“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” – Napoleon Hill
What’s the purpose of your life? Or to be more specific, what is it that adds meaning and satisfaction to life? What is it that gives us a sense of purpose?
Like many people, you might feel that you’re simply existing in life, going through the motions without understanding what it all means.
In living the “a purpose driven life”, you’ll start to find meaning in every moment of your life. You’ll learn to deepen your love for yourself and others, find the unique purpose you were made for, and prepare yourself for a meaningful life.
Jack Hawley writes in Reawakening the Spirit in Work, “Our life direction is about moving into the vacant upstairs flat.”
Purpose is that home within, that place where our talents, values and service to others-drive reside. It’s there all the time, waiting for your arrival. You may have been too busy “living your life downstairs” to even notice.
Successful investors and wealth builders tend to be purpose driven. They tend to have a clear vision about what to focus on and a plan on how to accomplish their wealth building and investment goals.
They have deadlines and milestones, and stick to them, holding themselves accountable for their progress or lack of progress. They focus on the prize and literally speak their reality into existence. Once they say they will do something, they do it!
People aren’t successful by chance.
People choose to be successful and then make it happen by first having a vision and written goals. They don’t ask for permission and they don’t search for acceptance from others. They win by not getting angry or making excuses. They clearly know what they want and take responsibility for for their progress or lack of progress.
No matter who you are or what you do, within, there is a purpose for life. Life may throw you heartaches and failures but your purpose drives you to persist, improve, learn and grow.
You can strive to “be better/do better”, which means to always try to be better day after day. It may only be a small percentage of improvement, but small improvements over time can compound into big changes.
Living a purpose driven life may help you to live longer, as research suggests. Scientists found that those individuals who have a purpose in life had a reduced mortality risk. In short, finding meaning in one’s life promotes positive aging and longevity.
Why is so important to have a sense of purpose?
Feeling that you’re making a difference, that what you’re doing has a meaning, can have a great impact on your life.
Having a sense of purpose can make all the difference in your life! It can help you to get up each morning, feeling excited about the upcoming day. Even more so, it can help you to confront difficulties and overcome even the biggest obstacles that lie in your path.
Personal Mission Statement
Here’s a quick way to get a sense of your life’s purpose.
By reviewing the kind of person you are and the abilities that come naturally to you, even if they got you into trouble in the past, you can gain insight into your life purpose, says psychotherapist Tina Tessina, Ph.D., author of The Ten Smartest Decisions a Woman Can Make after Forty. Do so by writing down a list of descriptions about yourself in each of the following categories:
Personal qualities (e.g., friendly, intellectual, a good communicator)
Your talents (e.g., painting, motivating people by public speaking, athletics, mentoring)
The circumstances that tend to repeat in your life (e.g., do you wind up teaching others, listening to people’s problems, working with children or technology?)
Your desires (e.g., traveling, cleaning up the environment, running for political office). If you’re doing something you’re not interested in or passionate about, you’re usually doing it with a bad attitude, a lazy demeanor, or doing the task grudgingly.
Then take the answer that is most important to you in each category and complete the following sentence:
I ________________ (your name) am designed to be a ________________ (insert personal quality) who can ________________ (insert talent) and I find myself ________________ (fill in recurring patterns or circumstances) often, because I am supposed to ________________ (desire).
Example:
I, John Smith, (your name) am designed to be a good communicator (insert personal quality) who can motivate people through my experiences and expertise (insert talent) and I often find myself listening to people’s problems (fill in recurring patterns or circumstances) because I am supposed to operate an executive coaching company and improve their circumstances (desire).
References:
- https://www.success.com/8-principles-of-purpose-driven-leadership/
- https://www.planetofsuccess.com/blog/2016/living-a-purpose-driven-life-11-effective-tips/
- https://www.lifeadvancer.com/purpose-driven-life/
- https://www.success.com/answer-6-questions-to-reveal-your-life-purpose/