Living a life of purpose brings a sense of meaning and joy. Finding your purpose is seldom simple and straightforward. Knowing the five common mistakes people make, makes it easier. (Estimated reading time: 3 minutes)
“Your work is your love made visible.”
— Kahlil Gibran
A growing interest in spirituality and personal development, over the past few decades, has caused people to look beyond the mundane of daily life.
Many of them are now seeking answers to some of life’s big questions, such as, “Why am I on this planet?” “What is the purpose of my existence?” “How can I make a difference in the world?”
Having been impacted by this trend, I found myself asking the same questions.
I graduated with a degree in marketing—a field that I chose purely based on what I thought was practical and viable. Although I found the subject interesting, it was a career choice I made without taking my natural abilities and interests into consideration.
As I became more aware of my passions and strengths, I developed a longing to bring more purpose to what I did for a living.
For the next couple of years, I read several books on finding your life purpose. I also read the biographies of famous people in history, which I used as case studies that supported the concepts that I was learning.
It seemed that text book knowledge wasn’t enough. I had to test out all the theories and tools in the real world. Through personal and professional experiences, I gained the insights that I needed to solidify the lessons.
I realized that self discovery is like peeling the multiple layers of an onion. With each experience we have an opportunity to peel off layers to get closer to our core being.
Today, I’m a lot clearer about my path, but my attitude towards my evolution remains fluid and open.
Based on my experience, I’ve found these to be five more common mistakes people make when discovering their life purpose:
1. Lacking the awareness to pick up on signs and clues: Life has a natural flow to it that brings in experiences and people that are instrumental in the unraveling process. If we don’t remain open, we miss out on valuable clues. Some of the things that can prevent us from picking up on these hints are low self-esteem, a negative mindset or being distracted.
2. Assuming that finding your purpose is a linear and straightforward process: Discovering your purpose is a learning experience that requires trial and error. It’s not a static, one-and-done process. It’s dynamic. There will be times when things may seem foggy, and other times when you could get a series of breakthroughs. We have to accept that there is an ebb and flow of this intuitively-driven process.
3. Attempting to replicate others success: Often times we get tempted to replicate the success of certain people who inspire us, or whose path seems appealing to us. From a tactical perspective, this makes sense, but our intention for following the same path could be very different from theirs— we need to be clear about our intentions and the motivation for our pursuit.
4. Assuming that your life purpose can only be expressed in your career: Most people limit the expression of their purpose to what they do for living, when this does not have to be the case. We can live out our purpose in a variety of avenues, such as volunteer work, hobbies, and our passion projects.
5. Making your life purpose all about you: Discovering our purpose is a personal and intimate journey that get’s clearer as we make progress. However, our purpose becomes truly meaningful if it has a positive impact on your family, friends, community, and sometimes, the rest of the world.
Your life purpose is a beacon that sheds light on where you should be focusing your energies and resources on, so that you can bring more perspective and meaning into your everyday existence.
All my best on your journey,
Seline
Question for you: Have you made any of these 5 mistakes while finding your life purpose? If yes, what will you start doing differently?
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