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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