When you are creating a legacy, that part of you that will live on beyond your physical life, the process can be tough. What makes it tough is that as we develop legacy and we do it in a raw, authentic way, we will experience tough stuff that challenges our alignment to our integrity (step seven). We are going to get a little personal here for this one. The process will be tough yet will yield such great results and will help solidify the foundation of who you are and what your foundation is.
How Do You Live A Life On Purpose?
Here is where we get to the meat of the creating legacy. The process of living your life on purpose starts with knowing. Determining for yourself, what matters most. Simon Sinek refers to it as starting with your why. There are 15 crucial questions to ask yourself that will help you determine purpose. This is where we go deep and personal. These questions are designed to make you think. The goal of them is to answer them quickly, before your subconscious mind takes over and tells you what you think. It is critical to take charge of your subconscious here. This is where dreams take form. Spending too much time answering the questions allows your subconscious to keep you “safe.” Here are eight questions to get you started:
- What makes you smile
- What activities do you lose yourself in
- What makes you feel great about yourself
- What do people typically ask you for help with
- If you had to teach (not made to), what would you teach others about
- What would you regret not doing or having at the end of your life
- What are your deepest values
- What causes you to believe in or support certain causes
Now, here is where we really get personal.
Your Personal Mission Statement
When we talk about creating a legacy and living on purpose, we also talk about ensuring that we are living in alignment with our integrity. The easiest way to ensure alignment is to use the above questions to begin writing a personal mission statement.
The best personal mission statements, and by best I am talking about ones that are fully present in all aspects, answer three questions: What do I want to do, who do I want to help, and what value will I create. Let’s look at each briefly.
What Do I Want To Do?
By determining what you want to do, you are creating a life that aligns with your purpose. Living in your purpose will never be out of something that disgusts you. For example, if you hate the sight of blood, chances are your life’s purpose won’t be in the medical field, at least not hands on where blood would be present. Those passions and dreams that are in your head, these are the beginnings of you aligning with what you want to do.
Who Do I Want To Help?
This is one of the biggest indicators to how you live. We are all in some way interconnected. Out lives are not built around ourselves only. In other words, none of us are islands. When we are working with the causes and the people that we are drawn to, we are living in closer alignment to your purpose.
What Value Will I Create?
If, at the end of your life on your ‘death bed’ you could look back, how do you want to be remembered. What is it that you want to share with the world? What is the impact you want to have? These are the questions that will help you write that mission statement.
Where Do I Go From Here?
This is where the value of coaching and mentoring come in. I would love to help walk you through how to create a powerful personal mission statement that is in alignment with your overall purpose in life.
Comment below “I want to know” or feel free to reach out to me directly and let’s get you living on purpose.