Step 3: My Purpose
In Step 2, we looked at your core values and why it’s an important step in building your forever business. We learnt that Core Values are the foundation of your purpose. Your code of ethics. That’s why we covered this topic before we start with Purpose. Values help define the culture of the business you are going to build. Purpose defines why a new business exists and the direction you take your startup. Let’s figure out how to give your business a purpose to exist and thrive.
For those just joining us at this point, you can continue and learn about purpose, but it’s worth starting at step 1, My Current State, to give you better context.
Let’s get started. In our Happy Path Flight Plan illustration, we are touching on Purpose, in orange and bold below.
Purpose is the reason you get out of bed in the morning, your North Star, and your main objective. It’s what drives you to keep working, reading, learning and growing. When we find our purpose, we also discover our why. A person’s why is their biggest motivation to achieve their goals and dreams in life. A person’s why is what drives them forward and gives them a sense of meaning in their life. A person doesn’t necessarily need to have a job or career to find their purpose or their why.
Why Purpose Matters
Purpose is the driving force behind your motivation. When you have a clear sense of purpose, you’re more likely to make time for what matters most to you. You’ll be more likely to set goals and tackle difficult tasks when you know why you’re doing it. Purpose can take many forms. For some, it means expressing their talents in their field of expertise. For others, it means making the world a better place through volunteering or other community service. For still others, it means finding happiness in unexpected ways like spending time with loved ones or pursuing hobbies they enjoy. One thing is clear: Purpose matters because it fuels motivation and drives performance. The more purpose you find, the more motivated and successful you’ll be as an individual and as a member of society.
Finding Your Purpose isn’t always easy
Purpose is the result of a long, difficult journey for many people. Most people don’t suddenly discover their purpose. Instead, they search for what drives them. They ask themselves difficult questions and spend time thinking about what excites them. They examine their core values and what they care about in life. They also try out different activities and do a lot of soul searching to understand what they want out of their lives and what drives their passions. It isn’t an easy process, but it’s worth the time and effort. When you discover your purpose, it helps you live a life you love and it brings you a sense of joy. You’ll feel driven to keep moving forward and to keep learning new things. When your purpose is aligned with your core values, it also helps you find your place in the world and find your tribe.
Defining Your Purpose
First, let’s look at what purpose means. Purpose – The reason someone does something or the reason something exists. The reason why you exist on this planet is to pursue your passions, pursue what drives you, and leave the world a better place because you were here. You were brought into this world for a reason, and it’s up to you to figure out what your purpose is. There are many ways to go about doing this, and no one method is going to work for every person. You have to do some soul-searching and questioning to figure out what drives you and to identify your purpose in life. And does it involve starting your own business as a vehicle to really deliver on your purpose. It all starts with knowing your core values that you did in the previous step. If you haven’t done that yet then it best you start there before reading further, How to Find Your Core Values and Why It’s Important for Starting a Business
Know Your Core Values
Identifying and living by your core values are essential to finding you purpose. Core values are the things you believe in and hold dear. They are the core aspects of your personality and what drives you in life. There are many different values you can choose from, like honesty, integrity, loyalty, and passion. Knowing your values is important when trying to discover your purpose. Your values will help you figure out what you want to do with your life. They’ll help you decide what path to take to pursue your purpose and what jobs, careers or pursuits are a good fit for you. Think about the core aspects of your personality. What drives you? What do you believe in? What are your values? We have cover core values in the previous step so headfirst if you want to identify your core values and then come back here. If you know your 3 top core values, then keep reading.
Discover Your “Why”
It’s important to discover your “why.” This is the motivation behind your purpose. It’s the driving force behind your actions. A person’s “why” is what keeps them moving forward in their goals and dreams. It’s what helps them stay positive and motivated even in the hardest of times. When you know your “why,” you know your purpose. You know what you have to do in life. You have to discover your “why” because your purpose might change over time. Your “why” is what drives you now, but your purpose might change as you learn more about yourself and grow as a person.
Ask yourself these difficult questions
The best way to discover your purpose is to ask yourself difficult questions. These are questions that will help you figure out what drives you and what you want out of life. They will help you identify your passions and your values. They will help you find your purpose. Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a better idea of what your purpose is. You’ll know what drives you and what you want to do with your life. Here are some questions to get you started:
- Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
- What do you value most in life?
- What drives you?
- What excites you?
- What are you passionate about?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- What would your perfect day look like?
- What are your dreams and goals?
- What do you want out of life?
- What drives you to achieve your goals?
- What do you want to accomplish in life?
- What does success look like to you?
- What drives you to stay motivated?
- What do you want to be remembered for when you die?
- What do you want your legacy to be?
Discover Your Skills
You also have to discover your skills. This includes both your natural skills as well as your transferable skills. You want to know what skills you have in your toolkit that you can use in your future career or job and what skills you can use to pursue your passions in your free time. Your skills will help you decide which path to take to achieve your purpose. For example, if you want to become a farmer, you have to know your skills, like growing crops or knowing the best time to plant certain crops. If you want to be a software engineer, you have to know your skills, like programming languages and computer knowledge.
Set Big Goals
Next, you have to set big goals. These goals should be things you want to accomplish in your life. They should be things that drive you. They should be things that excite you. They should be things that you’ve thought about for a long time. They should be things that you’re passionate about. They should be things that are important to you. They should be things that fit with your skills. They should be things that you want to achieve before you die. These goals will help keep you motivated and help you reach your purpose. They will give you a goal to work towards and something to work towards every day. They will help you stay focused on what’s important in life. They will help you better understand your purpose and why you do the things you do.
Find Activities that Challenge You
Next, you have to find activities that challenge you. These are difficult tasks that push you to your limits. They are things that you may struggle with at first, but they are things that challenge you to grow and develop new skills. These are things that will help you achieve your goals and dreams. They are things that will help you find your purpose. For example, if you want to become a writer, you have to write every day. You have to push yourself to write even when you don’t feel like it. You have to challenge yourself and set high standards for your writing. You have to try new things and experiment to find your voice as a writer.
Find Your Purpose Through Helping Others Find Their Purpose
Finally, you can find your purpose through helping others find their purpose. You can do this by mentoring other people, volunteering, or serving in your community. You can also do this by helping others solve their problems. There are many ways to help others find their purpose. These are things you can do in your free time to help others find their purpose. They are things that will help you discover your purpose as well. They are things that will help you find your purpose.
Find Your Purpose Through Loving What You Do
You can also find your purpose through loving what you do. When you love what you do, you’ll find your purpose. You’ll enjoy your work and your hobbies. You’ll find a joy in living that most people have never found before because you’ll be doing what you love. You’ll be pursuing your passions. You don’t have to find a job that pays tons of money to find your purpose. You don’t have to find a job that impacts the world. You don’t have to find a job that makes you rich. You can find your purpose by loving what you do. You can find your purpose by doing what you love. You can find your purpose by enjoying the things you do. You can find your purpose by finding joy in your life. You can find your purpose by loving what you do.
Your Purpose Statement
Now that you have the idea of what needs to be done to identify your purpose and your why. What we shall do next is take you through an exercise on how to find your purpose using a method that also discovers your why.
To do this we are going to create your Purpose Statement. These are the steps you need to follow:
Your Purpose Statement needs to answer two questions:
- Who Do I Really Need To Be In This Life?
- What Can I Do To Make A Difference?
It’s not as difficult as it may first seem, so let’s continue to get a great Purpose Statement.
Firstly, think about what you can offer life and not what life should be offering you. Life owes you nothing so nothing will ever happen if you just wait for it or assume it will fall in your lap. Therefore you have to give something of value before you will receive anything back.
Write down all the skills/abilities/talents that you can offer now or could in the near future. Also write down what skills/abilities you would like to have.
Secondly, think about the end of your life and how you want to be remembered. Why you want to be remembered for that?
Write down how you want to be remembered and why you want to be remembered that way in the same document as the first question.
Thirdly, to help complete your purpose statement answer these following questions:
- Of the skills/talents/abilities you wrote down which ones can be used to serving others?
- Which trait is your strongest – lead, awaken, inspire, ignite, support?
- Which do you most prefer – persuade, challenge, teach, coach, direct?
- Which are you naturally moved to – create, design, organize, compose, master?
- Which do you most prefer to do – help, befriend, listen, love, accept, share?
- Do you – seek, heal, liberate, enable, achieve? Choose one.
Write all answers down in the one document.
Fourth, observe what you do that makes you lose track of time because you are so immersed in what you’re doing.
- What are you always happy to do no matter what?
- What do people come to you for such as advice, help, coaching, guidance, sound board, etc?
- Ask work colleagues and friends who know you what your strengths are, what you stand for, ask them what they think your best abilities and talents are?
Continue writing your answers down in the same document.
Once all these steps are completed now you are ready to start articulating your purpose statement. Your purpose is unique to you and must reflect that. Your passion, vision, core values and key motivation (your why) are encapsulated in your Purpose Statement.
The structure of the Purpose Statement starts with:
TO…………(a phrase what you can offer the world) SO THAT…………(a phrase how what you offer will benefit the world)
Now use the answers to the above questions, your core values and referring to your current state information compile a draft copy of your Purpose Statement. You will likely make numerous versions. This is an evolutionary process that could take weeks to reach its final version.
Examples:
“To be a spokesperson for wildlife issues so that I can help people connect their daily actions to saving the wildlife on this planet.”
“To grow nutritious, organic food so that it helps people grow and thrive, and have vibrant health.”
“To make people feel beautiful by cutting and styling their hair in a way that expresses who they are and where they are going in life.”
“To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that together, we can change our world.” – Simon Sinek
“To connect millions of people in real life all over the world, through a community marketplace – so that you can Belong Anywhere.” – Airbnb
“To guide people to transform their life and to achieve their goals so that each day they wake up inspired by the work they do.” – Louis Ballington
Once you have drafted your Purpose Statement, capture it in this section of the ‘The Foundation Clouds’.
Core values and principles define your day-to-day actions and motives, in this task identify any small, medium and big actions that you do that builds the credibility that you are living by what you preach. And how can you better this over the next year.
In a years’ time you will need to review these core values to evaluate how well you did against each of them. Journalling throughout the year helps you stay your course and reinforces these values. Review your core values after one year to see if any have changed and need replacing. Reassess each of these questions for each value.
An example statement for the core value honesty is, “Honesty means doing the right thing when no one is looking.”
How are Values different to Principles
Principles define how you live by your Core Values and set the limits on how you go about realizing your Values. Principles are your guidelines that are objective, fixed, and should be applied to every decision you make. They offer guidance that ensure decisions are the right ones by being your moral compass.
Principles are action orientated and external in nature while our Values are internal and subjective, and they may change over time.
An example of a principle is The Golden Rule – Treat other people the way you would like to be treated.
If your core value is empathy, then a good principle could be an empathic listener (to listen keenly with the intent to understand their situation that improves mutual understanding and trust). Apply this technique when answering the guiding principle question above for each value.
How to Live by Your Core Values
Now that you know what your core values are, you need to consistently live by them. It is easier to follow your core values when you understand what they are. You can use your core values as a guide to make decisions in life and give them importance when facing challenges.
Your core values will help you create a better life, lead a happier and more fulfilling existence, and prevent regrets. You can use your core values to create your own personal mission statement.
It is helpful to write down your core values on a something that can be hung-up somewhere you frequent. We use The Foundation Clouds template, below that is completed after each section is covered in these blogs. So once the ‘My 3 Core Values’ workbook is completed fill in your core values ‘The Foundation Clouds’.
Journalling is also effective when the core values are referred to frequently as this embeds them into your subconscious mind. We will discuss journalling in a later step.
Warning: Don’t Confuse Core Values with Goals
Your core values are the principles you live by, whereas goals are specific actions you need to take to achieve what is important to you. For example, a core value of respect may lead you to a goal of having a healthy relationship with your partner.
Your core values are a part of who you are and how you make decisions. Goals, on the other hand, are specific tasks or events you must achieve to live a certain way. You may want to build a successful business, for example, but that doesn’t mean you must have a positive and respectful relationship with your partner.
Core values and goals are not mutually exclusive. They can be similar and overlap, especially if you are trying to achieve something that is important to you. You can use your core values to help you set goals and create a better vision for your life.
Bottom line
Core values can be the tie that binds your life together. When you understand what they are, how they relate to you, and how they can be applied in your life, you can create a meaningful existence that is full of joy and excitement. You can be a happier and more fulfilled person when you know what your core values are and how to apply them in your life.