How to find your purpose
I was asked a confronting question today: why are you doing what you do? What is your purpose for doing this?
These were really great questions that made me reflect on my early beginnings as a business broker back in 2002 (photo attached) and how my current role with Easy Agent Real Estate Australia aligns with my core values, because it has nothing to do with making money or anything like that; it's much bigger.
So how do you figure out what your purpose is?
Is it something you develop naturally over the course of a lifetime? Or are there steps you can take to encourage more purpose in your life?
Below, I have listed 7 considerations for helping anyone find their purpose in life.
1. Identify the things you care about. Purpose is all about applying your skills toward contributing to the greater good in a way that matters to you. So, identifying what you care about is an important first step.
2. Reflect on what matters most. Sometimes it can be hard to single out one or two things that matter most to you because your circle of care and concern is far-ranging. Understanding what you value most may help you narrow down your purpose in life to something manageable that also truly resonates with you.
3. Recognise your strengths and talents. We all have strengths and skills that we’ve developed over our lifetimes, which help make up our unique personalities. Yet some of us may be unsure of what we have to offer.
4. Try volunteering. Finding purpose involves more than just self-reflection; it’s also about trying out new things and seeing how those activities enable you to use your skills to make a meaningful difference in the world.
5. Imagine your best possible self. This exercise is particularly useful in conjunction with the magic-wand exercise described above.
6. Cultivate positive emotions like gratitude and awe. To find purpose, it helps to foster positive emotions like awe and gratitude. That’s because each of these emotions is tied to well-being, caring about others, and finding meaning in life, which all help us focus on how we can contribute to the world.
7. Look to the people you admire. Sometimes the people we admire most in life give us a clue to how we might want to contribute to a better world ourselves.
You don’t need fame to fulfill your purpose in life. You just need to look to your inner compass—and start taking small steps in the direction that means the most to you.
Onwards and Upwards
Monty
photo is care of Kaptiol Brokers, with Ingram, David and myself. circa 2002.
