How Do I Find My Purpose in Life?
Start with a vision for this season, not a perfect plan for the rest of your life. Get quiet, bring one specific question to God, and write without judging what comes up. Picture who you need to become, then choose one thing that person would do this week and start there.
An excerpt from the book
From Welcome to Yourself, Chapter 8: How Do I Find My Purpose in Life?
Here's where high achievers get tripped up. They think vision means a thirty-year plan. A perfect, detailed picture of the rest of their life. And because they can't see that far, they decide they don't have a vision, and they keep rocking.
I don't believe you need a vision for your whole life. I believe you need a vision for this season.
That's where purpose starts, too. Not someday, when the whole picture finally comes into focus, but now, in this season, starting today.
A season might be three months. It might be three years. But it's a window you can actually see into. And when that season ends, you get a new vision. That's not failure. That's how life works. My vision of launching Welcome to Yourself was right for 2016. A few months later, I was getting paid to speak at my alma mater, Virginia Tech, and I realized I had no idea how to build a sustainable coaching business. And then my dad got very sick and died the next summer. That vision needed an update. Several, actually.
The order matters here too. Most people think: Have → Do → Be. When I have the money, I'll do the thing, and then I'll be happy. Vision flips it. Be → Do → Have. Who do I need to become in this season? What would that person do? And what will follow from that? I sometimes ask clients to picture version 2.0 of themselves. Not a fantasy self. Not someone else. You, a season from now, a little more whole, a little more free, a little more aligned. What does that person do differently on a Tuesday morning?
I teach four principles for getting a vision, and I'll name them here so you have them:
1. Submit. Get quiet. Surrender your agenda. For me that sometimes means fasting or extended prayer. 2. Be specific. Bring one real problem to the table instead of a vague desire. 3. Ask. Actually ask God, and expect an answer. 4. Write without judgment. Get it on paper before your inner critic edits it to death.
Vision isn't something you see with your eyes first. It's something you receive by faith, and then you see it unfold.
What to take with you
- Purpose starts in this season, not only when the whole future becomes clear.
- Begin with who you are becoming, then what you do, then what follows.
- Get quiet, be specific, ask God, and write without judgment.
- Underline one action your future self would take and begin this week.
Start with the chapter that speaks to you.
Get the complete Welcome to Yourself e-book, free. Twelve chapters on identity, purpose, and peace for Christian high achievers.
Get the free e-bookIf you'd like to talk it through, book a clarity call.