For some people a passionately lived life is second nature. They seem to know the direction they should go almost form birth and everything always seems to fall into place for them. They’re like a falling cat - no matter what, they always seem to land on their feet. However, for many people it takes a sharp change, a crystal-clear moment or a long journey of learning to find that same direction. It can be learned and you can discover it by spending time investigating your own life.
If you want to succeed, you first must find your passion, harness it and use it to focus on your dreams. The more you follow the path your passion leads you down, the more likely you will achieve the goals you desire, and your life starts to fall into place. It's one of the secrets of living a life where you meet your full potential. While you’ll still need to do something every now and again that may not be enjoyable, the hope for the passion growing for the thing you love will help carry you through.
"One of the best parts of living a life of where you develop your own potential is that it becomes infectious. People want to be around someone with direction. It’s like a contagious new song or great new recipe. Finding your passion and purpose will affect everyone else in your life - without you even planning on it."
A life without purpose is a life without richness, depth and reason. However, you need to direct the purpose to ensure your dreams are realized. There is little point in investing the time and effort into discovering what you want to do, see or experience if you then do nothing with it. Whatever you have now, in whatever amount you hold in your hands will only increase the more you use it. We have a chance to write our own life stories and turn them into something that others will want to follow. But it doesn’t happen just by dreaming - you need to act as well. If you want to impact others, you’ll do so by demonstrating your purpose by living a passionate life.
The key is to be as specific as you can about what your actual purpose is. For example, many entrepreneurs think their purpose or passion is to become rich, when in fact it is to initiate, develop and create new ideas. The wealth is just one of the measurements of that success. Find what it is that expressly drives you and there you have your chief purpose. For instance, though you may want a lot of money - ask yourself why that its. Is your chief goal to create a museum of your belongings? Is it to provide for your family? Or is it to have the freedom to spend your life serving a cause you believe in? All of these indicate a vastly different purpose, even if all require a large sum of money.
Making money on its own is unlikely to be your main passion but for some it could be. Having money may help you reach your goals and live out your purpose, in which case the drive to acquire money may be motivated by your purpose. It may be enough temporarily to focus on the money in the short-term by working overtime or taking on a second job. However, you don't want the money to be your chief motivator. You should be driven and motivated by your end purpose. If we lose track of our purpose, and get caught in the treadmill of life, it is at that point that we risk burning ourselves out and start looking at ways that are not aligned with our central purpose to get us out of horrible and unrewarding situations.
This is our life, right here and right now. It’s the life we’ve been given including the good and/or bad. No matter what has brought us to this point, we must keep moving forward and take advantage of as many opportunities to move forward living a life filled with passion, purpose and drive. If we continue to ignore your purpose, or never seek it out, then every day a small part of us, the part that gives us hope, laughter and joy dies. It’s a pretty high cost when you see it in that light.
If your purpose seems completely unrelated to making money don’t worry at all! Finding purpose isn’t just about finding wealth. I have a good friend (I'll call Rich) who was a successful banker. Rich rose through the ranks of a well-known bank and had great financial success. However, he was very unhappy. He spent long hours talking and sharing with me how he wanted to follow his true passion in life.
Rich eventually shocked his family and friends when he went for a major career change. He’s now working as an orderly at a local hospital while we studying to become a nurse. Rich discovered that his passion was to live and work alongside people suffering from chronic illness, sickness and disease. It didn't pay as well as his banking job, but he wakes up every morning happy to go to work. He’s now living life according to the purpose he was created for.
Whatever your purpose, it may not be the same as anyone else in your family or among your friends. This is about what you want to do, what you want to achieve. Allow yourself to dream your own dreams and reach your own goals. Are the dreams you have any better or worse than another’s? We all should live our lives according to the purpose we hold deep inside us. Imagine how different the world would be if that's what everyone did. What an exciting and fulfilling way to live.