Tag: a purpose driven life

A DIFFICULT DECISION, AN EASY LIST

Here is a simple strategy I highly suggest all of us should do. It takes one of the more difficult decisions we have to make and turns it into a fun activity. What is this decision? Better yet, what is this activity? Let us take a look.

Have you ever felt stuck at your job? Have you ever found yourself asking, “Isn’t there something better for me?” Maybe you are one of the lucky people who really enjoy your job. Still, you feel there is something that could be more fulfilling? Something that is more in line with your life’s purpose. What then?

I often find myself sitting in my car outside of work asking these very questions. That actually is a picture of me sitting in my car. Here is what I suggest we do. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle so you create two columns. On the top of one, write “things I really enjoy” or something like that. On top the other write “things that suck my soul” or something like that.

Now simply list everything that you do that really brings a smile to your face and heart. In my case, drinking coffee, listening to classic jazz, taking to people about themselves and encouraging them. List as many as you can think of. They don’t have to make sense to anyone but you.

Now, on the other side, list all of the things that seem to drain the very life from your soul. For me, it is being around drunk people, negativity, and being outside in the cold. Again, they don’t have to relate to each other. Just any thing that you really don’t enjoy.

Take a look at your list. The agragete of which should hint as to what kind of occupation may serve you well. Even if you want to keep the job you have now, it may give you an idea of a hobby or side hustle that could give you more emotional fulfillment. In my case, drinking coffee while talking to, and encouraging, others has me thinking talk show host would be the perfect job. Sadly, I can’t walk into a major network and get my own talk show. What I could do, is start my own podcast! I created the Living The Dream with Neil Panosian podcast. I highly recommend checking it out wherever you stream content.

The second list will give you an idea of what to minimize in your daily experience. Reducing these can increase your feelings of vitality and life satisfaction. Writing it down is the key. If we try bouncing this around in our noggin, we will just end up creating more stress for ourselves.

I’ll be interested in hearing what some of the things on your lists are, and what career, side hustle or hobby you come up with. Please feel free to share yours in the comments!

DON’T LOOK FOR IT, CREATE IT!😃

So many books, movies and philosophies are concerned with the meaning of life. I guess it is good to ponder the direction one’s life is going. Do you know what is infinitely better? Creating it!

This weekend, if you haven’t already, take some time to get clear as to what the meaning of your life is going to be. This doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 80. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. ”

Getting clear, for the first time perhaps, as to what the purpose of your life is, will have amazing benefits! Stress will be reduced. Energy will be increased. Indecision will be a thing of the past. You will have a definite idea of what is right and wrong for your life. Most importantly, you will be able to decipher if you are going in the right direction or not. If not, you will be able to take corrective actions.

With all of these benefits, and more, isn’t spending some time deciding what the purpose of your life worth it? In fact, it is worth its weight in gold!

THE POWER OF PURPOSE

Baby swan

This is a subject that I feel has been written about at great length. There is great scientific evidence that having a purpose does great things for your life. It can reduce stress. It can help guide you as to what actions you should take. It can also help sustain you when things are not going so well. In my own life, I have even felt a sense of energy and resilience when keeping my purpose in mind. This is why you owe it to yourself to spend some time on finding your true purpose. What we are going to look at today can take anywhere from a few seconds, to a few minutes. Nothing more than that. It will be easy and it will be fun. It will also give you a taste of all the wonderful benefits we mentioned above.

As we can see in the picture of the baby swan above, it is walking with a sense of purpose. One of the most difficult things about finding your purpose, is that people look at it as this larger-than-life activity. It doesn’t have to be. There are two important things to consider when finding your purpose. One, your purpose can change. You don’t have to worry about choosing the wrong purpose or making a mistake. You can always decide to tweak your purpose as you, and your life change. You can even decide to scrap it and choose a new one. You will still move further and faster than going through life without one. There is a fun little exercise you can do while you are pondering what your life purpose may be. It takes no time at all and will add a great deal of positive things to your life.

The secret to helping your mind get used to living with purpose is to start out small. Pick a daily purpose. It could be to clean a section of the house. A good purpose could be to reach out to someone you know is hurting just to offer them support. Hopefully, everyone in your life is happy and not hurting. If this is the case, you could even send a card, or even an email or message, just to say you were thinking of them and appreciate them. Your purpose may be to bring more joy into a friendship or relationship. Perhaps today’s purpose is to give 110% on the job site. There are more spiritual/emotional ways to go about it. Your purpose could be to just spend quality time with friends and be fully present, like these ducks and birds were doing when I happened upon them. Devoting time to self-care can be a great purpose. Spending 30 minutes with a good cup of tea or coffee and a great book can do wonders for the spirit. The more you practice these ‘daily purposes’ the easier it is to live a life that is both rewarding as well as fulfilling.

I would love to hear more about what activities you decide to choose as your daily purpose. Are you a parent that decides to impart one item of life knowledge with your child? Was your purpose to do one thing to improve your relationship with your boss? Maybe you would like to take a step to help local wildlife? I would love to hear what you decide. Your ideas could help spark an idea in someone else. Who knows what that might lead to? As a bonus, when you do these ‘little’ life purposes, you will not only see one aspect of your life improve daily, you will also have a daily sense of accomplishment.