Yes to Me

(Photo by paulaloe)

How can we find the purpose of life? Is there a purpose, determined by divinity, that we must fulfill? Is the purpose unique to each individual?

I was intrigued by the comments left for True Life Purpose Goes Beyond The Illusion Of Self. Many of us are aware of the negative effects of not being clear about our life purpose, yet the nature of the purpose and the process of finding it seem to elude us. I have my own understanding about this (please see this page), but I’m also curious what other bloggers have to say about it. So I looked around, and found these 10 excellent articles.

Here is a list, with quotes from each post, by the order I personally journeyed through. Explore!

1. Living A Divinely Guided Life, by Andrea at Empowered Soul

There is nothing we’re “supposed to” do in this lifetime. . . Our Higher Self has but one agenda: to grow and learn through the opportunity of this physical incarnation.

2. Finding a Purpose and Passion in Life: How and What?, by Albert at The Urban Monk

How do we find our purpose? I believe we already know, somewhere in the back of our heads. It has just been obscured by our fears, our wanting of approval, the conflicting advice from society, our teachers, parents, television – all these forces, pulling us in all these directions!

3. 10 Steps To Discover Your Life’s Purpose, by Tupelo at TupeloKenyon. Com

. . . an understanding of life’s purpose could be a moving target – it could evolve through the years. . . (after realizing the purpose), it took twelve years for me to answer the question, “Oh yeah, how?” Your situation may come together much quicker. When it does, it’s a great feeling – no it’s better than that, it’s one of life’s greatest feelings.

4. How NOT to Find Yourself, by Peter at I Will Change Your Life

. . .by “finding yourself” I mean the search one undergoes for their true beliefs, values, and purpose in life. . . I now believe that it is not so much the activity that you do, it is the level of consciousness you bring to it, that determines its value in finding yourself.

5. 6 Keys to Getting Paid for Being You: An Anti-Career Guide, by Clay at The Growing Life

Everyone has something lying dormant within them that stands to come alive and wreak havoc upon the world in beautiful ways.

6. How to Live a Life of Purpose, by Alex at The Next 45 Years

When your life’s purpose is powered by passion, you are able to stay on course even when you experience obstacles and setbacks. Purpose is the engine that moves you forward in life; passion is the fuel for the engine.

7. 31 Causes of failure: #2 Lack of a well-defined purpose in life, by brip blap at brip blap

(Napoleon) Hill makes a brutal assessment in his book: in his experience, 98 out of 100 people lacked a well-defined purpose in life. . . I have no purpose that drives me to achieve other than vague ideas to accumulate enough wealth to enjoy financial freedom and “do what I want to.”

8. Am I spiritually awakened? How do I know? What are Signs?, by Evans at Live Strong, Love Unconditionally

Not everyone is spiritually awakened or aware of the highest purpose of life or the highest purpose of self in life. As we continue mundane tasks on a daily basis without question, any attempt to resist dogma usually comes with disapproval. However, for those that have managed to break free from monotony and dared to question with absolutely no fear, it will be to no surprise that answers are available.

9. My Life Purpose, by the author of Searching Myself

What we all say our life purpose is, is that part of the agenda in which we can do something for humanity. It has to be with what you like most, your inner talents, those things that bring you joy.

10 What’s Your Mission, by Cali at Lead The Life

Why do so many things get in the way of your mission? Ultimately it is the work of the small ego. . . It doesn’t want you to connect with your soul and carry out your life purpose.

Last but not least, check out Todd’s How To Find Your True Purpose at We The Change that prompted me to write the aforementioned article.

This has been a good learning experience for me. I plan to do a follow up in a few months time, so let me know what you think about this topic of life purpose, and what questions you many have.

Thank you for all the great writers here for sharing their thoughts on this important topic.

Thanks to Alex for including this post in Personal Development Carnival.

What is your life purpose? Click here to explore more.

(Photo by ePi Longo)

Do you know your strengths? Are you utilizing your strengths to the max? Is your business performance in the top rank thanks to your strengths?

These are the questions the Gallup Organization ask through their series of books about StrengthFinder. I recently took this online test and find the result quite interesting, so here is my sharing.

If you want to take the test, you need the access code that comes with their book. I have Discover Your Sales Strengths: How the World’s Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers. It describes the 34 themes and explains how the strengths of each theme can be used in sales. Or you can get StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths to take the new version of the test. I scanned through this book and it looked good – the description of the themes are the same, but come with suggestions how to use it to its advantage. I took the 1.0 test, and have no idea how 2.0 is different.

Why I didn’t take the test earlier even though I supported their perspective

I’ve heard about the best selling book Now, Discover Your Strengths and even flipped through it at the bookstore years ago. I totally agreed with the points the book made: Find your strengths and utilize them to the maximum. Don’t worry too much about weaknesses. Wow, this is exactly what I insisted (and got me into trouble often with my parents, teachers, and bosses . . .) I thought: If I work on my weaknesses (in school days, these were physics and athletic activities), with discipline I might get to the level of “good,” but there would be tons of people who can do it far better than I can. Why waste my time? (Note: I did understand the benefits of bringing all scores to the passing level.) Why not capitalize on my strengths that make me special?

I also agreed with their view that most people are clueless about their own strengths. I see that happen all the time. Then why didn’t I take the test earlier? The very reason can be found in my StrengthFinder result . . .

StrengthFinder finds your five strongest themes.

A theme is a group of talents that takes certain character. My themes are, in this order:

• Strategic
• Maximizer
• Activator
• Individualization
• Significance

With Individualization, I’m an exception to the rule. I can see my and other people’s strengths clearly. And this is exactly why I didn’t buy the book earlier. I didn’t feel I needed it.

If you are curious why, then, I finally took the test . . . well,

1. I had to (still do) improve my sales and was willing to try anything that might help me achieve this goal.
2. I thought this kind of knowledge would help me become a better coach.

Did I really know my strengths? Am I utilizing them both as a person and as an entrepreneur?

The result was more about confirming what I knew rather than discovering new strengths — for me, an Individualization theme person.

Here is a quick view of my five signature themes with quotes from my book and what I think about them:

Strategic

The strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large.

Oh, this is what I’ve been calling my “system” oriented thinking. I like handling things by system as I wrote in How To Improve Customer Service By Spending Far Less Time. They also say Strategic person is strong in new ventures – as a new entrepreneur, I really hope so.

Maximizer

Excellence, not average, is your measure. . . Strength, whether yours or someone else’s, fascinate you.

Sure, as I wrote already, I am strengths (gifts) oriented. This is one of my focal points in coaching, too.

Activator

“When can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action. . . you believe that action is the best device for learning.

I know I am good at starting things. And I must learn hands-on. I actually fell asleep in one of the corporate training class in which the instructor just read the textbook. (In this case, my contempt at such a poorly planned training may have played a role, too. I am a Maximizer.) And this is why I love blogging – I learn as I write and see how it lands among my readers.

Individualization

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person.

I really like pointing out someone else’s uniqueness. I often send notes to my new friends describing what specifically I find wonderful about them. As a coach, this is my best gift.

Significance

You want to be very significant in the eyes of other people. . . In particular, you want to be known and appreciated for the unique strengths you bring.

So this is why I care (or worry) about what other people think of me. Generic positive review sounds almost negative to me. My fondest memory in corporate America was when I was working for a bank and my clients referred their friends to me saying, “Akemi knows, and will get the best package for you.” I guess this theme gives me strong motivation.

What about my other strengths like communication?

I guess Communication is my sixth theme. I relate to the description very well.

Any strength can backfire when over-relied. . .

As much as I believe in the benefits of focusing and utilizing the strengths, I also see a potential problem of over-relying on strengths. (I can see this thanks to my Strategic theme, I guess) When you over-rely on a few strengths, you run a risk of losing balance and missing something that is so obvious otherwise. For example, if I start too many projects as Activator, pretty soon I will be so exhausted that I just won’t be able to keep up with everything. I run a risk of being called a quitter. I’m learning this the hard way . . . I don’t know how many projects I have started with great excitement, only to get bored later. (I get bored if I don’t get the admiration I yearn for as Significance themed person. . .) Now I am very choosy what to start.

Realizing one’s strengths is a good starting point in becoming aware of one’s life purpose.

This is because your strengths are the gift the Universe has bestowed on you so that you can live toward your purpose effectively. If I may use my case as an example, I think the result supports my choice to help others through coaching. Individualization is truly a gift for life coaches. Strategic and Maximizer themes are great, too, especially when I coach aspiring entrepreneurs.

StrengthFinder is a useful tool if you want to check your strengths objectively.

So, my readers,
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know me to some extent. What do you think about my StrengthFinder test result? Do they describe me well?
And what do you consider to be your best strengths?

What is your life purpose? Click here to explore more.

(Photo by Kaptain Krispy Kreme)

He has it all – a great job, beautiful wife, healthy kids, big house, nice car. . . yet he is not happy.

Todd at We The Change recently shared his encounter with his old friend. I know many of these people, too. I used to work in the corporate America assisting senior management. They had advanced degrees and high-paying jobs, and were mostly stressed out. You know these people, too, or maybe you are one of them.

If money doesn’t bring happiness and satisfaction, what will?

Money is good. We live in capitalism and we need money to buy comforts. The problem is, once we cover our needs for security and wellness – foods, clothes, roof over our head, insurance, etc. — the more money and stuffs don’t always bring us more satisfaction, but many of us are not aware of this.

Then what will bring true happiness? Well, you actually know the answer deep inside, so I’m going to jump to it: Life Purpose. Without purpose, life is a mere survival struggle or living in a big fat warehouse of stuffs, or somewhere in between. Todd’s friend got everything he could buy (and some more – like a good family), but he doesn’t have the sense of direction that he is heading toward his purpose. This sense of no direction is very disturbing, so he distracts himself in Vegas. How sad . . .

Do you have the sense of direction you are heading toward your purpose?

Even the way you think and spend money changes when you do. When you know your purpose of your life, you see money as a means to an end, not the purpose by itself. So you start spending money on things that support you in your journey to the purpose, like getting services that free up more of your time, or books and classes that better equip you in the journey. And the relative lack of money (again, provided you have the fundamental security and wellness) won’t disturb you so much.

I am talking from experience. As I wrote in Is Becoming An Entrepreneur Harder Than Surviving In A Foreign Country?, I left my comfortable life in Japan to seek higher purpose. At that time, I wasn’t so clear about all this spiritual purpose of life stuff – I just knew I had to do this. And I never looked back.

Do what you love? Follow your bliss? Is that all?

It’s nice to do what you love. It brings certain level of happiness and satisfaction. But it will also bring innate limitations. If you follow your bliss and do something only because you love doing it, what would you do when you face challenges? Maybe you get a harsh criticism. Or maybe you are just tired. You may still love it, but doing it is not much fun on these days. A self-indulgent purpose to do what you love betrays you . . . unless the love is . . .

If you look deeper, you might find that the real reason you love “it” is because it connects you to other people, other lives. For example, I see aspiring musicians in Todd’s comment area. They say they want to sing. Great. Perhaps they like the sensation of singing, their voices, the way their voices mix with the instruments. Now I guess they want people to hear their singing. They love singing, but that is not the end of the process – what they are really seeking is to connect with the audience through their singing. And even change the feelings of the audience, which may mean changing their lives. If they love music not only for their contentment but because of the joy of connecting to others, that is not a self-indulgent purpose – it is probably a true purpose.

Their gift in singing is probably bestowed so that they can use it to fulfill their purpose to touch people’s lives through their singing. So is your unique gift – it indicates the way to your life purpose.

Real satisfaction comes somewhere beyond the boundary of yourself

I am not talking about charities and volunteer work necessarily. We can be of service through our work, either as employee or as entrepreneur, and through a lot of things we do in our lives.

Spiritually we are all connected. It is only an illusion to see myself separate from you and others. I think this is why self-serving purpose is limiting and misleading – true purpose can’t be only about you, it is about how you can serve the universe.

It may sound like a contradiction, but when you become aware of your life purpose that serves not only you but the people around you too, it will bring you joy like no other. It is a warm, expansive feeling. Like all the struggles matter no more.

Take a moment today and think. What do you love doing? What are your gifts? Do they indicate your purpose of life that extends beyond yourself?

I feel so honored to be the first Winning Quote of the Week at Cath Lawson. Please see her post Can You Write a $500 Prize Winning Quote? to see which part of this post was quoted. Thank you, Cath! Also, thanks to Jonathan for including this post in his March Round-up, to Andrea for including this in Carnival of Truth, to Alex for inclusion in Personal development Carnival, to Jirel for inclusion in Carnival of Inspiration and Motivation, to Roger for inclusion in Carnival of Self-Growth, to Carnival of Improved Life for inclusion.

What is your life purpose? Click here to explore more.