanna Umadevi Nagaraj.

Nagaraj had not so much as touched a pool cue until 1993 when she was 28 years old, but then went on to become the World Women’s Billiard Champion in 2012.

A favorite quote of mine isn’t from a pretentious author, a renowned scholar, a legendary philosopher or even someone real — it’s from a fictional character, Dr. Who.

“You know when you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all ‘grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid’ and that’s it. Nah. The truth is the world is so much stranger than that, it’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.”

Don’t settle for the dollar menu when finding your dream.

Don’t ask yourself what you want to be when you “grow up.” Instead, ask yourself what problems you want to solve and what experiences you want to have along the way.

If it’s under your skin and keeps you up at night, if it puts fire in your belly, and keeps you so engrossed that you lose all track of time — then you’ve found your answer.