“What is your purpose?” “What is the meaning of your life?” Have you ever thought about these questions for yourself? The concept of purpose is broad, transcendent, and certainly not something you bring up in casual conversation, but knowing our purpose is critical to our success in life. It gives us focus, meaning, and a prism to view our life through to determine whether we are focused on the right things or not. If you look around, the people with the deepest sense of purpose seem to do the best. For example, I know a teenager who, instead mindlessly wasting her life on social media, she decided to start a house cleaning business to earn money to help her family. That teenager’s purpose to provide for her family, actually helped her to create a multi-million dollar business with over 300 employees by the time she was 25.
The concept of purpose was something I came to grips with myself a few years ago when I felt like I was a whirlwind of activity going nowhere. I was too many things for too many people, I couldn’t say “No”, and I was feeling that I wasn’t being true to myself. So after a pretty lengthy process of self-exploration, which yielded a “Personal Constitution” – another post for another time – out of that came my own sense of purpose. It was this sense of purpose that provided the framework for everything else. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, chances are you’ll never get there. I realized that we as people may fulfill one or more purposes as we roam this great earth. It’s certainly true for me personally, these are my seven:
- To create and perpetuate life
- To achieve my fullest expression
- To express true Unconditional Love
- To use my voice to move, educate, and inspire
- To give courage to all
- To leave the world better than I found it
- To help each person I encounter to become more than they are.
The last purpose above is what drives me to get up early and stay up late as I seek to accomplish this, not only for my family but for all those who I connect with.
I believe that your purpose is tied to what you are uniquely gifted and qualified to do. That gift is the thing that no one else does better than you. And it could be something as simple as “No one manages finances better than I do”, “I am the best quilter ever”, or perhaps “I’m the most handy person, I can fix anything.”
So how do you find your purpose, if you don’t already know what it is? Well, numerous books have been written on the subject, but given my penchant for simple, practical advice let me share a short set of questions (that I have personally used for myself and others) that should help start you down the path of identifying your own purpose. It’s adapted from a set of questions David Bach posed in his best selling book, “The Automatic Millionaire”
- What are you uniquely talented in doing? (i.e. Your gift(s) – What area(s) of your life are you more skilled than most other people?)
- What is easy for you and requires little no effort?
- What do you love doing more than anything? (i.e. what would you do for free or even pay to do?)
- What do other people think you are uniquely gifted at doing?
- At the end of your life, what would you regret NOT doing in this life?
Chances are, if you see some of the same answers over and over, then you’re starting to triangulate what your purpose is.
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