How Do I Clarify My Purpose?

In last week’s post I wrote about the importance of defining your purpose in order to create a strong personal foundation and navigate to success.  This post is dedicated to helping you figure out what your purpose is.  If it is already crystal clear to you then congratulations; please post a comment on how you reached this clarity!  If you have not given it a lot of thought or you have some “fogginess” around what your true purpose is then please read on and hopefully you will gain some insight. 

Marcia Reynolds of OutsmartYourBrain.com and I talked earlier this week about understanding your purpose. She shared that it is critical to engage the emotional part of your brain to identify your purpose; your logical brain will not serve you well in this process.  She has a great exercise to connect with your emotional brain and then identify your passions that will lead to your sense of purpose.  I’ve listed just the first step below; see the entire exercise via this link to “Brain Tip 80” on Marcia’s site:

Complete three of the five exercises:

• Name the last movie you saw that you loved. Tell what you liked about the story.
• Describe what you like and don’t like about a book you are reading.
• List three of your favorite smells. Describe what the smells remind you of.
• List three of your favorite comfort foods. Describe when you last ate these foods.
• List three of your favorite sounds. Explore what you feel when you hear these sounds and why.

After completing the exercises, list what you are passionate about in life.  If you are struggling then go to the link above and continue with the next step.

Another way of looking at clarifying your sense of purpose is through a review of all the different aspects of your life utilizing a “note card” exercise that I learned in the Vision in Action  seminar I took from Diana Sterling.  It was also helpful in clarifying the focus of my business in order to utilize my skills and passions toward fulfilling my purpose.   Here is the exercise (Diana gave me permission to share it here):

• Purchase a pack of multi-colored 100-count index cards.  Use a big black marker and write big so the words fill each card.  Separate the cards by color and then use the following categories:
  • 20 skills, one on each card.
  • 20 Accomplishments.  Include anything that you feel was a significant accomplishment regardless of whether anyone recognized it.
  • All jobs whether paid or not (list more than 20 if needed)
  • 20 Core Values.  Qualities, not things.  See last week’s post for some examples of values.
  • 20 Themes or Metaphors.  There are themes or symbols that have reappeared throughout your life.
  • Lay out all 100 cards and look at them, then jumble them up and put them away.
  • The next day (day two) lay them out again and pick five of each color; do not over intellectualize which ones you pick.   Place the 25 cards out on the table and review, and then put them away.
  • Day three – Put out the 25 cards and pick the top 5 that really represent who you are.  Do not worry about balancing the categories. 
  • Day four & five – Absorb those five cards and determine how they help you with sensing your purpose.

Finally, another list of great questions to consider is from Dan Baker’s book, What Happy People Know.  His research shows that happy people have clarity of their purpose (most often associated with their work):

• What brings vitality to your life?
• What do you want to be known as?
• What’s your proudest achievement?
• What does your life stand for?

 Do you have a process to share that helped you clarify your purpose?  Please post a comment to share your process or your success using one of the exercises listed here. 

photo credits: Steve took it, Heather