Discovering Your Purpose
Do you have a feeling of dissatisfaction with your life? Or maybe you have a sense that you’re called to do more than you’re currently doing, for example, start a business or ministry or write a book, etc. Maybe you’re thinking you want to go back to school and get a degree. Whatever the case, you’ve decided you want to make a change- do more, have more, be more. The problem is that you’re not sure how to proceed or what kind of career path to pursue. Either you can’t really think of anything that gets you too excited or there are a lot of different things that you’d like to pursue and they don’t seem to be connected.
First of all, congratulations on making the decision that you want a change in your life. The majority of people never pursue their life’s purpose. Sometimes it’s fear of doing the wrong thing, procrastination (I’ll do it someday), or lack of knowledge (they simply don’t know what to do). Whatever the reason- they never become the person they were created to be. They remain locked in a lifestyle of tolerance and indifference, merely existing from one day to the next.
You Have a Unique Personality
You have a unique personality and the talents you need in order to fulfill a particular calling. If you don’t know what your calling is, ask yourself what is it that inspires you. Without passion, you’ll never manifest your vision, and therefore, you’ll never be truly successful! You need to know your beliefs, your purpose, and your goals, and choose to act on them. You need to know what stirs your heart.
So what can you do, today, that will point you toward your passion, your purpose? You can begin by searching within yourself.
1. Spend time by yourself. Allow yourself space and time to think, reflect, and evaluate. If you’re a Christian (i.e. born again), God is living inside of you. Ask Him to show you what He’s created you to do. Ponder the questions from the list below. Write down any thoughts or answers that come to you.
What motivates me?
If money were not an object, what would I do?
What energizes me?
What brings me the most joy, pleasure, or satisfaction?
If I had only three months to live, what I do during that time?
What is it that I REALLY want to achieve in life?
2. Remember that this is an “ongoing investigation” and you have to be patient. Your answer may not come overnight. Keep looking for clues- as you walk through the supermarket, or do searches on the Internet or read a self-help book. Notice what excites you or upsets you or makes you angry.
These strong emotions can be an indication of what you’re called to do. One of the things that “gets to me” is local businesses and churches shutting down because they lack the finances to keep going or they may spend thousands of dollars on marketing with very little to show for it. I now know that the reason it bothers me so much is because one of the things I’m called to do is help businesses and organizations use content and relationship marketing as a way to spread their message.
3. As you go through this process of searching, keep a journal and write down any clues or information that you receive concerning your calling. Write down the desires, ideas, or thoughts you get as you read books, meditate or talk to other people.
More ideas on what to write in your journal:
- Any goals you have and how you plan to accomplish them.
- Strong likes and dislikes that you have-these can help you find your calling.
- Your accomplishments and victories. What successes have you experienced?
- Meaningful conversations you’ve had with other people (or with yourself). Sometimes you’ll receive insights while you’re interacting with another person.
- Compliments you’ve received. Write down the positive things that people say about you. This may give you insights into gifts that you have but tend to take for granted.
- Life-changing or meaningful information you’ve received. Whether you were listening to a talk show, reading a book, or meditating on scriptures, information can come in a variety of ways. If it’s meaningful to you in any way, write it down.
- Write down any dreams or ideas you have floating around in your mind- things you would like to do or experience, no matter how big or outrageous, and record them in your journal.
- Write about situations or events that had an impact on you- positively or negatively- and what you learned from them.
You may not be able to carry your journal with you all the time but make sure you always have a way to capture those ideas or flashes of inspiration that come to you. You can use a pen and paper or a voice recorder etc. Just make sure to record them in your journal at the end of the day.
4. Read through your journals regularly. It’s not enough just to write things down. That would be kind of like collecting the materials and tools you need to create or build something but then never looking at them again.
As you read through your journals, you’ll see certain patterns and themes emerging. You’ll discover what your passions are and you can start connecting the dots. This process will help you figure out your calling and set goals that are in line with your God-given purpose.
5. Keep learning about the things you’re drawn to or interested in. When I first started looking for my purpose- I didn’t even know what content marketing was but I knew I enjoyed learning about writing, marketing, and earning money as an online entrepreneur. So that’s where I started. My children were toddlers and kept me pretty busy, but the one thing I could do is read. As they napped and played, I read books and took notes about what I learned. Wherever we went- whether to the park or a restaurant with a play area for kids, I carried my books and journal with me.
6. Dip your toes in the water. Take some action. How can you slowly move into the field you think you may be interested in (without spending thousands of dollars for a degree you may or may not want)? Way too many people (including myself) have spent a lot of money going after a degree and later on deciding it’s not what they want. Can you purchase some good books on the topic? (The books don’t even have to be new). Or take a few online courses or interview someone who’s already working in the field you’re interested in?
My first online “venture” was to purchase a product that had a blog and some affiliate products to promote. This company was later taken down because of complaints that they were fraudulent so I didn’t make any money, but I learned so much from this experience. Later on, I taught myself how to set up free blogs and publish articles on them. One thing led to another and I got involved with some network marketing companies. Again, I lost money but I learned a lot about online marketing.
And I kept learning. I subscribed to newsletters and read more books about the things that interested me. Then, gourd artist, Sandy Uhrick gave me the opportunity to help publish her book, Gourds of Christmas. I loved it, but most importantly, I learned a lot about the process of self-publishing. All these experiences lead me to where I am today, a content creator and marketer, but… I am still learning and growing.
These principles can apply to your children as well. Many parents push their children off to college before they’re ready to start making hard decisions about the rest of their life. Instead, how about feeding them more information about the things they’re interested in and seeing where it leads to? One of my young nephews wants to be a marine biologist so his parents paid for him to take a scuba diving class. I’m sure it took some money and effort to make this happen but now he has an idea of whether he would enjoy working in an underwater environment.
My daughter has a dream to spend her time creating art to sell. We fed this desire by enrolling her in a variety of classes taught by local artists. Later on, we encouraged her to take online business classes on topics such as how to sell art. Today, she’s still creating art but she’s also learning about a variety of other topics that will help her succeed as an artist (or whatever other career she decides to pursue).
Don’t be afraid to step out and do something you’d like to try. Maybe someone needs help in the area you’re learning about. You can offer your services for free or at a discounted rate with the understanding that you’re still learning and that you’ll give them a good deal in exchange for the opportunity to get more experience. This makes it a win for both parties.
In summary, everyone has something they’re called to do, and finding your God-given destiny isn’t as hard or impossible as some imagine it to be. If you’re not sure what else to do, spend at least 20 minutes a day, reading and learning about the topics that interest you. Record what you’ve learned in a journal or notebook and go through this information regularly. If you find your interest waning in a particular topic, mark through it and keep forging ahead and learning about the things that do interest you. I don’t think we’ll ever “arrive” but we’ll have a pretty idea of what road(s) to travel on.
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Thanks.