10 May Finding and Following Your Purpose in Life

In my coaching business, I have clients that ask me how to find their purpose in life. What’s interesting is that when I ask them what they’re doing to find their purpose, most people say that they think about it a lot, but rarely has anybody told me what actions they are taking. It seems like many people are waiting for their purpose to find them, instead of them looking to find their purpose.

Here are four suggestions:

• Try new things, and lots of them– How did you find out that you like chocolate ice cream, or like to golf? How did you find out what kind of music you like? You tried it out. We won’t know what we like, dislike or are passionate about if we don’t try new things. Make a commitment to yourself to try at least one new thing a week. Expose yourself to as many experiences as you can. Maybe it’s a new recipe, a cooking class or helping out at a homeless shelter. Maybe it’s trying a new sport or learning a new skill from a bunch of youtube videos. The more you try, the more you will know.

• Find a mentor in an area that you are interested in so you can learn more– You may have something that interests you, but you’re not sure if it’s something you’d be passionate about. As an example, my wife wanted to be a midwife for quite a while. One route she could have taken would be to go to midwifery school, learn all about it, so she could become a midwife. Instead, I recommended that she find a midwife as a mentor and ask her if she could assist. She did that, and assisted in a number of births. While she found out that she wasn’t as passionate about it as she thought, she had quickly found out what she didn’t want to do, so she could move on to other new things.

• What would you do all day if money were no issue?– Answer this question for yourself. If you could do anything, and you didn’t need to worry about money, what would you do? Life is a game. Play it big. Do what makes you happy. Money follows value. How can you do what you love to do, and add value to others?

• Make lists– I found the diagram below on Facebook (not sure who to give credit to), and I thought it was an interesting concept. Make lists of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Then look to see if there is an intersection or commonality in all of these lists. Use your imagination. There are many ways to follow your passion and carve out your niche in the world. I think of people like Richard Branson with his Virgin organization, or Jeff Foxworthy with his redneck comedy, or Jeff Dunham with his unique ventriloquism.

For me, I love watching people completely change their lives by becoming authentic to themselves. I love when I’m sharing something with them and their light comes on. I’m good at teaching. I’m good at presenting.  The world needs more authenticity and people that stand for what they believe, instead of conforming for the sake of conforming. After going through the exercise above, I realized I could fulfill my purpose by focusing on executive coaching, speaking and writing a book. That’s what I’ve chosen to do. I help people change their perspective on life by uncovering their authenticity.

Once you find out what you’re passionate about, find your tribes. Find those people that have the same type of passion. If it feels right, then stay there. If it doesn’t, then figure out how you want to do it differently, and be a tribe of one until your new tribe finds you.

The important thing is to get moving and keep moving in pursuit of your purpose, and enjoy every step of the journey. Fear leads to inactivity. Love moves us forward. It may be that you’re looking for some grandiose purpose in life, when in the end, if we choose to always come from a place of love, that will be the most worthwhile purpose of them all.