Living A Purpose Driven Life: What Exactly Do You Carry As A Person

A couple of year's back I got frustrated with what life was sending in my direction and felt dis-empowered because I had no idea where I was in life as complexity of life overwhelms me. However, I hear people talk about living a purpose driven life and I was curious to find such life.

This brings me to the title of the topic I will be sharing today "How do you live a purpose driven life?" Thinking about the question itself, I took a deep breath because I did not know how to answer it initially. After catching my breath, I came up with another confrontational question that answers the first question. As the saying goes, "you do not answer with another question" nevertheless, it was the only way I could breakdown the process. The second question was "How do I find my purpose before living it?"

At this point, I started brainstorming with more questions but this time I felt it would be helpful to first clarify the difference between "purpose" and "goals" as it can often be confused with each other.

Purpose, defined as the highest level of goal in life that signifies one's existent and reason for being. In order words the master of all goals of life. No wonder we find that in life, the successful or the rich, (depending on how you do define riches and success) sometimes talk about being unhappy or suicidal. That also explains why you get fulfilled people who are not rich or successful per se but are happy and contended when they are living their purpose.

Goals on the other hand are the milestone and achievements that serves our purpose. For example, someone whose goal is to have a big five bedrooms house might have a purpose to foster children.

To identify our purpose or finding our purpose in life is complicated. In spite of that, every individual has the ability to make a difference in people's live hence living a purpose. It can be a complex journey; however, it is a necessary journey. Unfortunately, so many people do find they have embarked on a journey and would have climbed to the top of that mountain of purpose, only to find out it is not the right one for them.

Many have missed out of life fulfilment because they were not able to locate what their purpose was before their death. I once heard a saying that one of the most prosperous places on earth is the burial ground because it is full of people with unaccomplished purposes.

This tips and warnings can be use as a pointer for defining our purpose

Self- reflection

This is a major step to finding our purpose in life by taking an inventory of our life, analysing what are our strengths, and weaknesses are? We can find our purpose by maximising our strengths and improving our weaknesses. Becoming aware of the key factors to living a purpose driven life is a powerful start. Self-reflection will enable you to take a place where you stop looking outward for the answers but look inward into your core being or intuition, sometimes known as our gut feelings. We define intuition as the ability to knowing something without the use of reasoning; it is when you know something just because you know and not been able draw any reasoning nor logical explanation. For example, we sometimes have experiences where we feel strong about an issue or a situation that when we follow the direction of our feelings we get a favourable result, then again, we might get a feeling that our intuition is directing us to do something. However, we decide not to yield to it and it eventually it turns out to be the case.

Your purpose will drive you and compel you to dream, visualize, be fulfilled, have inner peace and joy.

2. Communication

Through communicating with trusted friends and family you can discover your purpose. Are there things people say about you that you do exceptionally well, or is there a talent that you recognised as having? Am sure we have all heard people say within the family or people we know, if you want a genius with caring gift in the family, then so and so is, the person or so and so person has a good heart and compassionate, always willing to go the extra mile. All these could be a pointer to where your passion lays hence your purpose.

3. Volunteering

Being a volunteer for an organisation of your choice can also be a tip for finding your purpose in life. It is also a good way to test our gut feelings and gifts. It is found that when people volunteer in their area of passion, they feel fulfilled, motivated and feel energise in that role more than they feel even in their full time work. They might actually feel a sense of achievement, value and contribution to other people's life. For example, I found this to be true in my voluntary work, am always looking forward to it and the sense of adding value to someone else's life is awesome.

4. Frustration

Frustration how can that be a pointer to one's purpose, it serves, as a prompter that something is not right hence the reason for the frustration. This could be an indication that you are gifted to do something about the situation you feeling frustrated about and only when you take up this role would you be living your purpose. These signals can also be evidence in a careersbusinesses where there is constant feeling tiredness and frustration with no logical reasons for fatigue, although not solely the factor but if you find that your energy been drained and you are feeling frustrated or having out of character behaviours like you are muddy at work and at home. Although it is not 100 percentages proven to be the only symptom but medically and psychologically proven that nine out of ten people feeling this way have an aspect of their life not right hence their purpose. It is more than likely that the person is in the wrong purpose or pursuing the wrong destiny. Therefore, they ought to be working on their exit strategy in that career or business to locate their purpose. This might take longer or short time depending on the actions you take and how determined you are to begin living a purpose driven life. If I can humble you, it is better to start taking little step than not taking any, and living in hope without action will only intensify your frustration. For example, I got frustrated with what life was dumping on me, having tried many careers and businesses and not fulfilled but frustrated because I knew am destiny to be making a difference in the community. I also felt am not to be operating in mediocrity and flowing with the masses but a unique being of excellent who is destiny to excel, so when that was not happening in my life. I knew something was missing that I had to find my purpose. Therefore, just over two years ago I embarked on a search to find out "Why" I am on the planet earth. I invested in personal development, and become a lover of personal development books, attended seminars and training developments, got myself a mentor, a coach and am still doing it, to get to where I am today, and my every day is opening up a new opportunity for me to excel and contribute to humanity.

Economy melt down

Often periods of instability forces individuals and organisations to reflect on themselves. As an organisation,question of would our purpose keep us in business or is there a way to redefine their purpose would arise, it is a catalyst for driving businesses back to the drawing board to determine whether the reason for existence could keep them on top of their market and meet customers needs.

For individuals, it is the fear of losing their jobs or thinking what if I do that drives people research the underlining skills and gifts, which then define the purpose. The thought of what can I do is the question in their mind that propels people to want to re-ignite their goals and skills hence discover their purpose. It is actually one of the few moments where fears can be turnaround into positive, because it forces people to either adjust or start preparing themselves for a plan B.

For example, in my case, I lost my job again, and this brought me to the realisation that I needed to look inwardly rather than looking outwardly for my solution and getting disappointments and being frustrated. I asked myself the ultimate questions, what are my strengths, talents, gifts that can ensure I am living in my purpose, what can I do, and whose help do I need? Above all, taking action was paramount to living my purpose. I got myself a life coach, mentors, invested in books and other learning medium and material to re-orient my thinking and overcome self-limiting believes. My discovery was phenomenal and life transforming. Awareness and knowledge without action will only ends in frustration.

What are the barriers or limiting factors to living a purpose driven life?

If I should ask a couple of people, what do you think are the barriers/limiting factors? I will probably get answers such as lack of time or I do not have the money to start the dream/purpose I have in mind. If I can humble you, both answers are neither the real limiting factor nor the barrier, but mostly what really limit people are their own fears and doubts.

How do these Fears and Doubts overwhelm us?

They are develop through our experiences or happen in our lives, it can be imparted through other people in our lives, such as parents, teachers, peer groups, siblings and so on. To give an illustration, a child who is 7 years old is told by his teacher, that he/she cannot amount to anything good in life, a statement like that has destroyed the child's destiny of become an achiever, if care is not been taking by the parent or the influences in that child's life to correct the damaging words. That could become that child's believe of his/her self for life. Therefore, a limiting force is been created in the life of the child. Unfortunately, every time such person wants to do anything that could amount to some good, the statement, which is been planted and ingrained in the sub-conscious, will stop the person from achieving. Hence going back to our point on fears and doubt, such person oblivious to how the damage is form, would continue to go round in circles and not find their purpose, because each time they have the intuition I talked about earlier. The gut feeling, the voice of fears and doubt raises it's head in the form of reasons and excuses we give for not accomplishing a goal or dream. Such as procrastination, such as I will get round to it one day, I do not have time, I do not have the money or it is not a good time with such economy to embark on a new project. The question is when will it be a good time? Now is the good time to take steps towards living your purpose. In terms of not having the time unfortunately, we can only spend time we cannot buy time back, so we create time. Then again, if you really think about it, we can always find time for what we really want and value.

Money most people say, if only I had enough money I know that is the reason am not living my purpose, I will get round to it someday. If I were to ask the question, how much do you think you would need to embark on the project? You are more than likely to hear something like I do not know but I guess it is a lot of money. You can see no thought has gone into the project to research it to know the exact amount in question. Any project aligning you to your purpose only requires taking little steps of faith to start in your capacity and as it unfolds, you will find resources to support the project.

In closure, I hope we are now more able to find some prompters to finding our purpose. Also conscious of what can limit us from living a purpose driven life. Now, how do I start embarking on this journey?

There are seven keys to help us start on a journey of finding our purpose.

Taking Action- The power in everything that we have been saying so far is in taking action. Without action every awareness and acknowledge leads you nowhere but wallowing in self-pity and no progress. For example, in my life I had played so many self-pity tunes, that no one is listening to the tunes anymore and even I myself detest the tunes and its sound and now the only tunes I play are those that motivate and drives me into my purpose.

Believe in yourself - There is a saying from Henry Ford that if you think you can, then you can, then again if you think you cannot then you cannot. Unfortunately, if you cannot believe in yourself and your ability then you should not expect others to believe in you. Your attitude determines your altitude. There is power in having faith and stretching ourselves because it connects us divinely with our desired purpose and propel us to our breakthroughs hence living a purpose driven life.

Support What plan do you need to put in place to start living your purpose and who, what do you need to help you and how? Such as personal development, re-training, support of a coach, mentors, networking, social media and so on.

Get a Mentor- A mentor is someone who inspires you, they have achieved success you dream of, someone who have been through the roller coaster of the area of purpose you want to accomplish, who can give you tips and "know how", challenge you, stretch you as a role model. It can be difficult at the begin to get the person you choose as role model on a close contact communication, such as speaking to them or getting appointment with them. However that should not stop you, you can always get their materials such as books, CD, magazines or their newsletter that will always speak their passion, mission and values. In my case I started to follow the works of people like Joyce Meyer, Meicer Weider, Les Brown, Jim Rohn, Dayo Olomu these are people renowned within the coaching and public speaking industries, which I believe is my dream for living my purpose in life.

Volunteering/Training into a career/business- Volunteering in an area of your passion is a key to start your purpose driven life by serving in this respect, you get to test the waters before you dive whether it is for you or not. Training into a career/business is another way to start a purpose driven life, starting at the bottom and working your way to the top where you want to live your purpose.

Never afraid and Learn to take risk - Being afraid or feeling fears is a perceived conception and it can only grow when we continue to nurture it instead of getting rid of it. There is an Acronym for FEAR (False, Evidence, Appearing, and Real). Most of the times when we actually take steps to do what we perceive as fearful, we will find it's not as bad or difficult as we perceive it; one-person fears might be a walk over for someone else. Therefore, we have to come to an understanding that fears are no longer valid when we take action, for we always conquer fears by action. Therefore, as you take the necessary steps of actions in your fears and doubts, you are taking risk, hence the fears and doubts loses its gripe and no longer is it fears but a channel for opportunity.

Learning should never stop - Individuals, who limit their learning capacity, limit their full potential. You may feel passionate about one thing early on in life and later in life, you could be passionate about something else because you have unfolded new discoveries about yourself as passion grows and we evolve in our vision, then we acquire new knowledge and skills, therefore learning are an ongoing process. Fulfilling our purpose is in stages that unfolded as we pursue it.

The value of knowing and living a purpose ensures a rock-solid foundation upon which you can build your life. As we saw earlier, lack of certainty keeps most of us from investing heavily in any particular direction. Therefore, when you have certainty - you can use it powerfully to thrust your life along its chosen path.

When you have your life purpose, you will begin to see meaning and structure in the events of your life. You can use your purpose as a yardstick to measure your current situation and any plans you may already have. In addition, of course, you can use it to make new plans - and these plans are back with your newfound certainty. You will implement those plans powerfully - and you will enjoy the process.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Living-A-Purpose-Driven-Life:-What-Exactly-Do-You-Carry-As-A-Person&id=6091177

Build Your Life On Purpose

I read a story, years ago, about a man who seemingly had it all. He was successful, influential, wealthy, and admired by many. It shocked me greatly to hear that he tried to end his life early, until I discovered the reason he had decided to do so!

For many years he had lived his life to please his parents, teachers, co-workers, associates, clients, etc. He had an image of what he thought was the ultimate status in life; he followed that picture fully! Though a gnawing sense of emptiness had plagued his heart, for years, he had submerged it under his vision to become a success in the eyes of others!

Never wait till emptiness consumes you to ask yourself the question, is my life on track with my true purpose?There is one human we must satisfy with our life's direction, that is us! Success is relative to our pursuit of purpose!

I have a number of mentors who have encouraged me greatly over the years. The one common denominator that consistently stirs me forward is their passionate pursuit of purpose. Nothing else in life can satisfy the longing for destiny in the human heart!

A life that is built on purpose is dramatically different, in the end, than one propped up by a desire to please others. The book of Proverbs describes a desire to please others as a dangerous trap (Proverbs 29:25). It then declares that those who put their trust in God will be safe! The only way to live a satisfying and successful life is to fully trust in God for direction (Proverbs 3:5-6). Relying on our limited understanding may lead us astray!

4 foundations to build your life on purpose

A life of purpose will come to those who intentionally pursue it. By building on the following foundations we ensure a satisfying and successful life, right to the very end!

1. Discover your true purpose

There are two distinctive aspects about true purpose that make it unique. First, it can only be discovered from within; this is due to the second aspect. Second, it was programed and placed within us by our creator!

To discover the inner triggers to our purpose we must ask the following questions: What makes me sad? What makes me mad? What makes me glad? What would I love to work at for free? What tasks do I find easy to accomplish? What thoughts inspire energy and passion in me? What dreams inspired me as a child? What do I daydream about? Is there a hobby that I feel especially drawn to? What thoughts consistently reoccur during my personal prayer and devotional times? Etc...

By asking questions, like these, we begin to get a picture of our ultimate purpose. The more specific the questions, the clearer the picture becomes! Note, this process must not be glossed over or rushed, and it must certainly not be persuaded by a desire to please others! The pursuit of anything other than our true purpose will result in regret.

2. Make an action plan

The next foundation is to begin actively pursuing our purpose by implementing a simple, daily action plan. Begin with the following question: How can I start today? Make a list of ten things you could do right now to begin the process even if they are just small steps (gaining new information, asking questions of others, visit a specific company, or read a book on a specific topic). As we begin on the right path, other action steps will emerge! Document these and plan to do them! Don't allow procrastination to hinder your journey.

3. Pursue mentors

We follow those who are going where we want to go ourselves! It may not necessarily be a similar vocation but it is essential that they are purpose driven! If we follow people who are inspired by their life's passion and purpose, it will soon be apparent to us, and them, if we become motivated by something other than our true purpose!

4. Remember the one who gave you the purpose

A life inspired by God shall remain on course with the purpose that was deposited within! That is why it is necessary for all of us to discover and pursue a real, living relationship with our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! Only He has the instructions to complete the journey! Develop a consistent, daily schedule of prayer and bible reading to refresh your perspective! His instructions will involve us in something that is bigger than ourselves, leading to significance, success and joy!

Discovering and pursuing a life on purpose is a choice that will protect us from regrets later on. We truly can be inspired towards a significant destiny!

My hope for you is that you fulfill your life's purpose!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Build-Your-Life-On-Purpose&id=6410819

10 Keys to Discovering Your Life's Purpose

Are you clear about the purpose of your life? And are you fulfilling it? Or are you one of the many people who have spent your entire life (until now) feeling restless, confused, just going through a monotonous routine day after day - and never feeling certain about the purpose of your life? If the issue of life purpose has entered your life at this juncture, it is important to find a process to discover it. Why? Because without it, you will never feel the level of fulfilment that is possible in your work. In my 21 years in the career development field, guiding people through transitions of various types, nothing has been more transformational for my clients than discovering and fulfilling their life purpose.

What do I mean by life purpose? First, in a broad sense, we all have a shared overall purpose, in that we are here to discover as much of our true self as we can and to express our true self through our lives to the greatest possible extent. We do this through all of the experiences we have, the people we relate to, the jobs we choose, and the teachers whose message rings true with us.

Each of us also has a specific purpose. It is a calling, a mission, or an overall theme for your life that transcends your daily activities. It is the quality you have come to earth to develop, the type of service you are here to render, the segment of the planet you have come to enhance or improve. It is much broader than one job or career; it pervades your entire life.

In fact, most of us will have at least five different careers in our lives. Your purpose is not found in a career area or a job description. Rather, you use your career (as well as the other aspects of your life) to accomplish our broadly stated purpose. For example, one man's life purpose was to promote peace. He did so by working as a mediator and by consciously pursuing peaceful relationships. Another woman discovered her life purpose was to nurture the earth. She learned all she could about conservation, worked for the park bureau, and soon was in demand as a teacher for other nature guides and conservationists.

Perhaps you have had a sense since you were a child that you had a 'mission.' Or you may have periodically asked yourself, 'What is the meaning of my life?' If neither of these questions has come to you consciously, you may notice that you life has consisted of much drifting from one job to the next, one relationship to another, with no sense of order or meaning - and a resulting feeling of emptiness.

If you have not experienced the level of success that you know you are capable of, or if you have felt as if something is 'missing' from your life, take note of this very important principle: You will experience success in your life to the extent that you are clear about your life purpose.

Qualities of Life Purpose

Life purpose is fun, joyful, and playful. When you are carrying out our life purpose, you will find that the time goes by unnoticed. Hours pass in pure bliss. Joseph Campbell and the eastern mystics use the phrase, 'Follow your bliss.' The dictionary defines bliss as 'complete happiness.' Thus Joseph Campbell is saying to pursue those things that cause you to experience complete happiness. Abraham Maslow called these experiences 'peak experiences.' Peak experiences are a regular occurrence when you are following your life purpose. Both of these concepts are closely aligned with discovering and following your life purpose.

Have you ever had the experience of reading a good book, working at a hobby you love, or listening to beautiful music when several hours later it seemed as if only minutes had passed? That is the feeling that is available to you when you have discovered your life purpose - and are living it.

Another characteristic of life purpose is that it is completely unique to you. No one else can fulfill your purpose. Whether it concerns an area that is being explored by many or by only a few, what matters is that no one can approach it as you can.

Clues to Your Life Purpose

Following are ten clues which will help you to discover your life purpose.

Clue No. 1: What do you love to do? That is, when you have spare time, how do you like to spend it? Your spare time activities are important because they show what you enjoy doing when no one else is making demands on you. This is truly your time. What do you enjoy doing with it? Even if these activities do not seem related to your career, they may be the seeds of an opportunity you have not yet recognized. Two ladies in a career counselling group a couple of years ago mentioned that what they liked to do in their spare time was watch soap operas. Once they acknowledged that as the thing they most loved to do, they converted that passion into a flourishing career writing syndicated summaries of all the daily soaps! Another way to think about this clue is: what would you do even if you were not paid to do it?

Clue No. 2: What parts of your present job or life activities do you thoroughly enjoy? Even if you feel miserable in your current job or career field, think about this question. If you think back to why you took the job or chose the career area to begin with, there are likely some specific tasks or objectives that are (or were) enjoyable to you. It might be a small thing, as in the case of the receptionist who disliked dealing with all the people in her job but thoroughly enjoyed the few moments each day that she got to type letters and sort the mail. She later learned that she was not a 'people' person, but a data person who enjoyed organizing things. That clue led her into her new job as a word processor.

As you go through these clues, forget all about what others may think of your answers. This process is for you, and you need not share it with anyone else. Another pair of home makers in a Northwest state realized that, even though it sounded silly, they loved to clean house. They were perceptive enough to recognize that this was a clue to a business opportunity, and they are now famous as the Clutter Ladies and make their living helping people clean up their messes and stay organized.

Clue No. 3: What do you naturally do well? You have some natural abilities. These are the things you just naturally do well. They have always come easily to you. Perhaps you are naturally athletic or can learn foreign languages quickly with little effort. You may be a born organizer or have innate intuitive abilities. The areas in which you naturally excel are indicators of your life purpose - particularly if you also enjoy the things you do well. Your Enjoyment Quotient - the sum total of the things that give you the greatest joy - is the most important guide to your life purpose.

Clue No. 4: What are your ten greatest successes to date (in your eyes)? For this clue, put aside what others in your life may view as your successes. What things do you view as your greatest successes? It may be something as simple as a gesture that helped someone in need - or it may be a widely publicized improvement you made in your company's efficiency. Whatever it is, list your successes, as well as - and this is important - what it was about the accomplishment or event that makes you label it a success. (For example, the person who many an improvement in her company's efficiency may label it a success because of the benefit to the company, the way it make her feel, the money it saved, the recognition she got, or for other reasons.)

Clue No. 5: Is there a cause about which you feel passionate? Many times, the essence of our life purpose is revealed through a cause which attracts our commitment at a deep level. For example, if you feel strongly about world peace, or the save-the-whales movement because of a love for Mother Earth, or for the whales themselves, or a desire to preserve the animals for future generations? What is it about the cause that attracts you to it?

Clue No. 6: What are the ten most important lessons you have learned in your life? It is said that we teach that which we most need to learn. What do you feel are the most valuable or important things you have learned through your life experiences so far? (They need not be related to work.) One of these that was on my list included a simple realization in my days as a secretary of the important of approaching challenges at work, such as how to handle an issue for my boss, as though they were my own personal challenges. This gave me a sense of ownership and self-confidence in my own judgement which allowed me to experience increased peace of mind in my work. No doubt you have had experiences that you recall often which were life-changing or pivotal in your life.

Clue No. 7: Are there some issues or perceived problems that have occurred over and over again? This clue is related to the previous one, in that out of one of these repeated issues may come your greatest lessons. But some of them are probably still occurring. That is, you have yet to learn how to break the pattern. Do you keep choosing mates that put you down? Or jobs that are beyond your skill level? If there were a theme for your life, how would you describe it?

I believe this lifetime is one of many we will experience in our ongoing process of spiritual growth. Whether or not you agree, these recurring issues or 'problems,' as we sometimes call them, often represent the key qualities you are here to develop. The Buddhists call them 'uncooked seeds,' or the qualities that aren't yet fully matured in you.

Clue No. 8: What do you daydream about doing? This is important because your daydreams have their basis in your subconscious mind. This is the largest part of your mind, but not as easily accessed as your conscious mind. Our mind resembles an iceberg: the conscious mind is the ten percent of the iceberg above the water that we can easily see, but the subconscious is the ninety percent that lies submerged below the water. It is in your subconscious mind that your beliefs reside, as well as your deepest desires for success and fulfilment. If there are images or issues about which you repeatedly daydream (or dream of at night), they may be aspects of your life purpose. Their importance cannot be overestimated.

Clue No. 9: Imagine you are writing your epitaph. What things do you want to be remembered for at the end of your life? What things will your life be incomplete without? This exercise is a good way quickly to access the essence of your life and goals. What are the first things that come to your mind - before your other chattering voices (sometimes referred to as the 'committee') override your initial impulse? Another way to approach this clue is to imagine you only had six months to live. What would you do differently than you are now? Once you realize what is most important for you, the next question is - what are you waiting for to make those things real for you?

Clue No. 10: What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Our final clue is a fun, and very effective, game you can play with yourself. If you have struggled to respond to the previous clues, this one encourages you to look beyond your perceived limitations. If you have been saying, 'I'd really like to do it, but I know I could never succeed,' I encourage you to forge the last part of that sentence for now, and think what you would do with your life if you knew you could not fail.

So now we know that life purpose is an overall theme or mission of our life that is unique to us. It is fun, joyful, absorbing, and fulfilling, and it meets a deep inner need within us. Taking the answers to the 10 clues, the next step is to notice any themes in the answers, e.g., do many of them relate to being with people in a particular way, or to solving problems or working with your hands? Those themes can then be distilled down into an 'essence,' the core of your purpose that is relatively unchanging, and the 'expression,' or the ways in which that purpose is being expressed (or could be!) in your life now. Here's an example: 'My life purpose is to promote harmony and balance through working as a mediator, parenting my children to live non violently, and volunteering in my community association.' What is your life purpose? Do you have a clearer idea now?

Implementing your Life Purpose

Now that you have begun to discover your life purpose, the next step is to implement it in your life on a daily basis. Here are several easy ways to do this.

1. Do the activities related to your life purpose first thing in the morning. This will allow you to do what is important to you before other distractions have a chance to tempt you off course.

2. Whenever you have a decision to make, ask which of your options will take you closer to your life purpose. Usually, one of your options will be more joyful than the other(s). This will be the one that leads to the fulfilment of your life purpose. Each small step builds on the last, and soon you are living the life of your dreams!

3. Be willing to change. To fulfil your life purpose, you must be willing to change anything that does not take you there. If you are harbouring resistance, fear, or old programming, merely stating to the Universe a willingness to chance it will propel you in the direction you want to go. You may not know the precise steps to take, but your willingness will lead you to take the right action for you.

http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Keys-to-Discovering-Your-Lifes-Purpose&id=575462

Its Your Choice

How To Motivate Yourself To Reach Your Goals

Having to do something you don't want to do isn't hard to imagine. We run into it almost every day.

It usually involves change, time, attitude and choice, but not necessarily in that order. There are some things we are faced with that bring out the two-year-old in us as we tantrum and say "no" both verbally and behaviourally. The doctor says we can't eat sweets, so we buy a big bag of Snickers. The workplace says we can't smoke, so we hatch all sorts of devious plans to do it anyway. We need to lose weight, so we skip anything that looks healthy or involves movement. It's all a big fat NO!

None of this changes the fact we need to do something different, new, better, life-saving and helpful for ourselves.

So, as an exercise, choose something you need to do. Now, let's ease into how to do it. There's no need to go whole hog and overwhelm yourself with dramatic and over-ambitious ideas right off the bat. It works best to look at other times you've made a successful change. Recall how you did it and remember the reward that came with your effort. Once you remember something you've done, you know that you truly can make wise decisions and you can continue to make them. Chances are, if something has come to mind, you did something to make it happen. The good news is that you can do it again, even better, quicker, easier.

I recommend writing your answers to these few questions:

Did you plan for success or did it "just happen?"

What inspires you to make change? Or Who?

How can you keep your focus on achieving or doing something to bring about change?

What's a reasonable time for this to happen? For example, don't plan to write a book in a weekend, no matter what those programs advertise.

If you had to defer one part of your plan this week, how would you make sure you pick back up and stay on course next week?

Do you prefer working days at a time? An hour at a time? What time of day is better for you to devote to achieving your goal?

If you were to evaluate yourself, can you see any patterns you choose that either determine your success or determine your failure?

Your goals are unique to you and the way you choose to succeed at succeeding or succeed at failing are unique to you. These questions will help you look deeply into your patterns of behavior and pick the parts that are more likely to work for your success. You can determine what different choices you can apply this time, based on what you know about yourself, to enjoy the process and achieve a good outcome.

Tips:

Create a plan for yourself. Write a daily plan that includes action steps. At the end of the week, you can see all the positive steps you've taken. If they are small steps, they are still positive. Don't discount them. Look at your week. Were there days you reverted or wanted to revert back to "the way I've always done it?"

If there were times you felt yourself slipping back into old habits or resisting change, make a list of things you can do if this happens again.

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It's Not Over Till You Win

Be Motivated

How to Live Your Purpose

It's a fundamental belief of mine that each one of us is brought upon this world with a major definite purpose in life. Everyone has a unique destiny for contributing to this world using their unique blend of talents and passions. I have no doubt that most people today work hard and stay busy with daily activities. The problem I've noticed is that many people live their lives without any sense of meaningful purpose that gives their lives passion and significance. They get caught up in the daily mechanical routines of life and they become creatures of habit rather than purpose-driven beings. Finding and shaping your major definite purpose is perhaps the most important thing that you will ever do in your life because your purpose is the driving force that spawns all the achievements that you will ever accomplish and it provides that unlimited source of motivation that drives you to achieve all the goals that you set for yourself and enables you to live life to the fullest.

What is a Major Definite Purpose?

Your major definite purpose is like a path that you follow during your long journey through life. Your purpose is by it's very nature something that you are very passionate about. In fact, it gets your juices flowing at the mere thought of pursuing it. It drives your actions and motivates you to do the things that you do, despite the adversity and even the pain that you might have to endure in order to reach it. Think back in time to all the monumental figures throughout history. What was their decided purpose in life? You will find that the great ones throughout history believed in their purpose so passionately that some even died in the pursuit of it. That is how strong your purpose must be for you. You must be willing to gladly trade the rest of the days of your life in the pursuit of that major definite purpose of yours.

Why Do Some People Get a Mid-Life Crisis?

Even if we don't clearly define our purpose in life early in our adult life, eventually it hits most of us at some point somewhere between the ages of thirty-five and fifty--the infamous mid-life crisis. This "crisis" almost always comes from an inner voice telling us that something is missing from our lives. That feeling is the need to find and pursue our major definite purpose in life. It's our subconscious mind saying, "Hey, you're at the halfway point already. Why don't you stop wasting time and start doing what you are supposed to be doing!" Why wait for your subconscious alarm clock to go off like that? Start working on it right now.

Your Major Definite Purpose is NOT Your Goals

There is an important distinction that we must make between goals and your major definite purpose in life. Your purpose in life is not your goals, but rather it defines all the goals that you create for yourself throughout your life. So they go hand-in-hand.

Your major definite purpose should be a lifelong journey or commitment without any discernable stopping point. The reason for this is that if you set your definite purpose with an achievable end point, such as saying Thomas Edison's major definite purpose was inventing the light bulb, then what do you do with your life after your purpose is completed? Anthony Robbins in his audio book, Live With Passion, states that many adult males die within a few years of retiring, not of old age or of poor health, but simply because they no longer have anything purposeful to live for. Your purpose does not follow the same criteria as goal-setting. Your purpose has no tangible end point. The metrics involved in weighing how successful you are with your purpose is decided by how you will be remembered by others at the end of your life. How many lives will you have saved, touched and inspired during your lifetime? How will history judge you? What things or people will you leave behind when you are gone? The legacy that you leave behind is the measure of successfulness in achieving your major definite purpose in life.

How to Identify and Clarify Your Purpose in Life in Six Steps

There are two parts in realizing your purpose in life. The first part is your general purpose, which is simply how you want to be remembered at the end of your life. The second part of discovering your purpose is figuring out how you intend to carry out your general purpose through your specific talents, skills and abilities.

Step 1--Take a Personal Retreat From Your Daily Routine. Finding your life purpose is perhaps the single most important answer you will have to find for yourself and it stands to reason that in order to find your purpose, you will need to dedicate 100% of your mental and spiritual energy towards that effort. With all the chaos surrounding our daily lives, it's not practical to even attempt to find your life's purpose while managing the other responsibilities of your life. Take a couple of days and get out on a personal retreat just by yourself. Go some place quiet and peaceful where you can really contemplate what your major definite purpose is.

Step 2--Identify Your Core Competencies. Make a list of eight things that you are really good at doing. These can include specific talents, skills and abilities that you have. Don't worry about your purpose at this point. Just list your best skills. My core competencies include writing, coaching, and teaching.

Step 3--Identify Your Passions. Make a list of four things that you are passionate about and love doing. These are things that you would gladly do without pay because they are a constant source of joy and happiness for you. Your list of passions will most likely be a duplicate of your list of core competencies because you usually do well what you are also passionate about. Match up your core competencies with your passions. Now you have a list of four things that you do well and also the things that you love to do.

Step 4--Identify Your Legacy. Your legacy is how you would like to be remembered after you are gone from this world. If you had your own chapter in a history book, what would be written about your life? What contributions would you have made to society? Brainstorm on a legacy by writing eight ideas and then use a tournament-style draw system to prioritize your list down to the most important legacy. This can be done by simply pairing up each of the eight ideas and then deciding which one out of the two is more important and then repeating this "tournament" until you have a winner. The winner becomes your general purpose in life.

Step 5--Link your passions with your purpose. Remember that having a general purpose is not enough to make it meaningful. You must also decide on the method that you will use to achieve that purpose. Our purpose might be to help other people, but our methods for achieving that purpose might be very different. Simple analyze your list of passions and core competencies and figure out how you can use those talents and passions to achieve your purpose in life.

Step 6-- Create a Purpose Statement. Your personal statement of purpose is a concise declaration of why you are here on this world. It's made up of two parts: a general purpose and a method. Keep your purpose statement as concise as possible and limited to only two sentences. Your first sentence is what you intend to do with your life--the legacy you came up with in step 3. The second sentence is how you intend to reach that purpose--your method. My personal statement of purpose has always been to help as many people as I can make their personal dreams come true. I achieve this purpose by writing, coaching and teaching others how to achieve their fullest potential.

Commit Everyday Towards Living Your Purpose

Once you identify and clarify what your purpose is, you must make a commitment to yourself to stay true to that path. This can be easily achieved by making yourself do something each day that moves you forward in the direction of your purpose. Even if those actions are small, if you do at least one thing each day that moves you closer to your purpose, then that's 365 small steps forward by the end of the year. By the end of 30 years, you will have taken 10,950 steps towards your major definite purpose. No matter how small those steps are, they will add up to be something very significant as time progresses--so start today! At the end of each day, before you go to sleep, ask yourself if you gave yourself everything that you had to give that day.

Develop a Never Give Up Attitude

The journey towards your purpose is never an easy one. Your will inevitably face challenges that come about, some small, others quite big. Regardless of the obstacles placed before you, it's important that you develop the iron-clad determination to do whatever it takes to reach your major definite purpose in life. Adversity will test your resolve and it is up to you to pick up that sword and battle any challenge that gets in your way.

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