Purpose. It’s what lights up your face, it’s what makes it a joy to get up in the morning. It’s what you are excited about sharing with others and what you enthusiastically enjoy talking about. Purpose is about knowing what fills you with energy, what your talents are and how you will use them to add value to life. Purpose is one of the Four Ps of Positive Shift that organizes the 12 practices that have been shown by positive psychology to increase happiness.
There’s no magic formula
Some people just know. It’s like they were born knowing their talents and purpose. For others, it’s more difficult to identify, clarify and understand our purpose. We must fumble and stumble and feel our way as we attempt to puzzle it out. There’s no magic formula, but there are some things we can do that will unearth clues.
Download Purpose Pointers pdf
WHO
Who are you? Understand your personality and interests, and who you want to help. Who do you want to help? What causes are you drawn to? What problems do you want to solve? What change do you want to make to improve the world?
WHAT
What are your values? Map your values to know your core values, the personal qualities that are your character strengths, and your personal values. Learn how to create a value statement, the power tool for purpose.
HOW
Discover the skills, strengths, and uncover hidden talents that you will use to pursue your purpose. Find the top online tools to Discover U, and more online resources at the Discover U Toolkit at Wakelet or via Google. With this knowledge, you can begin to fill out a worksheet at Ikigai as a Pathway to Purpose.
WHY
Clues to purpose that are especially powerful.
1. Notice the flow experience
What activities are you doing when you lose all track of time? The flow experience is the perfect balance of challenge and skill.
2. Look at what are you always chasing
“The most successful people are obsessed with solving an important problem that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball.” -Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, said this in an MIT commencement speech. Read more at What are You Passionate About?
3. What you want to build
“Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life.” –John Gardner. Read more at Design Your Life Like an Architect.
4. What you would do if you knew you would not fail?
Graham Weaver describes The Genie Exercise and the Nine Lives Exercise in videos. Also check out: Questions to coach yourself.
It can also help to DREAM:
- Draw and write in a journal.
- Reflect and Remember what you loved to do as a child.
- Express creativity.
- AIM for a cause that is Active, Inspiring, and Meaningful.
- Make a vision board.
Tools for Purpose
How to Start a Fire is a free ebook with the best tools I’ve found for discovering passion and purpose. The Discover U Toolkit at Wakelet is full of online tools to explore interests and skills, strengths and talents, personal qualities and values. More links are at the Purpose Pinterest Board. The Daily PlanIt Sticky Wiki is another resource.
- Oprah’s Find Your Passion Tool.
- The Name Your Talent Exercise from the book “Is Your Genius at Work?” by Dick Richards.
- The Pave Your Life Roadmap from Idea Sandbox.
Learn more about Purpose Planning strategy with Mission⤍ Vision⤍ Values⤍ Goals.
Books and videos on purpose
Amazon affiliate links to books provide a small commission that helps to support the Daily PlanIt.
- “The Power of Meaning” by Emily Esfahani Smith, TED talk There’s more to life than being happy, What’s your pillar of meaning quiz
- “Designing Your Life” by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans, TED talk 5 steps to designing the life you want
- “Life on Purpose” by Victor J Strecher, TED talk Life on purpose
- TED talk The Secret to Life by Patrick Holland
- “What Are You Waiting For?” by Shelley Brunskill-Matson
- “Upgrade” by Rana Florida
- “Living Forward” by Michael Hyatt
- “Is Your Genius at Work?” by Dick Richards
- “Life Purpose Boot Camp” by Eric Maisel
- “Path Made Clear” by Oprah Winfrey
- Books on Purpose at Mappalicious
The process of discovering your personal brand provides clarity about what you are passionate about. See Resources at the Brand and Purpose Toolkit, and read more at Personal Branding for a Purpose.
Keep looking for those clues…
I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.
Daily PlanIt 
Nice post. I like Richards’ book as well.
Stumble and fumble are sure the accurate words for many people in their thirties who have not quite reached their goals and dreams. I just recently completed John Assarf book Having It All and have decided it is not too late to start achieving my goals and dreams. I really thought I was too late, but I soon realized it is never too late. John made me realize that and gave me the motivation and knowledge to begin achieving my dreams and knowledge to help my children know how to make the dreams and goals come true also. I feel like I am fifteen again and can do anything. For more inspiration, go to http://johnassaraf.com/blog/2007/10/31/your-powerful-brain/.
[…] Have a sense of purpose. If your purpose is not clear to you, here is a way to find clues: List different life areas (such […]
[…] is your purpose….how will you add value to […]
[…] Make a Unique Selling Proposition to get very clear on purpose […]
[…] while for others it’s more of a struggle to figure it out. I’ve seen some things that help to get a clue, but this week I learned a new way to think about […]
[…] Purpose, Discovering Talents, How to Start a Fire free eBook, “On Purpose” course at Udemy, Change […]
[…] More resources at Clues to Purpose. […]
[…] Purpose is why you exist, your reason for being, the problem you want to solve. Learn more about how to UNLOCK purpose at Clues to Purpose. […]
[…] your personal mission statement. Does it still reflect your values and pinpoint what you do and why (purpose), or does it need to be updated? If you update it, how does that impact your […]
[…] and motivation! Be sure the goals you choose are important to you and align with your values and purpose. Learn more about how to set goals and check out the Brand and Purpose Toolkit. You might also like […]
[…] you know and use your talents, you are living on purpose, and purpose is one of the Four Ps of Positive Shift that organize the 12 practices that have been […]
[…] set meaningful goals, explore clues to purpose and uncover hidden […]
[…] be done to develop strengths? Who is the competition? What makes me unique and different? PURPOSE Clues to Purpose | Values | Mission: Stephen R Covey Mission Statement Builder | Vision What problem do you always […]
[…] your heroes can point you in the direction of purpose, and give you insight into the character that you want to develop. Think of people you have great […]
[…] sake.” The time we spend in flow is an important component of happiness. It also indicates purpose and […]
[…] Purpose is one of the Four Ps of positive shift that contribute to happiness. The Ikigai diagram illustrates finding the intersection between what you are good at, what you love, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. This can be challenging to discover, but a good starting point is identifying your strengths. […]
[…] can also be about finding purpose with Ikigai and other clues. You can focus your soul attention with a personal mission statement (sometimes called a unique […]