Finding Your Purpose
Finding your purpose is an essential factor in personal leadership. 19th century Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle wrote “a man without purpose is like as ship without a rudder”
Many years ago my coach said of me “You’re a bit like a ship without a rudder, bobbing along on a sea of vagueness” I never said thank you to him back then but he was absolutely right, I was and I would like to change that right now and say “THANK YOU RAY” because those words changed my life. Purpose is the outward expression of who you are and is the compass that keeps your day to day life aligned with your strengths and values. Without purpose we are forever discontented and the primary reason people never find purpose is that they never really get to know themselves. Benjamin Franklin observed “There are three things that are extremely hard: steel, diamonds and to know oneself”.
The process of discovering your purpose is literally to “dis-cover yourself”, meaning to remove the outer layers of your ego to get to the core of your identity. Scottish theologian William Barclay had this to say about self discovery “There are two great days in a person’s life, the day they were born and the day they discover why” Discovering your life’s purpose will take time but outstanding achievement in every walk of life is invariably delivered by people with a clear, strong purpose. John F. Kennedy said “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction”
So how do you go about discovering your purpose?
Here’s 3 simple and fun ways of getting started.
- Start building a Master Dreams List, list anything you would like to do, whatever you would like to have and any place you would like to go. Don’t concern yourself with the reality of things as they are, just dream. This exercise stimulates your imagination and opens you up to the endless possibilities of what you can have, become and achieve. Usually this will consist of a combination of short, medium and long term dreams as well as those things you currently believe you have a chance of achieving and those that are a little bit out there. That’s ok, just have fun doing it.
- Write down a list of 100 Things That Make You Happy. These can be things, emotions and feelings, places, people, anything in fact that ticks the happiness box. When I did this it was easy to begin with but after a while it really challenges your thinking as you exhaust all the obvious stuff and dig a little deeper into the subconscious.
- Commence a More Of, Less Of List, for example “I want more time with my kids and less time in the office” again this appears to be quite a simple exercise however after a short time things become less obvious and once again it stretches your imagination and thought process.
Have some fun with this, it may take a while but over time some common threads will start to appear, combining things you dream of, that make you happy that you want more of.
Now how would it feel if you spent more of your waking hours moving towards those things and away from the things that are holding you back? How would it feel with this new sense of clarity and purpose in you life. The process is simple but it most definitely is not easy, it will take a combination of planning, passion, positive expectancy and persistence…………. but we’ll come on to those in due course.
So what is my purpose?
“To become the very best version of myself I can be, to rise above my excuses, to benefit others as much as possible, to smile more, laugh out loud, have fun and love life”
It took me a while to find it and I challenge myself to live up to it every day. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t, but it is the rudder by which I steer my ship. I write this down in my journal at the beginning of every month along with my seven goals for the month, one business goal and one goal in each of the 6 areas of life: Physical & Health, Mental & Educational, Social & Cultural, Family & Home, Spiritual & Ethical , Career & Finance. This sets the radar for the month and gives me the focus I need to work towards my ultimate purpose.
If you would like to know more or are interested in how we might help you find your purpose please drop me a line on success@orangeandblueaction.com
Finding your purpose is an essential factor in personal leadership. 19th century Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle wrote “a man without purpose is like as ship without a rudder”
Many years ago my coach said of me “You’re a bit like a ship without a rudder, bobbing along on a sea of vagueness” I never said thank you to him back then but he was absolutely right, I was and I would like to change that right now and say “THANK YOU RAY” because those words changed my life. Purpose is the outward expression of who you are and is the compass that keeps your day to day life aligned with your strengths and values. Without purpose we are forever discontented and the primary reason people never find purpose is that they never really get to know themselves. Benjamin Franklin observed “There are three things that are extremely hard: steel, diamonds and to know oneself”.
The process of discovering your purpose is literally to “dis-cover yourself”, meaning to remove the outer layers of your ego to get to the core of your identity. Scottish theologian William Barclay had this to say about self discovery “There are two great days in a person’s life, the day they were born and the day they discover why” Discovering your life’s purpose will take time but outstanding achievement in every walk of life is invariably delivered by people with a clear, strong purpose. John F. Kennedy said “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction”
So how do you go about discovering your purpose?
Here’s 3 simple and fun ways of getting started.
- Start building a Master Dreams List, list anything you would like to do, whatever you would like to have and any place you would like to go. Don’t concern yourself with the reality of things as they are, just dream. This exercise stimulates your imagination and opens you up to the endless possibilities of what you can have, become and achieve. Usually this will consist of a combination of short, medium and long term dreams as well as those things you currently believe you have a chance of achieving and those that are a little bit out there. That’s ok, just have fun doing it.
- Write down a list of 100 Things That Make You Happy. These can be things, emotions and feelings, places, people, anything in fact that ticks the happiness box. When I did this it was easy to begin with but after a while it really challenges your thinking as you exhaust all the obvious stuff and dig a little deeper into the subconscious.
- Commence a More Of, Less Of List, for example “I want more time with my kids and less time in the office” again this appears to be quite a simple exercise however after a short time things become less obvious and once again it stretches your imagination and thought process.
Have some fun with this, it may take a while but over time some common threads will start to appear, combining things you dream of, that make you happy that you want more of.
Now how would it feel if you spent more of your waking hours moving towards those things and away from the things that are holding you back? How would it feel with this new sense of clarity and purpose in you life. The process is simple but it most definitely is not easy, it will take a combination of planning, passion, positive expectancy and persistence…………. but we’ll come on to those in due course.
So what is my purpose?
“To become the very best version of myself I can be, to rise above my excuses, to benefit others as much as possible, to smile more, laugh out loud, have fun and love life”
It took me a while to find it and I challenge myself to live up to it every day. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t, but it is the rudder by which I steer my ship. I write this down in my journal at the beginning of every month along with my seven goals for the month, one business goal and one goal in each of the 6 areas of life: Physical & Health, Mental & Educational, Social & Cultural, Family & Home, Spiritual & Ethical , Career & Finance. This sets the radar for the month and gives me the focus I need to work towards my ultimate purpose.
If you would like to know more or are interested in how we might help you find your purpose please drop me a line on success@orangeandblueaction.com