It is in the nature of all human beings to have something to look forward to, in order to give themselves a reason for waking up in the morning and going through all the ups and downs life throws at them. Some people wish for a certain job, a car model or a vacation they want to go on, while others have the desire to reach a certain level of knowledge or spiritual state, in order to fulfill their existence.
No matter the reasons, without having a purpose in life, one will only wander through life without living it to the fullest. But how does one find the means to live a purpose-driven life? How can you wake up every day and find the power to push forward towards that ultimate purpose?
Establish Your Values
The first step towards finding your purpose is identifying the values you stand for. This will determine the way you set up priorities, the way you behave and how you make decisions. Your values are a unique set of principles that you would not break, no matter the circumstances.
By now, you most likely already have a set of rules you live by. Some of them might not be things you value, but rather things you do because you were taught to do so, or because certain things were expected from you. To define the core principles of your life, you need to identify the origins of those values. By asking yourself a set of questions, you can identify those values and use them to find your purpose:
- Think about a meaningful moment – What was happening and what values were you honoring?
- Think about something that upset you – What values were being crushed and why did it affect you?
- What brings fulfillment to your life?
- What are you most proud of?
- What are your best skills and how did you achieve them?
Define Your Purpose
Your ultimate purpose in life should not be driven by some obscure objectives, but rather align with your core values. This is exactly why some people find it so hard to achieve their goals and become frustrated with this. Although they might not want to admit it, their goals were conflicting with their values.
In order to define your goal, think about something that you truly want to achieve and compare it with your values. You need to be completely honest with yourself, define who you are and avoid starting conflicts with yourself. Throughout your life, you may find out that some of the goals you have set are not in line with your values, so you need to go over them again and rewrite them, as they may not fit your life anymore.
Set Up Objectives
In order to achieve the ultimate purpose of your life, you need to start setting up small goals that will help you move towards your purpose. This way, you will not end up feeling overwhelmed with the work you have to do to reach happiness. Setting up meaningless goals will only stray you from the road, so make sure your objectives act as steps that you have to climb to reach your destination.
Once you have set your objectives, you can start focusing on them, instead of the bigger picture. Accomplish them one at a time and you will soon discover that you are closer to your purpose than you imagine. Remember famous professional writers. Many of them (like Ernest Hemingway) were journalists in local newspapers or stayed almost unknown for years like Bram Stoker. Think about people who are running marathons. Do you think they managed to run 50 km at once? No. They started small, by running 5 km and moved towards bigger numbers in time.
Find Your Passion
You might have experienced moments when you find it easy to accomplish tasks simply because you find yourself being passionate about them. Pursuing your passion is what will keep you motivated and help you achieve better results in every area of your life. Determine the things you like to do, whether it is something art-, technology- or sports-related.
Defining your passion will also guide you towards finding a profession you like, which can help fulfill your professional objectives and bring you one step closer to your ultimate purpose. Once you do things out of passion, you will find them much easier to accomplish, and even if you struggle somewhere on the road, you will find the motivation to get over the most difficult moments.
Become Self-Aware
To make sure that everything you do is meaningful to your ultimate purpose, you need to understand yourself better than anyone else can. Identify your strengths, your deepest weaknesses, your likes and dislikes and you will be able to find the motives behind your every action. Know what your deepest beliefs are and what motivates you every day.
To do so, you need to evaluate yourself every day and understand why you act the way you do. A self-aware person will know when it’s time to put effort towards an opportunity and not waste time with things that are not bringing any positive contribution to their life.
Think About Investment
Living a purpose-driven life does not come costless. Sometimes, you will find yourself having to make some sacrifices to achieve your goals, so take the time to think about what you are willing to risk in order to see your vision become reality. Time, energy, and sometimes even money needs to be invested in your dream.
If you have selected your goal in alignment with your core values, you will find those sacrifices are worth making. For example, if your ultimate goal is to achieve freedom, to be able to go from place to place and live meaningful experiences, you might have to change your well-paid job, which would have you pinned in your home city in order to do so.
Are You Ready for a Purpose-Driven Life?
No matter what your ultimate goal is, in order to achieve it and live a purpose-driven life, you first need to find something that is in line with your core values. Finding the things you are passionate about and accepting the fact that, along the way, you will need to make some sacrifices is only going to get you one step closer to reaching clarity and peace of mind.