Archive For June 9, 2016

What Is ‘Life Purpose’ Really?

Life purpose is a big topic of conversation in the world of personal development. Lots of people want to live a purpose driven life, yet all too often these same people struggle to define what their purpose is and how to go about living it.

While life purpose is commonly thought of as fate or destiny, I prefer to think of it as the expression of your whole self. In other words, it’s less important that you know it and more important that you are it.

In my Make It Happen Guide, I write, “Whatever you want or dream of you can have. It’s already in you. You’re the one you’ve been waiting for.”

People tend to make the mistake of looking for their life purpose outside themselves.This search ultimately leads to a perpetual feeling of disconnection.

The more outward you look for your purpose, the further away from it you feel. This is because your quest for it is built on the false belief that your purpose is something beyond yourself and not a natural expression of who you are.

Living your life purpose requires connecting with the deeper and truer aspect of who you are. If you’re curious as to how to plug into your purpose, here are my best suggestions.

Pay attention to where you feel connected, excited, passionate, and positive.

These are clues to deeper truths about yourself and your life purpose. The main point here is to do more of what makes you feel good.

Let yourself think “out of the box” thoughts.

Sometimes we get stuck because we judge our inclinations as destructive or negative. We say to ourselves, “If I did what I wanted all the time then I would screw up what’s important to me.” Yet, even negative thoughts or “out of the box” ideas can lead us in the right direction. The trick here is to act on these zaney thoughts in a way that honors your values and morals.

Honor your dreams. They are with you for a reason.

Your fantasies provide clues to your deepest desires, and following your desires can profoundly connect you to yourself and your purpose.

Your purpose is not necessarily your vocation.

Though one day you may turn your purpose into your career, to do so kind of misses the point. I suggest to think less about what work you want to do and more about what kind of impact you want to have. This will give you a better sense of how to orient your career and how to align it with your purpose.

Want a step-by-step guide to find and live your life purpose? My Morning Mindset Life Purpose is an inspirational daily video series that delivers tips, insights and exercises straight to your inbox for three weeks. Morning Mindset will help you step-in your purpose and live your life to its fullest. Learn more here!