Julie’s discovery of purpose and how it leads to personal success.
I was working with a business manager of a construction firm. Her role included supporting the owner of the business, as well as collating and organising information and financials into a coherent and manageable state. She loved her job and was very happy with what she achieved 60-70% of the time.
The other 30 % of the time, she was frustrated by the lack of coherence in the information she was receiving. This means that Julie was not achieving the levels of personal success that she wanted.
I asked her three questions:
What brings you alive or energises you?
What drives you crazy?
What do you feel you are really good at?
The first one was relatively easy as she enjoyed creating an ordered environment both in her professional and personal life. The creation of order in her life really energised her and helped her find a centred place.
She could not understand how the second question was related to purpose. I explained that the discovery of our purpose sits right in between what energises us and what drives us crazy.
If we take into consideration that our purpose can only come alive in each moment, we will often be faced with the exact opposite of what we are good at and what energises us. That is the exact reason we are there. To bring what is missing to that moment.
Order From Chaos
In Julie’s case it was the chaos she was confronted with. We discovered that her purpose was to create order from chaos. There was a palpable shift in her state when she realised this was her purpose. What became clear to her was that it was normal for her to be surrounded by chaos as that was exactly why she was there……to create order.
This is the challenge we face when it comes to purpose: to recognise what is incomplete about the moment and to add our unique gift to it. When we are able to view each moment as an opportunity to add our gift, as opposed to dwelling on what is missing, we no longer miss the chance to bring ourselves fully into the moment.
Once Julie understood this important piece, she realised she was in the perfect place. All she needed to do was to bring herself into the moment and add her unique gift to it.
This helped with her levels of frustration and judgement and allowed her to remain grounded, present and energised as progressed through her day.
Personal success, measured in terms of work and life satisfaction, naturally follows when we are clear on our Purpose.
How Does Purpose Feel?
When we are aligned with and living our purpose, the feelings we experience include ease, flow and enthusiasm. These let us know clearly that we are on purpose and contributing to each moment. These feelings are true indicators that we are aligned to what we are good at, and are on track for achieving our personal success dreams.
We often believe we have no control over when and how these feelings occur. But we do! Our purpose and our need to live it does not go away. It just gets drowned out by the story we are creating, driven by our fear-based beliefs.
To be able to call on our purpose and to bring it alive, all we need is to have clarity around what it is and to recognise that the feelings of frustration, anger, resentment and anxiety may just be letting us know we are not on purpose. We can view them as a call to becoming present and bringing our purpose alive.
I am often reminded of an indigenous saying which brings us back to living our purpose:
“Wherever you are you have exactly what you need. What are you willing to add?”
When we begin to look at ourselves as having a unique gift that is always at our disposal and is exactly what each moment needs, we are able to consciously connect with the feelings of ease, flow and enthusiasm and bring our purpose to life.
What is asked of us in each moment is to bring our gift – what is missing from that moment. If you haven’t already read Purpose Part 1, you can do so here.