Finding you Purpose

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Vasanthan Philip, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

We are besieged by the daily grind of balancing our act between, home, work, kids, society, commitments, etc., and forget the fact of why we exist. If only we know the true purpose of our existence, our life would be much easier to navigate. Rarely do we ask this question to ourselves to finding our purpose. Maybe subconsciously you already know what your purpose is, but just too scared to claim it. If only if you could live your purpose, you could be revealing the next version of yourself. Barbara Myerhoff, an anthropologist of yesteryears, often considered as a “woman of valor” once said “the self is made, not given”.

We are two versions of ourselves. One, our authentic self, that is, who we truly are, and another what we project as who we are to the world. That is, what we have become. Robin Sharma, the renowned leadership coach once said, “the greater the gap between your true nature, and who you have become in order to please and fit into the world around you, the less your professional life, and the last your personal life will work”. He calls this gap as the “Integrity Gap”.

So how do we find our true purpose, and make our lives meaningful? According to an article in the Success Magazine, there are six questions your can ask.

1. As a child, and back in my younger days, what experiences were the most memorable?
2. Who is my idol, and why do I admire this person
3. What are my core values and beliefs.
4. What causes are near and dear to my heart? And how can I use my professional credentials to help those causes
5. What goals should I set for myself, and
6. What do I want my legacy to be.

Here is a wonderful template the renowned psychotherapist Tina Tessina suggests by writing down a list of descriptions about yourself in each of the following categories.

Personal qualities (e.g. friendly, intellectual, a good communicator…)
Your talents (e.g., painting, public speaking, coaching, mentoring….)
The circumstances that tend to repeat in your life (e.g., working with technology, working with children, teaching others, listening to peoples problems…)
Your desires (e.g. travelling, cleaning up the environment, running for political office….)

Then take the answer that is most important to you in each category and complete the following sentence.

I ________________ (your name) am designed to be a ________________ (insert personal quality) who can ________________ (insert talent) and I find myself ________________ (fill in recurring patterns or circumstances) often, because I am supposed to ________________ (desire).

That could be your mission statement as well.

Hope this article has made you think of your true purpose in life.