Goal...What is your Purpose?
I love speaking into the lives of the next generation of leaders. I do, however, have two concerns. One is that their fear of failing limits their capacity to dream. The second is that they often don’t have a realistic understanding of how to achieve the dreams they do have. They create image boards that contain beautiful people with lavish toys that are the spoils of
their mega success. This is what they want, but do they know how to get it? What does it take to turn dreams in to reality? The next four blog posts will explore what I believe to be key elements to answering these questions.
This is my definition for success:
Coming to understand your unique purpose for which we have been created and then giving your life to turning that potential into reality.
That is a mouthful. Let’s unpack it.
Coming to understand. Identifying one’s purpose is more like completing a puzzle than opening a present. In the latter, after a brief flourish of activity we are fully aware of what has been given to us. In the former, the picture is slowly revealed as we steadily connect small pieces. Purpose begins to come into focus as we examine our experiences, skills/abilities, affirmations, exposure, successes passions/burdens and joys and identify common themes and patterns. This is a blog post in itself, isn’t it? You must patiently, but persistently
engage the process.
Unique purpose. I have found that very often when people ask, “What is my purpose?”, they are generally looking for a task, a job, or something they think they are supposed to do or accomplish. I believe this mindset might cause you to miss your purpose. In my humble opinion, life is about something bigger than meeting a series of benchmarks – no matter how impressive they may be.
Goals need to be more than a bucket list of desired experiences. They must be seen as road markers, as guideposts on the pathway to purpose. We are on earth for a reason.
Giving your life. This is a life long journey that is worthy of your full attention and energy.
“The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain.
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. ~The Apostle Paul
Turning that potential into reality. The stored power of a car battery is only released when it is properly placed in the vehicle for which it was designed. In the same way, our potential for greatness is released when we seek to do those things for which we were designed. Goals without purpose, activity without aim is wasted energy.
“So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.” ~ The Apostle Paul
Next blog - Key 2- Grind…What is your plan?