Your Purpose Is Stronger Than You Think
Our fears are powerful forces that can distract us every day and hold us back from following our dreams. With the economy and climate change affecting our world, fear can feel paralyzing and stop us from moving ahead with plans, ideas, and even our purpose in life. It can be tempting to let go of a dream based on fear of failure. But guess what? You can survive failure. You can survive and thrive in life and work with purpose! As humans, we often procrastinate on taking the next step because fear stops us in our tracks. Taking calculated risks and making mistakes is how we learn, grow, and become better versions of ourselves.
Knowing your purpose in this world comes with many advantages. First, it helps you know that you are unique and have gifts to share with this world because of who you are. naturally. It is empowering to understand that you are here for a reason, and that your reason to rise helps others! Also, People with a deep sense of purpose tend to be happier, recover faster from illness, feel more motivated and live longer. Clearly defining your purpose and leveraging it as your innate ‘superpower’ can give you a new perspective on fear and see it for what it is–a cloudy concept that you have the strength and fortitude to move through and beyond.
Having a sense of fear is natural. We needed it survive the threat of lions and bears. It makes us stop and consider the circumstances. The good news is that everyone on this earth also has a natural purpose. My purpose it to help people activate theirs. In doing so, they gain the leverage to question limiting beliefs and unleash meaning in the world as quality of life improves. Purpose gives us a lens, a perspective, to see beyond real or perceived barriers holding us back from living our best, most fulfilling life. Fears don’t magically disappear, but we can move through them or walk along beside them without getting stuck.
Why I Love Purpose
Through a six-hour 1-1 program or a cohort-based course, leadership workshops, and consulting, I help companies and communities infuse purpose in their teams. The methods are time-tested and effective for people of all ages who want to experience more clarity, motivation, self-affirmation, and and meaningful engagement at work.
Most of my purpose teachers have been older adults living with a deep sense of purpose in their 80s and 90s. Their wisdom, stories, and daily ‘reasons to rise’ to keep going in life, keep making a difference, keep helping, and keep teaching – inspired me to research purpose and experiment with finding the most effective, streamlined methods to discover and activate a meaningful, heart-centered, emotionally intelligent way to tackle daily life and work with zest. A life that feels purposeless is destined to result in regrets, missed opportunities, and stagnation. employees who are disconnected from purpose at work tend to be disengaged, less resilient, less well, and are more likely to leave or quit.
I’ve seen the power of purpose first-hand by helping people realize that their purpose is a foundation for leaping into life and work with hope. Executives take control of their careers and pursue jobs more aligned with their values and strengths. Leaders embrace purpose in their companies and realize greater focus, productivity and job satisfaction from their teams. College students find their purpose and then choose a major based on their desire and curiosity – and excel – rather than settling for the field of study they think they should choose for status or parent-pleasing reasons. Retirees connect with their purpose and start truly loving their life because they can experience purpose in daily life and not only as a work identity.
What gets in the way of employees activating their purpose at work? Here’s what I’ve learned;
- They have limiting beliefs about life and their abilities that hold them back from being authentic, creative and curious.
- They do not feel seen, heard and cared about by their manager. Connecting in purpose and recognizing it through a role is a highly effective way to feel seen and appreciated.
- They don’t have a growth mindset - they shy away from introspection and developing self-awareness. Purpose activation sets them on a path of self-discovery and affirmation that sparks a desire to grow and learn.
Most importantly, purpose discovery is fun, uplifting, and inspiring. Most people fall in love with their purpose when they define it clearly. They are amazed to find that who they aspired to be–they already are! Feeling happier and more focused evolves from leaning into their unique, a unique combination of their strengths, gifts, values, intrinsic motivations, and joy to overcome fear, believe they are enough, and take intentional action to reach those aspirations.
www.ThePurposeEquation.com
