You know that feeling when you’re stuck in a rut, you lack motivation and you have no idea what you want to do with your life? Yep, that feeling is common and it’s possible to breakthrough from it. You just need to unlock your purpose first…

A Calling

Every single one of us has a calling, a Purpose. I give it a capital letter because I believe it is a fundamental part of living a happy and successful life.

There is even a growing body of theoretical and empirical literature suggesting that having a purpose in life contributes to human flourishing, greater levels of happiness and overall wellbeing.

It Starts with “Why”

Purpose can be defined as a central, self-organising life aim.

Simon Sinek famously referred to it as your Why – the purpose, cause or belief that inspires us to do what we do.

Our “Why” is the reason that we get up in the morning. It drives us forward in life and it motivates us to take action.

Living in alignment with your Purpose gives you clarity, meaning, focus and direction. It is the roadmap which you use every single day of your life to make decisions around the actions and tasks and projects you should undertake.

The added element of Purpose is that is it ties in with our unique strength and gifts so that we can have a lasting contribution and impact in our lifetime.

The System Doesn’t Support Us

Here are some reasons why you haven’t figured out your Purpose already:

• We’re never shown or taught how to figure out our purpose. It infuriates me to think that we can spend 12 plus years getting an education (18 in my case!) and have never been given the opportunity to figure out who we are.
• The system doesn’t want us to know who we truly are. You can’t control or sell to someone that is comfortable in the power of who they truly are.
• We live in a busy word where we’re constantly stressed, short of time, bored and feeling uninspired. The collective result is that we’ve lost touch with who we are and what really matters.
• You rarely see an example of a person around you that is living their Purpose. Therefore, you consider Purpose to be this esoteric idea that doesn’t apply to your life.
• You’ve been taught to think that having a stable job, being “productive” and being a good cog in a well-oiled machine is more important than your individual happiness.

I’m here to tell you that the above reasons are bullsh*t. We have to push back against a system and all the conditioning that has denied us knowledge of who we truly are.

It’s our job to step into the path of living our Purpose.

Why? Because it’s where true happiness and success is hiding.

The Thing About Purpose

The thing about Purpose is that we already know what our purpose is. We just need to rediscover our Purpose.

As Simon Sinek says in Start with Why, the Why comes from looking back,

“The Why does not come from looking ahead at what you want to achieve and figuring out an appropriate strategy to get there…It comes from looking in the completely opposite direction from where you are now. Finding Why is a process of discovery, not invention….It is born out of the upbringing and life experience of an individual or a small group.”

Purpose Whispers

The thing about our Purpose is that it whispers. It’s not as loud and imposing as our ego and the opinion of others.

Steven Spielberg said it also:

“The thing I really want to emphasise is, I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a choice . . . the dream is something you never knew was going to come into your life.

Dreams always come from behind you, not right between your eyes. It sneaks up on you. But when you have a dream, it doesn’t often come at you screaming in your face, “This is who you are, this is what you must be for the rest of your life.”

Sometimes a dream almost whispers. And I’ve always said to my kids, the hardest thing to listen to—your instincts, your human personal intuition—always whispers; it never shouts. Very hard to hear.

So you have to every day of your lives be ready to hear what whispers in your ear; it very rarely shouts. And if you can listen to the whisper, and if it tickles your heart, and it’s something you think you want to do for the rest of your life, then that is going to be what you do for the rest of your life, and we will benefit from everything you do.”

Figuring out your Purpose isn’t the hard part. It’s the easy part.

As Simon Sinek emphasised, it’s actually the discipline to trust one’s gut, to stay true to one’s purpose, cause and beliefs and remaining completely in balance and authentic… that’s the hard part.

So, the question becomes – How much do you trust yourself?

I’m so passionate about helping people find their Purpose and live their most authentic life that I’m launching the Happiness in the Hustle – Purpose eCourse in April 2017. Subscribe to the newsletter or send me an email if you want to stay notified.

L