What is Your Purpose in Life?

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

According to an article, Top five regrets of the dying, "This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise until they no longer have it."

What do you do to avoid not living the life you want? Find your purpose in life.

Whatever you do, it is your choice; you are responsible for your own life. Things you decide to do or not do will influence the outcome of your life. The purpose of living is to be happy. You decide what is important in your life. You live your life with passion, energy and health.

This is how I find my life’s purpose. I start off with my personal mission statement:

As a blogger I write to inform, educate, guide, inspire and motivate my readers. I answer the questions of who, what, how, why and when.

I match it with my skills and what I am interested to do in which I am happy about it.

 

As soon as you have your personal mission statement written, you have to answer the following questions:

·        How often you do things as stated in your personal mission statement? You can’t change your life overnight. If you are not doing it now you may not be able to take off later. You have to start doing it now in a small way and build up your momentum.

·        Is it what you are good at? You will do what you are capable of doing and you will be happy and be engrossed in doing things that you enjoy and passionate about.

·        Do you find happiness and satisfaction in what you want to do?

·        Will you be consistent in doing it day in and day out?

When you cannot answer these questions with affirmation, you need to change your personal mission statement. Your personal mission statement is aligned with you talents, aspirations and values in life. As an example, you work in the office and you aspire to be a great chef. Is cooking your hobby? Have you been spending your free time in the kitchen cooking up some dishes?     Do you learn from others and read a lot about cooking?      

Conclusion:

The most important thing to remember is that if you cannot do great things, you do small things in a great way. You are in this world to play a role and you act the best you can. When you die people will remember you for what you have done in a positive light.  

A Journey Into Finding Your Life Purpose

What is your life purpose?

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”- Dalai Lama

A couple of years ago I was working so much I forgot about my health, family, and friends. Somewhere along the road of shooting to become a successful business owner, I lost track of what was most important. My dream somehow turned into a reality of being stressed out, overweight and unhappy. It finally hit me…

Work had become my life’s purpose.

Like so many other business owners, I started my business for a chance at freedom and the opportunity to be the master of my own destiny. I had visions of success and money, and with that, I believed I could one day finally be happy.

But the reality was I was not happy. I was miserable.

I won’t bore you with business concepts, but there is one important concept I learned that changed my life and I want to share it with you.

All great companies have four things: purpose, vision, mission, and core values.

I asked myself, why can’t I apply these ideas to my life? So I did, and here’s how you can apply it to yours.

Purpose

Your life’s purpose is the reason why you exist. It’s the reason for being.

Let me ask you again because it’s in my humble opinion, the most important question you could ever ask yourself – why do you exist?

In the past, if you asked me what my life’s purpose was- I would have told you it was to make lots of money. Believe me, there’s nothing wrong with making money, but for myself, I finally realized it was not the reason why I exist. It was only an enabler at best.

Finding your life’s purpose is very much about finding yourself. Life with a purpose drives you when you wake up each morning. But figuring it out takes time. After pondering and pondering with no answer, I finally asked myself the following questions:

1. What do I really want?
2. What makes me happy?
3. What gives me peace of mind and fulfills me inside?

Then all of a sudden it hit me! My life’s purpose was simply to be happy.

With this newfound realization, I knew this was the beginning of a new life. Now the question was what does being happy actually look like?

Vision

Your vision is what your life looks like when you achieve your life’s purpose.

Your vision should define your life’s purpose in detail. It is the manifestation of your purpose. In terms of goals, these are your Dream Goals – the biggest goals of your life. Think about it this way, if you cannot see it, how would you know if you were there? To help you see your vision, consider the following questions.

1. What does it look like?
2. What does it feel like?
3. What are you doing?
4. Who do you see?
5. Where are you?
6. What are your passions?

It took many weeks, but I eventually was able to define what happiness meant to me. I knew exactly how it looked and could describe it in detail.

My vision was to help people reach their goals and dreams, be a mom, enjoy every moment with my loved ones, and give back to the world.

That’s what being happy means to me. The next question was, how?

Mission

Your mission is how you fulfill your vision, and in turn, your purpose.

Think of your mission as a way to live your life, almost like a personal philosophy. It’s like a set of instructions that tells you how to do something. It’s supposed to be broad enough to give you room, but concise enough that you know exactly what you have to do each and every day. In terms of goals, these are your Now Goals – the goals you need to meet day in and day out.

Your mission aligns your daily life with your purpose. To figure out your mission, here are questions to ask:

1. How do you reach your vision?
2. How do you need to behave?
3. What do you have to do every day?
4. What should you not do?
5. What obstacles will be in your way?
6. How many options do you have?

I admit the questions above were difficult to answer. These were questions that would impact my life, and it was scary to know how many adjustments I needed to make in order to start living my life’s purpose. This was going to require me to change the way I worked and interacted with the world.

After many different versions of my mission, I finally came up with one…

“Lead with my heart, make positive change in peoples’ lives, and live gratefully every day.”

Your mission will keep you on track throughout the day – just remind yourself what your mission is when you get lost. For example, I have a tendency to let small worries turn into big worries that bring me down. So, when I feel myself getting derailed, I look to my mission and it reminds me to be grateful for everything in my life, big and small, which helps me refocus my energy and gets me back towards my life’s purpose.

Values

Your values are the principles and ideals that define who you are.

Everyone has values. They’re typically single words that describe everything about who you are and what you stand for. Values are learned and have been inside you since the day you were born. You learn values from your family, friends, school, work, government, community, and media.

Each person defines their values differently. Ask yourself these questions to help you figure out yours:

1. What characteristics describe you as a person?
2. Who are the people you love to work with?
3. What people do you want to be like, and not like?
4. What things in life will you not negotiate?
5. What do you believe in?
6. What makes you tick deep inside?
7. What do you truly believe in?

As for myself, here are a few of mine: joyful, humble, real, dreamer, committed, loving, strong, happy, and optimistic.

Finally, after many months, my life’s purpose, vision, mission, and values were all on one page!

For the first time in a long time, I felt new again. I felt like the storm had cleared and everything that was dark and hazy was replaced with light and clarity.

Here are a few personal examples of how it has changed my life:

• When I wake up, instead of waiting for the day to be over I am eager to go make an impact.
• I look forward to seeing my loved ones instead of complaining about why they want to hang out.
• When something doesn’t work out I know I will not give up because I have a purpose to pursue.
• When the world is pulling me in a million directions I look to my mission to get me back on track.
• When I get stuck in a difficult dilemma, I look to my values to determine the answer.

Living a life of purpose is a lifelong process.

As the Dalai Lama once said, “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”

And I agree because at the end of the day all we have left in life are our stories to tell.

What’s your life purpose and how are you going to get there?

Source: A Journey Into Finding Your Life Purpose

Purpose in Life

'The meaning of life is to find your gift. the purpose of life is to give it away"
Pablo Picasso

“If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.”

― T.D. Jakes

Recently I watched a video about an interview asking people in the street about their purpose in life. In most cases, the interviewees say that their purpose is to be happy or live happily in life. Happiness is the right way to live in life but it is not a purpose in life. It is only a means to an end. When you are happy you are relaxed, you look at life positively and you make others happy too. You work better and you are healthier when you are happy. 

 The big question is, “Do you live to eat, or do you eat to live?” I think the purpose of life is to contribute. We all cannot contribute in a big way like what President Obama has contributed to world peace; but still, we can play our role to contribute in a small way. If you can’t give to society you can at least teach your children to be wiser by sharing your knowledge and experiences. It is still a contribution. The contribution of knowledge, wisdom, and experience of each generation provides valuable insight and enlightenment to a future generation. It does not mean that the life of the future generations will be easier just by applying the knowledge that we have contributed. The fact is that there are always new challenges ahead of us. Life is always changing and is never dull and boring. It is always exciting. It is just that the future generations will be better equipped to face problems and difficulties in life. By contributing you will find life worth living and more meaningful. 

What is your purpose in life? Share your thoughts with us.