People love to pursue a purpose. They love to do a worthwhile project, follow a spiritual faith or work towards achieving a specific goal. They find that having a purpose provides a structure to their days and a sense of meaning in their lives.
Richard Leider explores these themes in the video above that was filmed at the Business Innovation Factory. He has spent most of his life helping individuals to find and follow their purpose. You can discover more about his work via the following link.
Looking back, can you recall a time when you pursued a specific purpose? This could have been in your personal or professional life.
You may have aimed to write a book, renovate a house, run a marathon, raise money for charity, lead a pioneering project or whatever. What made it satisfying to work towards this North Star?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Describe a specific situation in the past when you found it deeply satisfying to pursue a specific purpose.
Describe the specific things you did to pursue the purpose.
Describe the specific things that happened as a result of pursuing the purpose.
People like to feel they are pursuing worthwhile aims in their lives. So the eternal question is: How do individuals find their longer term purpose?
Different people choose different ways to explore this question. Here are some of the routes that you may wish to consider.
You can focus on the positive things you want
to give to people during your time on the planet
Energy is life. So what are the things that give you positive energy? Bearing these things in mind, what are the positive things that you want to give to people? Here are some answers people give to this question.
The positive things I want to give to
people during my time on the planet are:
To give them encouragement … To help them to take care of their health … To give them the basic materials for life: food, water, housing and the chance to earn a living … To give them the chance to learn the Twenty First Century Skills: Clear thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication … To help people to do satisfying work.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Start by describing the things that give you positive energy in your personal and professional life. Bearing these in mind, describe the positive things you want to give to people during your time on the planet.
You can follow your personal values
What are the values you want to follow in your life? Different people give different answers to this question. Here are some of the things they say.
The values I want to follow in my life are:
To be kind … To be a good parent and partner … To encourage other people … To do my best … To create beautiful things … To follow my religion … To show reverence for life … To do good deeds each day … To make a positive contribution to the world.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Start by describing the specific values you believe are important in life. Bearing these in mind, describe how you can follow these values in your life.
You can follow your vocation
A person’s vocation is their calling. It is what they are here to do. Their vocation remains constant throughout their life, but they may express it through various vehicles on the way towards doing valuable work.
How to clarify your vocation? One approach is to look back at what for you have been deeply satisfying projects. Looking at these projects, can you see any recurring themes? These may give clues to your vocation.
There are relatively few vocational themes and most of these revolve around the eternal human activities. These include, for example:
Encouraging … Nurturing … Educating … Exploring … Creating … Designing … Building … Implementing … Problem Solving … Trading … Communicating … Performing … Or Whatever.
While your vocational theme may remain constant, the way you express this may change over the years. You can discover more about finding your vocation via the following link.
https://www.thepositiveencourager.global/v-following-vocation/
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Start by describing what you believe may be your vocation. Bearing this in mind, describe how you can follow your vocation in life.
You can build on your strengths and do
satisfying work that helps other people
Some people explore similar questions to those asked by Buckminster Fuller when he was drifting in life. He asked:
“What is my job on the planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?”
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Start by describing your strengths – the specific activities in which you deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs. Bearing these in mind, describe the specific things you can do to build on your strengths and do satisfying work that helps other people.
You can pass on knowledge that encourages
both present and future generations
Everybody has learned lessons in life. Some may involve professional expertise, such as how to build businesses. Some may involve personal experience, such as how to overcome setbacks.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Start by the describing the knowledge you can pass on to people. Bearing this in mind, describe how you can pass on this wisdom to encourage both present and future generations.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking to the future, can you think of a situation in which you may which to pursue a specific purpose?
This could be a short term or long term purpose. You may want to create a blog that helps people, renovate a house, follow your spiritual beliefs, pass on your knowledge to people or whatever.
How can you pursue this purpose? What will be the benefits – both for yourself and other people – of pursuing this purpose?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Describe a specific situation in the future when you may want to pursue a specific purpose.
Describe the specific things you can do to pursue this purpose.
Describe the specific benefits – both to yourself and other people – of pursuing this purpose.
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