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Purpose - What It Is and What It Isn't

By Laura posted 12-07-2018 15:04

  

Do you have a sense of what purpose is made up of?  Lucky for us, a lot of psychologists and social researchers have asked themselves this same question.  Through their research and Clear-Sense-Of-Purpose.jpgexperiments, they have concluded that purpose has four main components.

Main Components of Purpose

One) There is a long-term element. It doesn’t change day by day.
Two) It’s tied to goals that you work toward.
Three) It means a lot to you. You love working on it, whatever it may be.
And four) It makes the world a better place.

Let's talk about these four things in a bit more detail.

true_north_Depositphotos_10019353_m-2015.jpgFirst: It's Your True North
Purpose is something that propels and motivates you in a lasting way. Once you discover what your purpose is, it is a constant in your life. It is not a trend or a fad, but rather a cause or thing that you feel passionate about day in and day out.

Whether its volunteering at a food shelter every weekend or teaching an art class every Tuesday night, your purpose should continue to speak to you over an extended period of time.

Second: It’s What You Do
Everyone loves to dream, right?  But no matter how much you love your dream, no matter how much it speaks to your soul, it isn’t your purpose if you don’t do anything about it.  

Maybe your dream is to sing on stage. But if you don't get out there to take voice lessons, practice and make it real, that dream will remain a dream.  It’s like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ”Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless  they be executed."  Your action is the catalyst to turn your dream into your purpose.

Third: It Lights You Up
Have you ever been in the zone?  Or had that experience where you felt totally comfortable in your own skin?  It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?  Often when we work on our purpose, Unicorn_Top_five_Myths_Around_Purpose_2_.pngwe experience these times of “peak performance.” 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (how’s that for a mouthful?) was the psychologist who coined the term "flow", a state where action and awareness merge.  Csikszentmihalyi said, “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

Why do we love being in flow?  We feel alive, creative, and productive.  And this usually (but not always!) feels awesome.   This is one of the key things that drives the love of what we are doing.   

Our purpose also feels meaningful to us.  It is our way of contributing to the world, which is hugely important to our happiness and well-being.  We all want to make a mark, right?  We all want to feel seen and believe that our lives have had meaning.  Our purpose is the path that gets us there.

Fourth: Your Efforts Make a Difference
Any form of purpose betters the world. The second you find something that makes you want to get up in the morning, you are already making the world a better place.  Now, don't slide into the trap of thinking that to be purpose, what you do has to be self-sacrificing or heroic.  We talk about that and more in the Top Five Myths of Purpose

Too many people hate their jobs – the place where they spend more of their waking hours than anywhere else.  A 2013 Gallup study found that seven in ten workers are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” in their work. Seven in ten! 

This results in a lose-lose.  The disengaged employee is likely to just mail it in, which means that the company gets lackluster performance from them.  And the employee is clocking time, counting down the hours until they can break free.  What a rotten, rotten way to live life.

Finding your “why,” that thing that gets you up in the morning, helps avoid this unhappiness.  earth_and_human_eye_Depositphotos_44240297_m-2015.jpg

What Purpose Isn’t
Don’t let the word “purpose” intimidate you.  If I asked you to close your eyes and think of three examples of purpose, I bet that they would be things like “feed the hungry”, “clean up the environment”, and “help at-risk kids.”  But here’s the real deal.  Purpose doesn’t need to be self-sacrificing to benefit the world. 

If your purpose in life is to make a better smart phone app or new cocktail blends or some other fun thing - and you happen to make your millions while you are at it - brilliant and good for you!  This doesn’t make your purpose less worthy than the person who opened an orphanage in Haiti, as long as the work is meaningful to you.  No matter what your purpose involves (as long as you are not harming others!), the joy that you experience as you work on it helps to make the world a better place.

Take Action
Discovering My Purpose is a nonprofit organization where we are passionate about purpose.  We want to support you on your path to living a meaningful life, because we believe this is one of the very best ways that we can all make the world a better place.  Society needs more people living authentic lives that matter deeply to them.   At Discovering My Purpose, we want the world to experience the gift of you – you at your best, you at your most creative, productive and happy.

How to get there? 

Watch for moments when you experience flow. 

Be mindful of those things that light you up or light your fire. 

In time, those sparks can lead to your purpose.  ( Download our guide where we talk about how purpose is almost NEVER an epiphany.)   

As you get a better sense of what feels meaningful to you, look into small ways that you can take action to bring this into your life.  (Just 30 minutes a week spent on activities tied to your purpose can increase your happiness levels!)

Want to get rid of those limiting self-beliefs around purpose?  Download the Top Five Myths of Purpose

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