ULife Purposenderstanding Your Life Purpose will give your life greater direction and focus.  I have studied different interpretations of what ”Life Purpose” is over the years and I’ll now share with you what makes most sense to me.

To start, whether you believe we have a Life Purpose or not is actually not important.  Just like gravity, you can believe in it or not, but it is still there.  People seem to fall into two categories – they either don’t know how to define what their purpose is, or they simply don’t want to know about it.

That’s fine.  This is for those of us who are interested in making the most of our lives by tapping into the part of us “that makes our heart’s sing”, and bringing that purpose into all aspects of our life.  Why would we want to do that?  Because it makes life more exciting, fulfilling, meaningful, and very much more enjoyable.

So Let’s Define Life Purpose

Many thDefine Life Purposeink that your Purpose in life is “what you do”.  I disagree.  I believe your Purpose lies in “who you are”.  If your Purpose on this earth was just about what you did, what would happen when you retired?  Would you suddenly have no purpose anymore?

For example, I am a retired Registered Nurse.  I chose to leave the nursing profession because of family commitments, and I wanted to build my own business.  If I felt that my purpose was being a nurse, then I would have been lost when I retired.  Obviously, my life Purpose is bigger and more encompassing than just my career.

So, we said it’s about “Who we are”.  How do we define that?

Discovering who we are is as simple as writing down your thoughts.

Here are some questions to get you started:

  1. What do you love to do?
  2. Who inspires you?
  3. What are your natural gifts and talents?
  4. What area do people ask for you help in?
  5. If you were required to teach something, what would it be?
  6. What makes you smile?
  7. What are your favorite things to do – now and in the past?
  8. What values are of highest importance to you?
  9. What would you regret not achieving in your lifetime?
  10. What matters most to you?

These are just some starter questions, but what you are wanting to define are your Values, Talents, Gifts, and those things that really get you involved on an emotional level.

When our emotions are engaged, that signifies “passion”.  An activity or role that is emotionally important to you, that makes you feel you’ve done something worthwhile, is likely to be inline with your Purpose.

Many suggest writing out a formal description of what your Life Purpose is.  I must admit that the first few times I saw examples of other people’s life purpose, I thought “what a mouthful”.

It probably isn’t absolutely necessary to write out your Purpose, but if you do, it will serve as a reminder of what you are aiming for in life.  It will help you on the difficult days when you are ready to throw your hands in the air and give up. Being able to state what you Purpose is gives you direction and focus, and often makes choices easier.  You make decisions that support your Purpose.

How to Write Your Life Purpose or Personal Mission Statement

There Write Life Purposeare no rules when writing your Personal Mission Statement.  You are defining as clearly as possible the essence of who you are and how you want to live your life.  You want to create an expression of your vision and values.

You can rework it over time as you further refine your vision and grow as a person.  Your Statement can be a series of sentences starting with “I will” or “To be”.  It can start with “My Purpose is…”

When I started this exercise, I made notes over the space of several months.  As I examined the aspects of my life that gave me the greatest fulfillment, the things I enjoyed doing most, I began to gather clues as to who I really am, and what makes life meaningful to me.

When you tap into that, you are tapping into who you are – Your Purpose.

For me, my Personal Mission Statement needed to be broad enough to encompass all the areas of my life that were important to me – my relationships, my business, my volunteer work, my family, my hobbies, the charities I supported.

At first, I was confused, as I could not see how all these areas that really did “make my heart sing” could be included in my Life Purpose statement.

Then I began to understand, that my purpose is not about what I do, but about who I am.  I am the same person in all the varied aspects of my life.  When I got clear on the talents, gifts, values, knowledge and resources I bring into all these areas of my life, then I got clear on my Purpose.

Here are some examples of what you Personal Mission Statement might look like written down:

Mission Statement Example One

Mission Statement Example Two

Life Purpose Example Three