“Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own.”
“You are destined for greatness and you can do anything in life if you’re willing to work hard enough to get it.”
“You may not started out life in the best of circumstances. But if you can find a mission in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you from achieving success.” Kemmons Wilson
“When you come across challenges when pursuing a goal, stay focused on your purpose, and remains determined to deal with whatever comes your way. If you hang in there, your sense of purpose will inspired others, and together, you’ll be unstoppable”. Wayne Barton
Your Personal Action Plan: Igniting Purpose in Your Spirit
- Purpose can ignite your spirit, providing personal meaning and deep satisfaction to your life. Purpose is the why-why you are here – and your own special calling. Purpose is the unique gifts and insights that you bring to the planet and can contribute to your world. Purpose fuels your efforts and gives you the drive to continue, no matter what the challenges.
If the secret to living a rich, meaningful life is to live in accordance with your purpose, the obvious question remains, How do those who don’t know their purpose discover it? It’s a difficult but important question, because lasting happiness depends on your ability to answer it truthfully.
William Marsten, a prominent psychologist, asked 3,000 people, “What have you to live for?” the results revealed that 94% responded by saying they had no definite purpose for their lives and it has been said that “everyone dies, but not everyone really lives.” Meanwhile, they simply survive, going through the mechanical motions of living, without ever experiencing the spark of aliveness, they watch their lives quickly pass by and become increasingly fearful that their lives will end before they experience any true joy or deep sense of purpose. Have you felt that way – that something was missing in your life? I did.
Identifying Our True Purpose in Life.
Step 1: Discover Your Purpose.
Action 1: Start by writing “How I want to be remembered.” List the qualities, deeds, and characteristics for which you would like to be remembered by your friends, spouse, children, co-workers, the community, and even the world. If you have special relationship with other people or groups, such as church, club, or team, include them on the list too. In the process of waiting, you will begin to uncover your true value and the sources of meaning in your life. Example. I want to be remembered by my wife as a loving husband, who always believed in her, a partner who encouraged her to expand her vision of what was possible and to live her life to its ultimate potential. For my son, I want to be remembered as a father who deeply loved and believed in him and helped him see that there was no limit to what he could contribute. Accomplish, and become if he was committed to achieving it.
The question “ What do you want to be remembered for? Will induce you to renew yourself, the question makes you see yourself as the person you can become.”
“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” Barbara Kingsolver.
An excellent tool to help you clarify your purpose.
Describe the action you can see yourself doing for others
Choose the actions that best represent your personal calling and most excite you.
Acknowledge
“Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our differences, our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them.”
Educate
“You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think”
Help
“Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.”
“Other people may be there to help us, teach us, guide us along our path, but the lesson to be learned is always ours.”
Praise
“I asked God for strength that I might achieve. I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”
Empower
“You can change your beliefs so they empower your dreams and desires. Create a strong belief in yourself and what you want.”
Improve
“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.”
Assist
“A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.”
Encourage
“Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.”
Influence
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
Build
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”
Inspire
“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there.”
Remember
“Remember that happiness is a way of travel -- not a destination”
Communicate
“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”
Entertain
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Explore
“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and unwritten depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
Liberate
“The basic purpose of a liberal arts education is to liberate the human being to exercise his or her potential to the fullest.”
Serve
“The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule...”
Express
“It's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of making a life. It's not the hours you put in, but what you out into the hours that count. Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a ''me too'' attitude while impressing evokes a ''so what'' attitude.”
Demonstrate
“I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret.”
Support
“There are nine requisites for contented living: HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure; WEALTH enough to support your needs; STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them; GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them; PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished; CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor; LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; FAITH enough to make real the things of God; HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.”
Discover
“When you examine the lives of the most influential people who have ever walked among us, you discover one thread that winds through them all. They have been aligned first with their spiritual nature and only then with their physical selves.”
(Place yours…………)
Describe the type of person, organization, or cause you want to serve
Persons, Organizations, and Causes
Abuse
At-risk youth
Business professionals
Children
Child protection
Church
Community issue
Crime victims
Disadvantaged
Environment
Homeless
Life-threatening illness
Physically challenged
Poor
Poverty housing
Senior citizens
Describe the goal you want to co-create with that person, org. or cause
This goal should be a core value, ideal, or issue that is so important, you are willing to dedicate your time and resources to make it happen.
Acceptance
Self-confidence
Faith
Safety
Enjoyment
Leaving a legacy
Living responsibly
Achievement
Independence
Self-esteem
Freedom
Security
Love
Life to its fullest
Being the best
Self-sufficiency
Growth
Excellence
Making a contribution
Learning
Believing in themselves
Serving others
Once you determine where you’re headed and why, you could potentially save years of wasted time by not pursuing activities and vocations that offer little meaning and lack harmony with your true sense of purpose. Life is too short to spend it on anything less than meaningful activities.
Step 2: Integrate Purpose into Your Daily Life.
Once you have a clearly defined purpose, you now know where you focus your energies and efforts. Now you can begin to establish goals and make plans – goals and plans that serve your purpose and help create a life of greater meaning. Present and future goals should be evaluated by one criterion only: Do the goals serve your purpose?
Action: Identify one way you can integrate purpose into your life – through your job, business, or community. Commit yourself to taking action this week, soon, your goals will start taking shape and every aspect of your life will reflect and serve your purpose. When that happens, you will have a power to overcome obstacles that you have never experience before.
