The Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Purpose In Life
Andriea Denise is a purpose pusher to the core. She is an author who educates people on spiritual matters in life. She is an entrepreneur who has worked in marketing for over ten years, and she is an avid journal keeper.
Imagine waking up every morning, excited to hop out of bed and get to work.
You enjoy every minute of every project you take on, and you inspire, encourage, motivate, and uplift other people on a daily basis, just by doing what you love to do.
You would do this work for free, in a heartbeat, but life is super sweet, because you get paid (among other rewards) to be yourself.
This, my friend, is operating in your purpose.
Many people often wonder what their purpose is in life or if they are on the right track and operating in their purpose. Before you dive in head first, working to find your purpose, it is important to know the basics about purpose.
What Is Purpose?
This question is asked a lot, and this post provides a good explanation of what purpose is.
Briefly, by definition, purpose means reason or intention. In other words, purpose is the reason you exist or engage in a thing.
If you are one of the many people searching for something meaningful to live for, this guide is for you.
Understanding your purpose and how to operate within it is an accomplishment alone. Taking action to fulfill your purpose is another major accomplishment.
Millions of people have no clue what their purpose is, and many who do fail to take action. To avoid falling into that category, keep reading. This comprehensive guide will help get you on track to understanding and serving your purpose.
So what is your reason for being here on earth today? Or what is your intention in life?
Most of the time, you can find your purpose hanging out with your goals. What does that mean? It simply means that your goals in life can point you in the direction of your purpose.
What Purpose Is NOT
It is as important to understand what purpose is not so you won’t get caught up in the hype of social media and get-rich-quick schemes. Purpose serves other people first, and you are fulfilled in the process. That means, your purpose will not involve self-centered activities that serve to make you rich and famous.
Instead, your purpose will help someone else, and as a result, you will be rewarded. Your reward may come in the form of money, popularity, or some other desirable result, but your benefit will not be the main focus.
“Serving your purpose in all honesty will allow you to enjoy the fruits of your labor.” – Andriea Denise
Why People Don’t Take Action to Fulfill Their Purpose
People who know what their purpose in life is but fail to take action to fulfill it fall into one or more of the following categories:
Fear
Fear is the number one thing that causes people to freeze and not take action toward fulfilling their purpose. Furthermore, most people who are stifled by fear are fearful of something that has happened in the past, or are afraid of something they believe might happen if they step outside of their comfort zone.
Lack of Self Confidence
People who are clear on who they are and are comfortable with it are also comfortable with disappointing others. What means is that they are not controlled by other people’s opinions and expectations of them. On the flip side, those who are not secure within themselves allow others to dictate their actions. Self-confidence plays a major role in how far a person goes on their journey of operating in purpose.
Lack of Education
This is not necessarily referring to institutional education. Instead, it refers to the understanding of how to go about carrying out tasks to serve your purpose. You may have knowledge of what your purpose is, but if you don’t know where to start, you may be stuck in a state of inaction, and never serve your purpose.
Lack of Personal Development
Personal development is extremely important in the process of finding and operating in purpose. Knowing who you are is only half the battle. You should also know more about yourself and master self-control. Doing this will ensure that you have prepared properly to take on your purpose and to be effective in your work.
Emotion Can Be Your GPS in Purpose Finding
Think of your emotions as your inner navigational system. How do you feel about your current work, state of being, and overall life? If your answers to those questions are less than “fantastic”, you may not actually be operating in your purpose.
Pay attention to your emotions, when you are venturing to find your purpose. If you feel less than satisfied in your daily work and activities, you should consider making a change. Focus on what you would like to be doing instead. Then, you can make a plan to change directions and work toward a new career path.
Working for money is a thing of the past. Now, one must work for meaning, fulfillment, and compensation. Think about it…typical jobs require 8 or more hours of your time each day. If you’re going to spend 40+ hours doing something every week you should absolutely love it.
When you are operating in your purpose, you feel fulfilled, happy, free. This is the goal to strive for.
Finding Your Purpose
Finding your purpose can be a fairly simple task. The work involved in finding your purpose may be voluminous, but it is simple work that is well worth the effort.
The good news is that once you put in the work to find your purpose, that work never has to be done again. You can continue to build on the foundation that you have already laid in the process. So, let’s talk about how to actually find your purpose.
The process of finding your purpose looks similar to this:
To explain the above infographic, you find and operate within your purpose when you:
1 Know Who You Are, and
2 Use Your Talents And Skills in Service of Others
Doing these things lead to personal fulfillment and making a difference in the world around you. This is the perfectly simple formula for operating in your purpose.
If you need more in-depth explanation of this process, you can read this, or watch the video below.
In the Video:
In the above video, I discuss the three most important steps to take in order to get on the right path to finding your purpose. These steps must be taken in order to lay a solid foundation on which to build your purposeful work and meaningful life.
It is important to take your time with the process, and to get your copy of the Ultimate Purpose Finder Workbook. The workbook walks you through the process, and prepares you to operate within your purpose.
What Does Operating In Purpose Look and Feel Like?
It is natural to want to have a gauge of what it looks and feels like when you are operating in your purpose. You can measure your progress by the criteria below.
1 Feeling happy and fulfilled in your daily work and activities
2 Doing something you enjoy and are good at (i.e. talents, skills)
3 Helping other people through your work or use of your talents and skills
4 Living to work rather than working to live
5 Feeling satisfied from giving more than receiving
6 Receiving opportunities as a result of serving others
Why Is It Important to Find Purpose?
Finding your purpose is important, because it gives you meaning, fulfillment, and hope. When you know your purpose and operate in it, you find that you are generally happier and more productive in your life.
People who don’t know their purpose tend to feel unhappy, unfulfilled, and even worse…useless. This is a dangerous space to be in, because people who feel these ways are more susceptible to drug use, alcohol abuse, and unhealthy relationships.
Purpose plays a major role in a person’s overall well-being. To find purpose is to find happiness and meaning. Why wouldn’t every person want to have those two very valuable things in their life?
In this article, Tony Robbins explains that if you don’t find your purpose in life, you will maintain a cycle of setting and achieving short-term goals and never feeling fulfilled. This is true, but there is always hope for you to get back on the right track.
Who you were is in the past. Who you are now is fleeting by the minute. Change is inevitable whether you embrace it or not. Why not take control and steer life in the direction of your choice? Be intentional…#onpurpose Learn more here >>https://t.co/u9B5B8TegM. pic.twitter.com/QnPTwUY8FZ
— aNDriea DEnise ✍🏾📓 (@AndrieaDenise) October 15, 2019
The Benefits of Operating In Your Purpose
Operating in purpose offers physical, mental, and emotional benefits. Some of the benefits of operating in your purpose are listed below.
Greater Level of Happiness
When you are operating in purpose, you experience a greater level of happiness. Doing work and engaging in activities on a consistent basis allows you to feel happier, even if other things aren’t going as planned.
Increased Level of Energy
Engaging in activities that are pleasing to you gives you more energy, whereas participating in activities that you don’t care to engage in cause you to feel drained and unfulfilled.
Added Sense of Creativity
If you are doing something you enjoy regularly, your mind is at ease and able to generate more creative ideas. On the other hand, if you are involved in things you don’t particularly like, your mind will likely be bogged down with thoughts of escape, pity, and tiredness.
How The Law of Attraction Relates to Operating In Your Purpose
Living a fulfilling life surrounding purpose is not a woo kind of thing. In fact, the law of attraction talks specifically about living a fulfilling life and acquiring the very things you desire. Finding and operating in purpose is the missing piece to the law of attraction puzzle.
You will need little to no motivation, whenever you are operating within your purpose. Purpose entails engaging in work and activities that you naturally enjoy doing.
Another way to describe this is operating in flow. Operating in flow means to be in your element, flowing along a stream of experiences that have little to no resistance. When the things you are engaged in cause you to experience resistance, tension, or stress, you are fighting against the stream, and are most likely not operating in your purpose.
Picture a water hose with water flowing out of it. The water flows freely, as long as there is no resistance. Now, imagine that there is a kink in the hose. Water struggles to make its way out of the hose, because resistance is now present. If any water makes it out at all, it will only be drops. Those drops will either not be enough to make a difference, or it will take a long while before it builds up enough to make a difference.
“When your heart and mind are aligned, you can easily manifest what you focus your energy on.” – Andriea Denise
Biblical Backing for The Law Of Attraction
If you are a spiritual person, you might wonder what the bible has to say about the law of attraction. There are several scriptures that support the law of attraction’s claims. Let’s look at the themes.
The Mind
Your state of mind plays a major part in setting goals, persisting through adversity, staying consistent, and achieving goals. In purpose, you need a sound mind to make any real progress.
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” (Proverbs 23:7)
The Heart
Your heart keeps you going during the process of working to achieve your goals. It’s who you are on the inside that matters most. If you are a person of substance, you will likely be more successful, because you will possess the characteristics necessary to push through.
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” (Mark 11:23)
The Action
Knowing your purpose doesn’t mean much, if you don’t take action on it. Action is the key that brings everything together. It makes all of your inner work and vision worth the effort.
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”(James 2:17)
I would also like to add the elements of speaking and writing to the equation. The bible also states that we have the power of life or death in our own tongues. This means that we can speak things into existence. Writing is another way to manifest our desires. Write the vision, and make it plain…
Purpose Pitfalls to Avoid
It is easy to get caught up in being overzealous while serving your purpose, especially when you’ve just gotten started. Knowing your purpose is such an exciting feeling. In fact, it feels so amazing to be in your element that you can overdo it a bit.
Below are some pitfalls you should avoid when operating in purpose.
Burnout
It’s important to maintain balance in your life. You don’t want to go so hard in serving your purpose that you begin to neglect other parts of your life. You can learn more about that here.
Oversight
While it is great that you are working out of the goodness of your heart, from your passion, and in service of other people, you want to avoid overlooking when you are being taken advantage of. What this means is that there are people who will take your kindness for weakness.
Sometimes, these people will ask you to push beyond what you can and should comfortably give of yourself, your talents, and other resources. Be mindful of the tasks you take on, and be sure to pace yourself so that you won’t end up burnt out, as mentioned above.
An old, wise saying advises to be watchful but gentle.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)
In other words, continue to be the same loving and kind person you are, but be on the lookout for people who may not have your best interest at heart.
Operating In Purpose
Operating in purpose requires focus, dedication. When you operate in purpose, you will feel in sync with the universe. Additionally, everyone who is blessed enough to witness you in action will also feel in sync, and will agree that this is what you were made for.
Below is a video of a dance class that takes place in California. The last featured dancer, Janelle Ginestra, is so on purpose you can feel it through the screen. There is no denying that she was made for dance. Not only does she look like she loves what she does, but she looks like she dedicates a lot of time to her craft. Watch as Janelle owns this moment.
You can’t fake purpose. In fact, everything about operating in purpose is 100% authentic. This is why it’s important to take the steps to get to know who you are and what skills and talents you have and enjoy using.
If you were meant to be a chef (or culinary artist), it should show through the time you spend cooking, through the smell, through the look, through the taste, and through the overall experience a person has of your food. When you love something, you put your heart into it.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
Putting your heart into your work is biblical. The above scripture proves that when we set out to do something we should do it to the best of our ability. Don’t enter into a thing with one foot in and one foot out, giving only mediocre effort. Go all in…bet on yourself. Live on purpose.
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