Hello and welcome.
And today's word is purpose.
Have you ever felt like something was missing in your life?
A deep sense of purpose is what gives our lives meaning,
Direction and fulfillment.
So imagine waking up every day knowing exactly why you do what you do,
And feeling energized by your mission.
So many people end up in my coaching room,
Having achieved so many things in their life,
And yet they still don't feel they have a sense of purpose.
And I like to approach this topic from two perspectives.
One is to look within and find out where our values sit and understand how our purpose may be connected to those values,
Talking perhaps about legacy and how I want to be remembered,
Can often connect me to a strong sense of purpose.
But I also like to embrace the thought that maybe our life itself is our purpose.
And so if you're listening to this thinking,
I just really struggle,
I just don't have a main purpose.
Maybe your life is that purpose and enjoying that life and living a rich life,
A life of growth and kindness and laughter and joy and success and business and whatever it is that you love doing.
Maybe that really is more than enough.
So there are two aspects for me when it comes to thinking about purpose.
But I think it's a very,
Very valuable self-reflection piece to be thinking about today.
Of course,
We have people in history who had very different purposes.
We have people like Viktor Frankl,
Who was the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.
And he wrote Man's Search for Meaning,
Such a wonderful book.
And he argued that having a purpose is essential for survival and personal fulfillment.
So he said that his experiences in concentration camps reinforced his belief that meaning can be found even in suffering.
Helen Keller,
Despite being both blind and deaf,
She found purpose in advocating for people with disabilities.
And her perseverance and advocacy changed countless lives,
Proving that obstacles can't stand in the way of a deep purpose,
Or they certainly don't need to.
And Elon Musk,
Who's so much in the papers at the moment,
Isn't he,
In the media.
But he went from electric vehicles to space exploration,
And his purpose-driven approach to business has reshaped multiple industries.
A study from the Journal of Psychological Science actually found that having a sense of purpose is linked to longer life expectancy.
But let's not let anyone dictate what that purpose should be,
Or what it should look like.
And therefore,
I mention again,
That perhaps living a great life is your purpose.
So neuroscientific research from the John Hopkins University indicates that purpose-driven individuals also show lower levels of stress and anxiety.
So it's really interesting,
Isn't it,
To see how these things are linked to living a better life,
Being in a better spirit,
Being more connected.
So three action steps I would invite you to reflect on today.
The first one would be to think about what excites and motivates you.
This will often be linked to your purpose.
And if you're struggling to find a purpose,
And you desperately feel you want to have a purpose,
Perhaps it's easiest to look at the things that you don't like,
That don't motivate you.
And when you've worked out all of those things,
What's left is probably what motivates you.
So for some individuals,
It's easier to start by the what doesn't motivate me,
What doesn't excite me,
To find out where we sit with our own purpose.
Number two,
Set a few meaningful goals that align with your passions and values,
And perhaps share those goals with people around you.
Many,
Many people embrace a purpose that either immediately or at some point involves sharing that with other people.
Which brings us nicely to number three,
Contribute to something bigger than yourself today,
Whether through work or volunteering,
Or a creative pursuit,
Or sitting down and having a chat with a stranger who may really be in need of your time.
And perhaps your purpose today is just to make someone else's life a little bit easier and a little bit brighter.
We're going to end today on a quotation by Pablo Picasso,
The meaning of life is to find your gift,
The purpose of life is to give it away.
