7 Steps to Finding your Life Purpose
By Douglas
Woods
What is the purpose of your life? Do you know? Does your life
have any meaning? Many people ask themselves questions like this yet
few people seem to find an answer. People sometimes turn to religion
or politics or to life coaching to help them find an answer to these
questions. As a life coach, I present to you here my seven steps for
you to follow to help you find a purpose to your life.
First of all, let us dismiss the idea that there is only one
answer to the meaning of life. Each of us leads our own life and
each of us can have our own purpose to our life. The purpose you
find or you create for your life may be unique to you or it may be
something you share with other people.
Step 1: Do something new.
If what you are doing now has not revealed to you a purpose in
your life, then it is not likely to do so. Doing something new can
open up new opportunities, new insights and bring new experiences
into your life. It can also lead you to meeting new people and new
ideas. Just the very act of choosing something new and the reasons
for your choice can be revealing and may give an indication of a
purpose in your life.
Of course, things are not quite so simple. Just doing something
new may well not give you any indication of a purpose for your life.
That’s fine, for at least by doing something new, you will be
opening yourself up to new things and improving the chances of
finding a purpose.
The key is not letting your life get in or stay in a rut but
opening your life to new experiences, new challenges, new ideas and
new people. Some of these you may later discard and some may well
help you find a purpose.
Step 2: Give time to yourself.
So many of us lead our lives giving our time to other people; we
give time to our boss, or the company, we give time to our partner,
our children and our friends. We give time to travel, to work, to
domestic chores and to entertaining or being with others. There is
nothing wrong in any of these, though we may often feel our time is
not allocated fairly. Yet how many of us give time to ourselves and,
when we do, how many of us feel just a bit guilty about it?
You are important. You are important to others and you are
important to yourself. It is important, therefore, to give time for
yourself; time to consider yourself, to develop yourself and to
become more aware of yourself. Being aware of yourself is crucial if
you are to discover or create a purpose for your life. You need to
be aware of what it is that you value, what it is that you believe,
what it is that you want and what it is that you need. To create a
purpose for your life, you need to be aware of what things, what
values, what concepts and what outcomes you feel are important.
Step 3: Maintain a healthy mind and body.
Your health is important; many people would consider their health
to be one of the most important aspects of life. If you can maintain
a healthy mind and a healthy body then you will be free to find a
purpose to your life. If your mental or physical health suffers,
then you will find that your time, energy and resources will be,
quite justifiably, spent trying to regain your fitness.
It is quite true that some people have found that a period of
illness has enabled them, or forced them, to give time for
themselves and has helped them to gain new insights into life It may
even, in some cases, help them to find purpose in their life.
However, this would not be true for everyone who falls ill and it
would not be wise to advocate undergoing a period of illness to find
your life purpose.
Better, then, that you take all steps you can to maintain your
health. Thereby you will be better able to pursue your life purpose
and work toward it.
Step 4: Prepare to be financially independent.
Financial burdens can overtake and dominate your life. Too many
of us find ourselves leading lives simply to gain money. Becoming
financially independent may mean earning enough money so that you do
not need to worry about your finances, yet how many of us are able
to say how much is enough? Becoming financially independent may also
mean simplifying our lives and reducing our need for money. If you
are able to reduce your need for money, then you also reduce the
amount of time you need to spend simply earning money. The key is
reducing the amount of time you spend doing things just to earn
money; earning money is not the purpose of your life!
Becoming financially independent does not mean becoming extremely
wealthy and it does not mean opting out of society. Financial
independence means not relying upon other people or institutions for
the way you live. Being indebted to other people or organisations
inhibits our lives and requires us to service our debt. To find,
create or to lead your life purpose, you need to be free.
Step 5: Cultivate a social network.
Social networks are important. Your social network consists of
your family, your friends, your colleagues and your work associates.
It also consists of your doctor, your banker or financial adviser,
and anyone else who supports you in any way.
Your social network is important in finding or creating your life
purpose because it consists of people who know you. These are people
who have an insight into you and people who may have shared
experiences with you. What these people say to you, maybe what they
say about you, how they see you and how they respond to you, may all
give you cues to help find your life purpose. These people may see
you as being ‘reliable’, ‘dependable’, ‘friendly’, ‘jovial’,
‘thoughtful’, ‘intense’ or they may see you as being a ‘creative
person’, or ‘someone who cares’, or an ‘intelligent’ person. They
may have knowledge of you that even you yourself do not have, though
equally they may lack knowledge of the inner you. Yet these people
can give you insights and cues that you can use to help find or
create your life purpose.
Perhaps most importantly of all, however, is that finding your
life purpose may involve making changes in your life and your
lifestyle. It is the people in your social network who can support
you through making such changes.
Step 6: Be positive.
It is hard to find or create a purpose in your life if you are
not positive about it. It is true that life can sometimes bring us
down, it is true that life sometimes means facing things that are
unpleasant and yet how many of us would really, honestly, be without
our life? You may wish your life was different and in many ways you
may wish your life was better. For many people, giving life a
purpose may be seen as a way of making life better.
Being negative will not usually lead to a change in your life but
will keep you living as you are now. It is only by being positive
that you can change your life and follow your life purpose. For
those people who find a life purpose, all would say that their
purpose is a positive one. The life purpose that you find or you
create will also be a positive one. So to find your life purpose you
need to be positive, have a positive outlook and a positive regard
for people and ideas.
Step 7: Learn.
Our life’s learning does not stop when we leave school, our
learning continues throughout our life. The difference between being
a child and being an adult is that a child is told what to study
whereas you, as an adult, can choose what you study. In searching
for a life purpose, we need to be open to new ideas, new thoughts
and new insights, all of which can come through learning.
Learning is about finding, it is about discovering and it is
about creating. You are seeking a purpose for your life so learning
is important to you. If the way you live now has not given you a
purpose, then learning can be used to give you insights into new
ways of living and help you find a purpose.
You can learn to look at life in new ways, you can learn to
interpret experiences in different ways and you can also learn how
others regard life. Above all, you can learn about yourself, your
views, your beliefs and what’s important to you. This is fundamental
to finding or creating your life purpose.
Douglas Woods is a qualified life coach. You can find more about
his work on his website at
http://www.dougwoods.com
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