This is our second article in the life purpose series.
Part 1: Finding Your Life Purpose: The Most Powerful Way To Discover What You Truly Want In Life
Part 2: Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Today we are going to take a shot at what your life purpose is. As you remember, knowing your life purpose is not only important for you to live a more authentic, happier and fulfilled life, it also helps you get really clear on what you want in life and as a result hopefully get it with less effort and enjoy it more fully.
By the way, if you are reading these articles and thinking that you should really be doing the exercises I outlined but you’ll get to it some other time—that “other time” will probably never come. So take a few minutes and actually do something for yourself.
I spent a long time in my life chasing after goals without having a clear vision and purpose. I never seemed to have time to sit down and think of who I am, what I truly want, what my values are, etc. It was always something that I put off.
The truth is you’ll reach your goals much quicker if you spend some time actually getting to know who you really are and what your purpose in life is. It took me a long time to realize it, please don’t make my mistake.
What we’ll do:
In this post I’d like you to do several short exercises. Unlike the Perfect Day exercise from the first article in the series, today’s exercises should be done quickly and it should not take you more than 2-5 minutes to complete each of them. Just look at the questions I have for you here and write down your answers quickly.
Don’t over think, just write down whatever comes to mind first. Our first guess usually comes from our Higher Self. When we start thinking and analyzing, our logical mind or our Ego starts to interfere and, as you might know, it has too many limitations, so we can’t rely on its judgments.
Some of the answers to those questions may overlap and that is OK. In fact those overlaps will help you to come up with your life purpose statement later on. Also try to keep your answers on one page, this way it will be easier for your subconscious to process them and come with a life purpose statement later.
Let’s start.
You are 100 years old and your life has unfolded beyond your wildest dreams. What will you be remembered for? Write down your answer, think of the kind of person and accomplishments you would like to be remembered for.
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What skills have you used to achieve success?
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What key inner traits have you drawn upon to accomplish your successes?
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Remember, don’t take longer than 5 minutes to answer each question.
Lets’ continue.
What qualities do you admire in others and would like to develop in yourself?
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What do you think your main strengths are? What do others consider to be your strengths?
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What gives you the most joy in life?
…….
What are your values?
And the final question is about your values. This question is very important.
First, think of your values and write them down. And then look at the list of values that I am providing for you below and pick 7 of the ones that resonate with you the most.
Again do not use your logical mind while doing it. Just choose the values that resonate with you most strongly. Watch the words closely as some are similar but there are distinctions between them.
Our values are such strong needs for us. In order for you to live a more authentic and fulfilled life you have to know what you stand for and what your priorities in life are. After you are done, ensure that at least four of your values are in every job, project and activity with which you are involved.
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Acceptance
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Adventure
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Aesthetics
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Appreciation
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Balance
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Beauty
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Caring
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Charity
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Cheerfulness
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Clarity
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Commitment
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Communication
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Compassion
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Co-operation
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Confidence
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Contentment
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Courage
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Courtesy
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Creativity
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Detachment
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Determination
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Devotion
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Diligence
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Discipline
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Discernment
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Discrimination
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Empowerment
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Enthusiasm
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Excellence
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Faith
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Flexibility
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Forgiveness
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Freedom
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Friendship
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Generosity
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Gentleness
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Goodness
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Grace
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Gratitude
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Growth
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Harmony
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Healing
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Health
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Honesty
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Hope
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Humanitarianism
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Humility
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Humor
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Idealism
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Integrity
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Intelligence
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Intimacy
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Introspection
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Intuition
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Joy
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Justice
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Kindness
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Knowledge
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Leadership
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Love
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Loyalty
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Maturity
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Moderation
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Openness
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Order
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Passion
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Patience
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Peace
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Perseverance
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Positive outlook
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Power
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Prosperity
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Purity
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Purpose
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Recognition
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Respect
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Responsibility
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Reverence
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Righteousness
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Sacrifice
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Self Confidence
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Serenity
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Service
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Silence
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Spontaneity
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Strength
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Support
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Tolerance
My Life Purpose Is…
Now I think you should be ready to take a first shot at what you think your life purpose might be. Look at your answers once again and write down something.
You should be able to come with at least two words that describe what you think your purpose in life is. May be it is being a loving parent or a leader that inspires others or a nurturing writer.
Whatever it is for you, write it down. It doesn’t have to be perfect now, just write something that feels right at the moment. Again, don’t over think it, write down whatever comes to mind first. Trust your intuition.
When I did the exercises above, my first attempt at my life purpose that I wrote down in my journal was – Inspire others to reach for more than what they are.
What is yours?
Next time we will do a final set of exercises and actually come up with your life purpose statement. Until then, again, please take this time and actually do the exercises outlined above. You’ll see how great it feels to know your purpose in life and how much more meaningful every little thing that you do becomes.
Live with Passion! Live with Purpose!
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Hey, thanks for the really big list of values. When I work with my clients to help them understand their values, I always ask them: what is important to you? After they struggle to give me some answer without any help, they find it much easier to choose from a list.
Only problem is a lot of people choose about 2/3 of the values on that list, and they need to start doing some serious prioritizing and narrow it down.
Eduard
Ideas With A Kick´s last blog ..Personal development ideas I can do without
That’s a long list of values Lana. If I were to pick the top 3 that resonates with me the most, it would probably be confidence, cheerfulness and growth.
Karlil´s last blog ..Knowing Your Starting Point
Hi Lana, I loved that list of values. That was excellent and the article and series very helpful. Thanks!
Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..A Values-Based Approach to Goals
Hi Lana, this is almost like you’ve been reading my book. I spend the whole first section helping the reader discover their true self. These are the foundational steps as your article nicely points out. These are steps that everyone should go through to figure who they really are on a core level.
Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..28 Things You Probably Never Knew About Me
Eduard, that is why I stress out to not to think just pick what resonates with you the most first time you look at it and what feels right. If we start thinking, then, yes, all of those values seem important. But if we just scan them and choose the ones that stand out, those are the ones that come from our Higher Self.
Lana´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Stephen, thank you!
Jonathan, I should definitely read your book!
Lana´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Thank you for this article, Lana. It seems that your writing gets more and more grounded and you are opening your gates to more and more value. i like that.
I did this exercise a while ago and came out with a personal mission statement. In my experience it was a rather tedious process. I managed to keep the mission unchanged though, for the last year, which means it’s gotta be a good one
Dragos Roua´s last blog ..100 Ways To Screw Up Your Life
I agree, it is a tedious process Dragos, but so worth it!
Lana´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Hi Lana, I enjoyed the second part of your series. Your exercises and your list of values is very impressive! My life purpose is to bring balance into this world. I want to live a balanced life and I want for my family and my close friends to live this life. I believe that balance is the way for happiness and joy. I also want to teach other people to live a life of balance because I am sure that it will make our entire world better.
Anastasiya´s last blog ..A Simple Guide to Stress-Free Holiday Shopping in a Bad Economy
Anastasiya i so agree with you, balance is one of my highest priorities right now, I definitely need you to teach me this!
Lana´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Hey Lana,
That’s a fantastic post on discovering ones purpose. Finding the right values that resonate with us and what is really important to us is one of the first steps to getting there!
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..Why We Need A New Paradigm In The Field Of Customer Services
Hey Lana!
I think it’s very important that people continuously ask themselves these questions in order to be more effective in their lives.
I always love asking what gives me the most joy in life. writing and meeting new people !
Thanks Amit, I agree that’s the first and the most important step.
Hey Rocky, Writing and meeting new people-I like that too, thanks for stopping by!
Lana´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: Do You Know What You Stand For?
Not sure an innocent child who lost his/her young father in Gaza could find any purposes in his/her life.
What do you think?
I truly believe they can kombizz, may be even that event could direct them to their life purpose.
Lana´s last blog ..Life Purpose: Do you avoid challenges?