Do you ever wonder why you were put on this earth? What is your Life Purpose?
Join any group of people, and try and determine each person’s life purpose. You will most likely find it impossible!
Better still, state your life purpose succinctly to each person, and ask them to do the same: to articulate their life purpose.
The likely result? I’ll bet that very few of the people in the group will be able to articulate their purpose with complete clarity.
Can you?
Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to define your own life purpose? Would you like to know how to do it? In a minute I will show you two easy steps to find it.
But first: why is it so important to define one’s purpose?
I believe it’s not only vital but our duty for each of us to have a clearly defined life purpose.
Simply stated, clarity around your life’s purpose provides the essential framework for your life. As Marianne Williamson states so eloquently, “The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best that is within us.”
Os Guinness in The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life said, “The search for the purpose of life is one of the deepest of our experiences as human beings. Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a purpose bigger than ourselves.” Guinness adds, “For each of us the real purpose is personal and passionate: to know what we are to do and why.”
Each of us is born with a unique gift. Some people nurture and develop this gift in extraordinary ways, like Tiger Woods, Florence Nightingale, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. etc. Others simply never take the time to discover, develop and deploy their unique gift to make the world a better place.
When you think about your life purpose, it should be broad, inspiring, and, hopefully, articulate. Try to think about the huge impact you would like to make during your lifetime by using your natural and unique gifts. Defining your life’s purpose is the path to unleashing your true potential.
So here is an easy two step process you can use to find your true life purpose. The results may surprise you.
Step 1. Write out the exact obituary you would like to represent your accomplishments at the end of your life. Be as specific as possible. (Review any good newspaper to see examples of well-written, inspiring obituaries.)
What exactly would you want written about you to summarize your life? What would move, touch, and inspire the many friends, family, and strangers who will one day be reading your obituary?
Obituary for (your name) _________________ at the end of your life at age _________
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Step 2. Reduce this obituary to ten, twenty, thirty, or forty words that you can memorize and repeat at the drop of a hat. You now have your Life purpose!