What Is Your Purpose? by Suzanne Scheideker Cook
“Everyone’s life is either moving towards or away from a purpose.” – From the movie, The Answer Man
As I’ve shared, I often use quotes as positive affirmations each morning. They also help me refocus and regain my balance during the day. Sometimes, I turn the quotes into questions for myself. The above quote is a great one to use for this exercise. Is my life moving towards or away from my purpose? Ask yourself this question. If you are moving away from your life’s purpose, why is that?
Often, we confuse our life’s purposes (or purposes) with roles and goals. While our purpose, roles, and goals are interrelated, they are different. Sometimes, one of our roles in life can also be one of our purposes. For instance, having a career is a role in life. It can also be one of your purposes in life. One example is that you set your sights on becoming the Chief Executive Officer of a Fortune 500 company, then your professional roles and goals should move you towards this purpose. Another instance is one of your roles at work is to do technical writing. You realize that you love writing. So, over time you hone and expand this expertise into writing short stories that entertain others, or you create and maintain a blog that others enjoy or you write informative articles that assist people in managing their businesses. Your writing has now transitioned from something you must do to make a living into something you love to do which is one of your purposes.
I believe that your purpose or purposes in life may not make you any money. Your purpose is something that you feel within your heart which you are called to do. Whether it’s becoming a volunteer in the community, running for office, or making YouTube videos that entertain others. Your purpose is what you love to do. On the other hand, your role in life may or may not be one of your purposes. Goals help you achieve your purpose(s) in life as well as assist you to more effectively manage those roles.
For your personal challenge, write down the things that you love to do. What is the common theme? For more terrific (and easy) exercises on how to help you find your purpose in life, please visit this website. I encourage you to do all these things. Remember that your goal is to move towards your purpose.
