Floundering, lost and frustrated.
These are just a few of the emotions that I used to feel regularly before I finally touched upon why on Earth I am here.
After meandering through multiple careers and venturing into various industries, I slowly edged closer and closer to what felt like the embodiment of “me”. Life is a lot different now, and I long to help anyone who is struggling to find their why in the same way that I was.
Telltale signs include: counting down to the weekend just to party and spend Sunday hungover; crossing off each desk calendar day until a faraway holiday; feeling dread at the thought of even going into work (on Sunday nights and beyond!)
If you’re struggling to pinpoint your purpose or seeking clarity around why you’re really here, then ask yourself these 5 questions…
⋆☽ Question 1 ☾⋆
What Drives You?
Are you driven to heal animals/people, or are you seeking a certain social status? Deep down are you trying to please your family, or do you want to bring home a high income?
Above needing to cover your basic needs, start to really consider your biggest career drivers. This is no time to be judgemental if it is money, travel or anything other than “the greater good” because to locate your purpose we first need to uncover what your true motivations are.
⋆☽ Question 2 ☾⋆
What’s The Biggest Problem In The World?
As you can imagine this is a very subjective question, but I have found that people usually have 1 or 2 issues which they are especially passionate about. Whether it is sexism, racism, animal rights or anything else awaiting justice in this world – if you could fix just one thing: what would it be?
Again, you are no better or worse than anyone else for your viewpoint on this. We are simply trying to trace the trail of smoke back to your burning passion.
⋆☽ Question 3 ☾⋆
What Unique Skills Do You Have?
Do your friends unload their issues onto you because you’re an amazing agony aunt, or does everyone marvel at your culinary creations? Where do you put your inimitable personal touch?
It doesn’t matter if it is something that you have learnt and had training in, or if you were born with it. Either way, if you’re really good at something then you will be well compensated for doing it and achieve great things.
⋆☽ Question 4 ☾⋆
What Activities Are You Drawn To?
Feeling an ego push or an intuitive pull towards something feels very different indeed. If you are forcing yourself to stick to a certain path, then it is probably not the most aligned one that you could be on.
When you are guided towards an activity which aligns perfectly with you, it will feel magnetic and fill you up with energy rather than depleting it. With this in mind: what activities make you feel the most alive?
⋆☽ Question 5 ☾⋆
What Do You Always Make Time For?
We only have a certain amount of hours in a day and we all have things that we need to get done, but how we choose to prioritise them depends on our values.
In Dr John Demartini’s book The Values Factor, he asks 13 questions to illuminate our values so I recommended giving it a read to understand yours. We often take on the values that we feel we should have like being a “good” or “charitable” person, but if we’re honest with ourselves then they may not be our biggest drivers in everyday life. We reserve the most time and space for what we value most, so if you can align your career with your existing values then your job won’t feel as much like work.
“Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, therein lies your vocation…”
– Aristotle
Our life is a journey of uncovering rather than a race to an end destination, because as we all know – this journey only ends one way! So, the more closely that we align with our purpose in this lifetime then the bigger and bolder our impact will be.