How to identify, cultivate and grow your purpose in a way that is authentic to you
Proposal:
“I go to work to get the money”, millions of people live their life this way. But, have you ever wondered: what is my purpose, what is my life’s work? What is that thing that will leave a legacy after I am gone? Many of us wonder what is the right way to identify and grow our purpose in a way that is authentic.
Legacy is a matter of perspective. Someone’s legacy has to be what is real for them in any given season of life. Mistake that many people make is that they decide what they think their legacy is supposed to be and then if and when their life unfolds in a different way, they allow that to contribute to the idea that they failed. Legacy is allowed to evolve.
Find skills that are transferable, that you can test out on a regular basis. Many people are underutilized in how their skills can transfer to other places. They feel like they have one bucket of skills and are unaware of all the different avenues that they can take, different ways in which they can pivot. For some, it is the fear of the pivot itself and for others, it is the fear of failure.
Find what ratio woks for you. It is not just about the things that you are good at, it’s about finding things that energize you, that you look forward to, that make you feel like you are making a contribution in. You are allowed to have both: the job that get’s the money but that makes you happy at the same time. It is absurd to assume that there is a job out there that you love a 100%, every role will have parts that are challenging and unpleasant. But it is all about the ratio - if you love 70%, 85% or 90% of your job, is that good enough for you?
Test it out. Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. How many things are you willing to try out before you find what works for you? And if you find that one thing that lights you up, never abandon it. If there is something that fills your soul, that adds value to your life, you can’t stop doing that, even if it’s not making you money it will enrich your soul and your life.
Enjoy the pursuit. You can’t only celebrate the goal; you need to enjoy the pursuit. There is a lot of people out there who are incredibly successful, yet they feel miserable because they were delaying their own gratification and their goal became soulless. If you are not enjoying the pursuit of your goal, then you are making the decision not to enjoy the majority of your time.
Find your flow, your Zen state. Find that one thing in your life that makes you feel you are in the zone, your happy place. That one thing that you love to do and that makes everything else melt away. The most important thing here is to have self-awareness to realize when it’s happening. If you can’t understand when it is happening, you will never be able to capitalize it and to use it. Don’t be afraid of self-analysis, take small steps and learn along the way.
Find out what success means to you. Success means different things to different people. When do you reach the spot that you are comfortable with, a spot where your values and your skill align? Find that spot and run with it.
Impact:
When you are thinking about your life’s work take into account your values and your skills. Be ready to fail and learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, because this journey is meant to be enjoyed. If you are only celebrating your goals, you will spend the majority of your time waiting instead of enjoying. Find that spot where your skills and your values align and where you enter into flow, and you will find what success means to you. You will find your purpose.
Co-creator passion: Human potential. Specifically, helping people understand that we all have natural skills, resources and strengths that we can bring into our exchanges but it takes hard work to refine those things. https://se.linkedin.com/in/john-anthony-10a23548/de
Invention of the week:
Detecting Parkinson’s. There has been a new medical breakthrough - new research suggests that odors can be used to screen for Parkinson’s disease, which currently is without a definitive diagnostic. Human body odors emit a wide array of odor and non-odor related chemicals called volatile organic compounds. These compounds are emitted from different areas of the human body and vary with age, diet, sex and possibly genetic background. This study highlights the potential of analyzing the sebum from Parkinson’s patients and raises the possibility that individuals can be screened noninvasively using a diagnostic device with a nose for these odor-based biomarkers. Such a device could allow earlier diagnosis and treatment to prevent the disease from progressing to stages with severe symptoms.
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