Designing a Purposeful Life
What does it even mean to have a purposeful life? This term has taken a seat right next to all the buzz around mindset yet while it has been on the hot list for a while, do we actually know what it means? And if we truly understood it, would it be something we desired, or something that might make us run the other way?
Just questions I have been thinking about...and feel like I need to face head on, since it’s the background of this podcast. But before digging deep into purpose, let’s take a look at perspective. In my opinion, perspective is not just one part of this equation. I think perspective and how you think about things, is all of the equation. I believe that the way we think, is the sweet spot of everything you want and don’t want.
Today I’m going to start by sharing my perspective on life. My life, that is and hopefully will give you something to think about in the area of your own perspective.
I can say with a level of certainty, that I have probably never had before, that in this moment I am living a purposeful life. I say in this moment because it is different than how I used to perceive this idea of having a purpose in life. I used to think of it like becoming a surgeon in a children’s hospital, saving lives, day in and day out. That, was definitely purpose. Or how I felt about becoming a Teacher, over 25 years ago. Perhaps not directly saving anyone’s life, but surely there was deep purpose in making a difference in children’s lives every day, sometimes in more subtle ways, but also at times more deeply...even when I couldn’t exactly see it.
But that’s just one piece of this thing I refer to as a purposeful life.
For me, it’s about intentionally creating a life for myself that feels purposeful. A feeling that I have deep down inside that allows me to wake up and start each day with a sense of purpose. Sometimes it’s with a well thought out plan and sometimes there’s no plan at all and yet is still purposeful.
Here is the actual meaning of purpose: The reason for which something is done or created or for which it exists. The reason for which something is done or created or for which it exists.
It’s your why.
Why you should get out of bed in the morning? Why you should get up and get dressed? Why you should go about your business for the day or take time to lie down?
It’s the why of your life.
Without this why, your life is like one big Ferris Wheel, constantly spinning, constantly revealing all the same spots, constantly up and then down with no clear objective. Maybe tomorrow you get on again, maybe you don’t. And if you go about this Ferris Wheel life like that long enough, eventually you get to the age old question: What’s the point anyway?
Here’s the thing though. With a different perspective, even the Ferris Wheel could be chosen with purpose. Stay with me here. Let’s just say that the idea of spinning around and around every day in the same seat, in the same location, seeing the same sights over and over makes you want to just skip the day altogether. Fine. That makes sense. I mean, what is the point? How could this possibly add value to your life intentionally? It seems like the opposite of an intentional life really.
Right? I mean, you continue getting on this thing every day, the thing that you can’t control, can’t change and can’t even stop and start as you please...
I agree, with that perspective anyway.
But what if tomorrow, after the millionth time of riding on the same Ferris Wheel for days on end, you awake with an idea. What if you suddenly decide it’s time to get back to working on the blog you began a year ago? The one that you stopped suddenly because you ran out of things to write about.
Yet now, in this moment of not wanting to ride this Ferris Wheel aimlessly in circles again, you wonder what it would be like to bring your camera this time. So that instead of just passively sitting and observing whatever is basically given to you on this ride, you choose your sights. You envision that each time the Ferris Wheel pauses, letting riders off, you could take pictures of the things you see. And that if you did that each time the ride paused, that by the end, surely you would have dozens of photos from all perspectives...and with so many different perspectives on things you had seen so many times before, you might now have hundreds of different things to write about. In fact, you might intentionally decide to ride this Ferris Wheel once a week, with your camera in hand, in hopes of another topic to write about.
And then, with that intentional purpose of riding the Ferris Wheel, you start to think of other places you could go where you could be an innocent bystander, able to capture life moving around at varying speeds. Maybe trying out the train, or even giving yourself an excuse to visit a place only a plane ride away...
And just like that, with a simple perspective shift, your life gains purpose. And just like that you begin designing a purposeful life. I’m not presuming it’s a simple task, but in many ways, it is much less complicated than what most of us are currently doing and might be worth the energy to try it on.
Maybe you don’t have to change a thing in your life. Maybe for today you just need to look at the very same thing you are doing and seeing and create a new perspective on it in a way that feels purposeful...
I do see my part in this purposeful life I have designed, and it doesn’t mean that every thing in it is what I would necessarily choose, but that the bigger picture is of my choosing. And that’s the piece that makes me feel purposefully connected to my life.
This is just the beginning of what it means to have a purposeful life. When I come back next time, I’ll talk about how you can weave this into the work you do, whether or not you are the CEO of your company. I hope you will join me.
Until next time, remember: if you change one thing, it can change everything.