Exploring Life Purpose
Purpose/Passion February 11th, 2010
Life purpose is not something you can automatically know until you truly understand yourself and your talents. Many people go through life and never discover their purpose and others go through many years of their life thinking they are living on purpose only to find out in their later years they were chasing something that had to lasting meaning to them. Can your purpose really be something that has no lasting meaning? I certainly don’t think so.
The Importance of Life Purpose
So, why is life purpose important anyway? To me, life purpose is incredibly important as it is the driving force that motivates us, satisfies us, brings us joy and lasting happiness and demonstrates to ties directly to the meaning of success! Most people want to be successful but they really don’t even know what success means to them! Success is not something you go and achieve, chase down or earn at some point in your life. I think most of you would agree that success is more about the journey in life than the destination of some ideal outcome. Success to me is defined specifically by purpose.
Success is living consistently on purpose.
So, I don’t believe you can ever be successful if you don’t understand your purpose, and then life it to the best of your ability.
Seeking Life Purpose
As I mentioned, finding your life purpose takes time and a deep exploration of oneself. You must ask yourself many questions to determine your purpose. Life purpose is not unlike any other time in life where you have written or defined the purpose. Perhaps, you can think back to school science experiments, or important meetings or projects in your work. You face some challenge or problem and then you create something to solve that problem. What you have created to solve that problem and how you will go about it is the purpose of experiment, or meeting, it is to solve the problem you face. So, what about your own life? What were you created for? Are you here to solve a problem and fulfill that purpose? What is the problem? What are you hoping to solve?
Where Purpose Comes From
Obviously, I cannot tell you what your purpose is, I can, however, plant the seed for you to seek it and discover it but telling someone their purpose without knowing and understanding that person is rather judgmental and I don’t think has any useful impact. I can tell you that I discovered my purpose through God, my Creator and that my purpose is to bring the Kingdom of God into all facets of my life by setting an example and living a life like Jesus Christ. I believe that we are each guided by our Creator and will ultimately find purpose through Him but I also believe that we each serve a purpose for a much larger problem and that not all of us will discover spiritual relationships as part of our life purpose. Some will find purpose in creating, some in building relationships, serving others, some in leaving a legacy, some in teaching, serving others, all without knowing where their life purpose comes from. And luckily that is OK, because many people will follow a purpose in life and be completely fulfilled.
And by my definitely, if you are living consistently on purpose, you are successful.
Interested in the topic of purpose? I hope so as I plan to write more and please go back and explore this article I wrote on the search for life purpose.
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February 14th, 2010 at 11:12 AM
This topic is really worthy in the day of valentines today! We must maintain life proposes and without being pendulum we should give out 100 percent in what ever we do no matter of the nature,quantity or concentration of things we do. There comes a lot of difficulties and obstacles while exploring the objective of what we will be or do in future..but keep trying and making sky the limit….surely make us successful one day…Take care and thankx for this article..
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February 15th, 2010 at 3:01 AM
This must surely rate as one of the most pertinent questions one will end up asking oneself at one stage of life or the other. It can be quite the cathartic process, as years of conditioning gets stripped away quite quickly sometimes, and the realizations that come along with that can very often lead to a dramatic change in one’s path through life.
February 15th, 2010 at 4:55 PM
ahh… the age-old question. I’m particularly more interested in knowing what happens after we die, though.
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February 15th, 2010 at 8:01 PM
@Gjivan – thanks for your comments and you are certainly right, there are definitely many life obstacles to face and overcome.
@Industry News – Well I urge you to use the questions far more than ‘at one stage in life’ and instead in all things in life. The question of purpose is not one you simple answer and move on from, it is the focus of everything and every choice in life if you are living your purpose. If the question comes and goes, I assure you, you are not yet living your purpose.
@how to start a blog – well this question of purpose is one for eat to explore and make their own decisions about after we die, I am certainly not going to tell you what will happen as no one knows for sure. I do know what I believe will happen though and that faith and knowledge drive me to live the way I do and serve others and God in doing so. Each must find discover their own purpose though, I cannot take it past that for anyone.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:45 PM
First – thanks for your Christian perspective!
Second, I think it’s important to keep in mind that you might be really good at something that’s not your life purpose. Recall that Andre Agassi, who has been one of the better modern tennis players, said he “hated” playing tennis. High skill, millions of dollars, and fame are not in themselves satisfying, but they might become wonderful by-products of your life purpose.
I have found mine, and I went from dreading going to work as long as two days before I had to work to waking up and feeling energized about going to work each and every day! I had some divine intervention, and now I am applying some personal intervention in order to shift gears and express my life purpose in a little bit different way.
Thanks for the reminder that finding your life purpose, not fame and fortune, is key!
February 15th, 2010 at 10:59 PM
@Dan, hey thanks for the comments and personal reflection here. The point of being really good at things is one of the things that keeps many people from their purpose I think. I have suffered from that myself. I am a huge believer in my own ability to master skills that I set my mind to. I’ve put immense hours into certain activities to make myself good at them. However, they are not necessarily my God given talents and so I was following myself into an area not my purpose in life. The problem with this level of mastery was that I never realized what my purpose was since I was so good at areas I had mastered, I was blinded by that mastery. I am sure I am not the only one who is or has been in that situation. I just wrote another article on this topic for in a couple days, it expands on this idea briefly as well.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Great story Dan.Think that I found my purpose in life and that is helping others as much I can. I’m not very rich and money isn’t everything in the world and life. There is so many other ways to help others and I’m trying in this way. Good will and listening can do a lot to help other people. Hope so and believe that with all my soul.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:03 AM
@John, I believe that all all my heart and soul as well John and it steers people towards a much more meaningful life when we can see that in our own purpose. Thanks so much for your comment!
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 PM
This topic is really worthy in the day of valentines today! We must maintain life proposes and without being pendulum we should give out 100 percent in what ever we do no matter of the nature,quantity or concentration of things we do.
Thanks so much Mike 🙂
February 25th, 2010 at 8:39 AM
Hi, Mike. Thanks for the great thoughts on discovering and living your purpose. Unfortunately, too many of us go through life without ever really reflecting on our true purpose. We then ‘wake up’ years later feeling unfulfilled, with that nagging feeling that we’re just coasting, when we could be living life abundantly…
.-= Steve-Personal Success Factors´s last blog ..Do You Know How to Succeed Like an Olympian? =-.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:56 PM
Hello, This is a great post. I do believe that we all have a certain specific purpose for our lives. To know our purpose almighty god send omens to us. We just have to follow our heart and success will be ours.
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March 4th, 2010 at 7:53 AM
[…] with their growth in faith, or the purpose driven life. Another site to check out would be Exploring Life Purpose (LearnThis.ca). Archives Select Month March 2010 February 2010 January […]
March 15th, 2010 at 4:36 AM
There was once my friend told me that he always wanted to leave this world as he is so tired of what he’s been working all the time. I believe we all have purposes for our lives. If you don’t have one, you must find one!
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April 4th, 2010 at 2:40 PM
Hi Mike, I love this topic and love to coach people to discover their life purpose! Purpose is a great filter for prioritizing/time management.
I love asking my Christian clients the following question: “What do you want God to say to you “Well done, good and faithful servant” for?
Happy Easter!
Janna
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:31 AM
I asked GOD, what is the purpose of my life? GOD smiled and replied– To know the “purpose of the life” is your purpose of life. Yah of course, we must have a purpose which should be definite… Definite purpose can be said as an aim…