Define your Purpose

One way to truly know yourself and experience fulfilment is to
get in touch with your Life Purpose. With the
frenetic pace of
life, business and career pressures, it can be easy to be
distracted and start living a life that isn’t aligned with your
purpose in life. Have you ever felt miserable and as if your life
is going nowhere, or not in the direction you thought it would?
Your Life Purpose works hand-in-hand with your values and,
the two combined, give you the unwavering belief in what you
stand for and ensures you live your life by design, not someone
else’s making – you are happier and fulfilled when doing what’s
most important to you AND expressing it in every part of your
life.
Richard Lieder, who wrote ‘The Power of Purpose’ said it best:
“Purpose is the conscious choice of what, where, and how to
make a positive contribution to our world. It is the theme,
quality or passion we choose to center our lives around.”
Here are 3 steps to defining your Life Purpose:
1) No-one can define your life purpose for you. Your life
purpose is something within you which firstly begins in
deciding that YOU matter – YOU are unique and different from
everyone else and YOU are special. For 15 minutes each
morning, take some time out to sit in a room free of distractions.
Look upon this time as an opportunity to sit quietly and
concentrate on just being in the moment. Observe your breath
and let your mind empty itself of trying to sort out the day’s
problems. Instead, focus on you and experience a comfort
within yourself. This may not come naturally at first and you
may find your mind filling with your ‘to do list’. When you do,
stop, concentrate on an object in the room or the nice scenery
outside and clear your mind.
2) To find out what matters to you and define your life purpose,
it requires delving into your life from various angles to discover
any matching themes. Block out an hour in your diary, then find
a nice quiet spot to answer these questions. In doing so, listen to
your inner intuition – the little voice inside you. What does it
immediately say to you? Write it down and forget about making
the words or sentences perfect. Just jot down what comes to
your mind.
What do you love doing in your spare time or when working?
What activities are you currently doing that you enjoy?
What do you naturally do well?
What are your 10 greatest successes throughout your life so far?
(Note: this isn’t what someone else thinks, this is what YOU
think)
What causes do you feel passionate about?
What are the 10 most important lessons you have learned in
life?
What things do people normally ask your help for?
If money was not an issue, what daydream would you be
fulfilling right now?
Imagine you are writing your own eulogy. What things do you
want to be remembered for at the end of your life?
Picture yourself at 80 or 90 years old. You are happy, content
with life, and feeling very blessed at everything life has gifted
to you. Your mind wanders to your family, your friends and
other relationships and you give a happy sigh… your heart
skips a beat remembering everything you have achieved in your
life. Reflecting on everything your life has been made up of
over the last 80/90 years, what matters to you most?
How would your life be different today if you knew it was
impossible to fail?
3) Once you have answered your questions it is time to look for
the common themes that have emerged. What patterns do you
see? What seems to matter the most to you? If you are unsure of
what the patterns are or what they mean, then consider asking a
family member, friend or coach to help you in defining the
themes.
Once you have defined your life purpose, don’t let it sit in your
head. Next step is to write your Mission Statement. By writing
down your own personal mission statement that is your life
purpose, you are giving yourself permission to live by your life
purpose and providing a tangible reminder each day of who you
are and how you are living your life by your own design.
A Mission Statement is made of three parts.
1) Your talents and values – this is the essence of who you are
2) What you wish to accomplish and what contributions you
believe you bring to the world – yourself and others
3) Quantifying your life purpose – the measurable results you
wish to achieve by living out your life purpose – i.e. how will
you know when you are truly living your life purpose?
When writing your life purpose use positive words and
eliminate such things as “I should”. There are no ‘shoulds’ in a
life purpose… your purpose is made of ‘I will”. Express
yourself in the present tense, even if you may not necessarily be
living all aspects of your life purpose in the present tense, at
this point in time.
For brainstorming purposes, this is a great site to view what
other folks have come up with for their personal mission
statement:
http://www.missionstatements.com/
personal_mission_statements.html
Once you have written your Mission Statement that clearly
expresses your Life Purpose, don’t hide it in a draw. Display it
proudly on your wall where you can see it everyday. If you
wanted to take it one step further – and why not? – then
consider getting your Mission Statement designed and printed,
then framed. The design could encapsulate in a visual way how
you live your life purpose.
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose
recognised by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly
worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a
force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of
ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not
devote itself to making you happy.”
Are you waiting for the world to make you happy, or are you
going to design your own purpose and mission in life to make
yourself happy?