Knowing your purpose can be something that many struggle with. The meaning of life has long been the subject of countless books, movies, and magazine articles. So how do you figure out what your purpose is before you hit 80? With some focused journaling and time with God, it’s not that hard to figure out. Here is how you can figure out your purpose, and start building the life of your dreams!
Steps for Knowing Your Purpose
- Journaling
- Know Your Worth
- Know Your Passions
- Time with God
- Volunteering and Internships
Journaling to Discover Your Purpose
The best way to discover your purpose is through journaling. Journaling helps you put all your thoughts on paper, getting you in touch with who you are and what matters to you. You can do this in many ways, but doing a brain dump on everything that matters to you is a great way to start. Set a timer for 5-15 minutes, and write down everything you enjoy doing. Anything that makes you feel happy and fulfilled when you do it counts.
Think of anything that attracts your attention when you are watching TV, reading books or magazine articles, or listening to the radio. Any injustices that get your heart pumping, or make you want to take part in eradicating, are a great indication of your purpose. Examples of this may be helping animals, freedom of religion, speech or association, environmental concerns, teaching children or adults to read, sports, helping the less fortunate, or being a mentor for children. The list is truly endless!!!
Keep writing the list until you can’t come up with anything else. Don’t worry about how unobtainable it may seem, this list is just to get everything on paper. You never know what doors may open to you that you never dreamed would.
Discovering a theme
Once you have your list, take some time to review it. Are there are themes that keep coming up? Are there things that really jump out more than others? Depending on the size of your list, bring them down to your top 5 things. You may have only one thing that really grabs you, which means you’ve found your purpose! Now you can move on to deciding how you will pursue that purpose.
Knowing Your Worth
Knowing your worth is essential to discovering your purpose. If you don’t know and embrace how incredibly valuable you are, you will never pursue your purpose. Many people don’t go after their dreams because they don’t think they are capable of doing it. They don’t realize how valuable they are and that they were created by God for a reason. They settle for mediocre lives because they haven’t taken the time to discover or develop their unique gifts.
Once you unlock the door to your gifts, and choose to use them for the benefit of the world, there is nothing that can stop you! You were made for more. You were made to glorify God’s incredible greatness! You may not realize this, but God couldn’t imagine the world without you. He put things in motion generations before you were born so you could become a reality. He loves you and has great plans for you! You really are that important to Him, so embrace the awesome person you are.
Knowing Your Passions
After you have completed your Journaling session, you will have a better idea of what your passions are, or things you may be interested in pursuing. As long as your passions are legal, and will help the world become a better place, you can now decide which ones you want to build your life around. Do you love helping animals? Then maybe becoming a veterinarian, zoo keeper, or running an animal rehabilitation centre is in your future! Want to keep people safe? Then joining the police force, army, navy, air force, or becoming a fire fighter may be a great choice for you.
Once you know what moves you, you can then start educating yourself in that field, so you can thrive in that environment. Becoming a doctor, lawyer, teacher, veterinarian, or actor all stem from the same place. A desire to do it, and the commitment to getting the best education you can to get. Start where you are, and then keep taking the next best step to get to where you want to be.
Spending Time with God
I love this phrase from Trish Blackwell, “If God put that on your heart, it’s not yours to keep.” This means that if God gave you the desire to help or talk to someone you need to do it! If there is something on your heart that you feel you need to do, that is probably the purpose that God has for your life. This can include writing a book, song, music, play, or movie script. It can be starting a nonprofit company or animal welfare society. Whatever the desire or idea God put into your heart to do, the world needs you to provide.
I know not everyone who reads my blog believes in God, but I guarantee He believes in you whether you do or not! He believes so much in you, that Jesus died on the cross so you could spend eternal life with Him! Don’t take this incredible gift for granted. Without a relationship with God, you will always feel that something is missing in your life. Having God as your friend and guide, is really helpful to finding your purpose in life.
Whenever you are questioning your direction in life, asking God for guidance is a great way to move forward. You will be amazed as things just fall into place when you have God at your side. He will inspire you beyond all expectations, and can help you find the answers you are looking for.
Volunteering and Internships
Don’t underestimate the value of volunteering in the meantime. Hands on experience is just as important as what you will learn from books. Volunteering and Internships are a great way to find out if you really like the field you are passionate about. I know of people that put in all the hard work to become a lawyer, and then discovered they actually hated it!!! One in particular was about to become an Associate in the very prestigious firm we both worked at. She declined, and started pursuing something completely different. By volunteering or taking part in an internship, you get to test the waters and see if it’s a good fit for both you.
Volunteering and internships also allow you to experience a wide spectrum of opportunities. You may find there is a specific area of the field you are interested in that really sparks your soul. As a natural born encourager, I have discovered that my purpose is to help people find Jesus and become the best that they can be. Helping people build their confidence, improve their health, and develop a deeper relationship with God brings me joy beyond measure!
In Conclusion
You can find this same joy and love for life, when you stop and take inventory of what really moves you! It doesn’t take a lot of time to discover what makes you smile and motivates you. You can make an incredible difference in this world when you do what God created you to do. When you learn to love yourself, it allows you to love others too. I encourage you to take the time and really know your purpose. It will make all the difference in having a satisfactory life or having an extraordinary one!!! For more information check out my YouTube post Knowing Your Purpose.
Remember: If God put that on your heart, it’s not yours to keep.
As a natural encourager, I live to help others!!! One-on-one coaching is a great way to start building your confidence, and improve your health! I help people with Fibromyalgia and chronic illness manage their symptoms with ease, so they never feel held back again! Click here for an application form and I would be happy to help you in your journey. You can also contact me at andrea@nopainallgain.ca or check out my website: www.nopainallgain.ca
