a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something
out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other
fellow’s mind and heart.”
Charles H. Burr
Once you’ve awakened to the many possibilities that exist for your life purpose, you might feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. So many choices! So many great ideas and not enough time to put them all into action! How do you know which one is the right one? Or are all of them equally right?
There is no easy answer to that question except to say that you’ll know it in your heart. The best choice for you will just “feel right.” You’ll be thrilled by the idea of doing it and you’ll be eager to get moving right away!
Again, remember that you don’t have to take on all of the possibilities right away. There’s nothing wrong with starting on one small aspect and then gradually branching out. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do that.
As exciting as it is to discover a new purpose for your life, you may still have fears and doubts you’ll have to work through, as well as physical actions that need to be taken in order to make it all come together. That will take time in most cases.
Work at your own pace and don’t try to rush the process of transformation. Remember that for every outer transformation you make, you’ll also be making some inner transformations!
This is especially true if your current life circumstances have moved you far away from your true life purpose.
Whether due to external influences or inner fears, you may have created a life that doesn’t even come close to including your true passions and interests.
In fact, that’s much more common than you might think!
Sometimes we don’t know what we want to do with our lives, so we allow others to direct us. Perhaps your parents or your high school guidance counselor chose your current career. Maybe you followed friends and modeled your activities and goals after theirs because you didn’t know what else to do.
No matter your unique situation, it’s possible to change it all – one step at a time. First, let’s talk about career and life purpose.
Does Your Purpose Have to Be Your Career?
Did you notice that our example chart was geared toward a life purpose that is also a career? Many people do choose to turn their life purpose into a career, but you don’t have to. Maybe you already have a job that pays well and you enjoy it, but you also feel a need for something more. Maybe you are retired or financially independent and don’t want a job or business but you want to serve others in meaningful ways.
The form your purpose takes is completely up to you, whether you turn it into a paying career or use it as a vehicle to serve others freely.
The Steps that Lead to Fulfillment of Your Purpose
Once you’re clear on the form you want it to take, you’ll need to begin planning and preparing for action. This is where many people stall. They know what they want to do, but putting it all together seems like a monumental task.
Living your purpose is no different than achieving any other kind of goal. You need a detailed PLAN to put it into action. With most goals, there are clear steps that lead to the final outcome.
Using the same example from earlier, let’s look at some possible steps that would be needed to put this life purpose into motion:
• Receive training and certification for dietician/personal training
• Write the book(s) that will be published
• Decide on a location (will it be done from a home office, leased space, etc.)
• Create a website, blog or newsletter
• Learn marketing and promotion
• Network with others in the industry
• Secure financing for business start up
Depending on the form this person chooses for his or her purpose, there will be specific tasks that need to be completed before the desired outcome can take place.
The same will apply to your own purpose. You don’t have to complete everything at once – you simply take one step at a time and move each puzzle piece into place. Gradually, the whole picture becomes visible and before you know it, you are living your purpose.
Take a few moments right now to list the logical steps you’ll need to take in order to move forward on your own purpose. Include things like education and training, skills and experience you’ll need to have, lifestyle changes, external help, resources or financing you’ll need, and so on. If possible, try to list these things in chronological order, starting with the things that need to be done first before you can move on to the next items.
Steps to Be Taken...
Once you’ve got some clear steps outlined, it’s a simple matter of taking them one by one! When you do that, you keep moving forward and everything falls into place.
Do you feel doubtful about that? In fact, right now are you besieged with thoughts like this: “Who am I kidding? I don’t think I can do this. I love the idea, but it’s just not realistic. My job is so demanding and I don’t have the money needed to start a business, not to mention the time investment needed . . .” – Stop right there. There’s something important you need to know.
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