A person who doesn’t have a purpose in their life is a wandering generality. They don’t know where they’re going, why they’re going somewhere, and what to do with their life. It’s a sad situation.
But how do you find your purpose? What do you do when you don’t know where to go?
Good news, there’s a plan you can follow.
I’ll start off with the key to finding your purpose. You have to find the creator of the world and you. God knows you better than you know yourself. Better than anyone knows you. Finding yourself in a relationship with Him will help direct your path. He is the one that created you, after all.
The second step in finding your purpose is to identify your values. What do you believe? Why do you believe it? How have your values changed over time? You’ll discover surprising insights into yourself and your journey in life.
Next, you will want to explore your passions. What things in your life excite you? How did God wire you? What brings you alive? For me, I think about ice climbing. It’s a passion of mine that brings me to life. While I don’t lead ice climbing trips, I build relationships, see key insights into leadership principles, and more through ice climbing. That’s the fun part about passions; they connect to the other passions of yours.
Another thing to do to find your purpose is to look at your strengths. Much like passions, you have strengths for a reason. Examine what you’re good at and pursue those things. You’ll soon find yourself living in a way that you’re chasing your purpose and doing what you’re good at. An excellent tool for this is the StrengthsFinders 2.0 assessment.
The last thing I want to examine is that you need to experiment. How do you know what you’re good at if you’ve never done it before? You don’t. You need to experiment and try different things. Maybe you take an art class, ask for a new responsibility in the office, or tinker with that old computer that’s been collecting dust in the closet (you’re not going to hurt it, it hasn’t been used in forever). Experimentation leads you to discover new areas of purpose in your life.
Finding purpose in your life won’t be as easy as you want it to be. You’ll have to do the challenging task of discovering why you were created and what brings you to life. Be in prayer about your purpose. God will help reveal it to you. You’ll also want to identify your values. Know what you stand for! Look at yourself and see what you’re good at. This is a good sign that you need to pursue more of this in your life. Last but not least, make sure you’re trying new things in your life and business. The more you experiment, the more you discover new things and, possibly, new purpose.
Your purpose will lead you and guide you. You may find your purpose changes over time as you complete one portion of your life; think of going from an entire household to being empty nesters. The purpose changes, but you’re still you.
Go out, find your purpose, and live in it.
