When I talk to you about your purpose we are not talking about you becoming a pilot, a famous movie director, a professional basketball player, or a manager of a highly successful night club.
These are job positions.
They are very worthwhile and achievable goals. If you are trying to use your given talents and become successful, then these are very worthwhile things to shoot for. However, these things are not necessarily what your purpose is.
You will never be merely a psychologist or business person … not unless you allow this to happen to you. Or unless you spend your whole life letting your career entirely define you. If you are willing to allow that to happen, then it’s destined to happen.
Of course your career is very important to you. It is also important that you wake up every morning and have goals that you’d like to achieve. It’s important to get things done. You want to achieve things that give you a sense of accomplishment, that you are making useful contributions to the world. Having an outlet to put to use all the things you learned while in school or on internships and previous job is very important.
However, your whole world can’t center around the type of work that you do. Work does challenge you and it also encourages you to make use of your talents, forces you to think and to make improvements on whatever you are trying to fix, sell or create. It can help mold and shape you into the individual you are deep within you. It is definitely an important contributing factor into the person you are. However, it doesn’t completely define you.
Depending on work to provide you with a purpose is easy to fall into. Work lets you be judged. It gives you a way to measure yourself. Work also gives you the chance to say, I got a promotion so I must be doing okay! or I’m worth that amount of money.
When you attempt to find what your purpose is beyond work, nobody is paying you. No one promotes you. You don’t have to got into an intimidating office situation every year to get a performance review.
That is why it is so tough, and why it can be hard to find your purpose that is more than your career. Nobody is telling you whether you are doing things right or wrong. Nobody is showing you the ropes. There isn’t a training program to help you find what your purpose is. You don’t have any ladder to climb. You can’t go straight down or straight up. Instead you have to move in zigzags, and nobody is around to tell you what to work on, or that you are doing a great job, or that you will get a promotion after you have accomplished a certain task.
It is completely up to you to discover what your purpose is, which is what makes it so terrifying.
Don’t try to convince yourself that discovering what your purpose in life is, is only one other thing on your endless to-do list. That will just stress you out, but there is some surprisingly freeing news for you: There actually isn’t an endgame when it comes to finding your purpose. It is something that is continuous and is always happening. You will always be discovering your purpose and that’ not going to ever end.
Discovering your purpose is all about learning. Discovering as much as you possibly can about the world. Exploring new interests. Traveling. Reading. Talking with individuals who are not a part of your everyday life and really listening to what they say to you. Asking questions. Setting aside time to focus on the things that really interest you.
Discovering your purpose involves time … time with the people who love and care about. These are the people who give you those rare moment when you feel as if you really understand the world, even though it is for just a brief second in time. These are the people who make you laugh and, like you, aren’t the only ones going through certain things. They are people who provide you different perspectives and teach you things.
These are the people, that make your life a lot better!
Discovering your purpose involves doing things that frighten you. These are things that have adrenaline pouring through your veins and make your heart start pounding. These are things where your body reminds you how alive you really are. It could be something mental, like being on stage with a crowd in front of you or a physical activity like rock climbing. It is all about doing those things that you fear the most, and then experiencing how great your body and mind feel, once you’ve done them.
Because when it comes right down to it, after you have retired and your career is finished, you still need to continue to live. You have to continue finding what your purpose is after you aren’t giving presentations, receiving raises or getting promoted anymore. There need to be other things in your life, that can give you purpose. Learning and spending time with loved ones and scaring yourself are all ways to help you find your purpose. If you need any help, it’s entirely up to you to ask for it.
What is your purpose?
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