Wrap Up and Where To Go From Here

Posted on September 16, 2017 · Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve come to the end of our 30 Day Living With Purpose Challenge. Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? I hope you’ve enjoyed our little journey towards living a more intentional and purpose-driven life as much as I have. More importantly, I hope the daily blog posts have inspired some serious thought and discussion.

Here’s what we covered over the past 30 Days.

  1. Welcome And What Does It Mean To Live With Purpose
  2. Why It’s Important To Find Your Purpose
  3. What Is Your Purpose?
  4. The Connection Between Purpose and Happiness
  5. Why What You Do For A Living Matters
  6. How To Find Your Calling
  7. Your Purpose Doesn’t Have To Be Huge To Make A Difference
  8. Small Things You Can Start Doing Right Now To Make A Difference
  9. Do You Know What’s Sucking Up Your Time
  10. Going From Existing To Truly Living Life
  11. Let’s Talk About TV And The Like
  12. How Much Time Are You Spending On Facebook
  13. Embrace Your Hobbies And Interests
  14. Never Stop Learning
  15. The Big Benefits Of Traveling The World
  16. Creating Purposeful And Meaningful Relationships
  17. When You Have A Purpose, You’re Taking Action And Aren’t Afraid Of Failure
  18. Living With Purpose Is Good For Your Spiritual Health
  19. Guess What? Money And “Stuff” Doesn’t Make You Happy
  20. Living With Purpose Makes You A Kinder Person
  21. When You Live With Purpose, You Don’t Have Time To Worry
  22. When You Live A Purpose Driven Life, Your Values Are Clear
  23. You Realize The World Doesn’t Revolve Around You
  24. Aligning Yourself With Your Purpose Through Meditation And Prayer
  25. Avoid Temptations And Wrong Paths Along The Way
  26. Living With Purpose Is About Serving Your Community
  27. Your Loved Ones Will Benefit From A Purpose Driven Life
  28. Your Purpose May Evolve And Change As You Do… And That’s Ok
  29. What Do You Want To Be Remembered For?

The next question is of course where you go from here. Frankly, it’s up to you. I’ve given you a lot of ideas, tools, and suggestions to craft a more purposeful life for yourself and your loved ones. What you do with that information is up to you. I hope you’ve been following along, doing a lot of thinking, and have started to implement. I encourage you to continue on this journey. Keep bringing more meaning and purpose into your life. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep on making progress.

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What Do You Want To Be Remembered For?

Posted on September 15, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Here’s an interesting question for you. What do you want to be remembered for when you’re gone? Since our life on this beautiful earth is limited, it’s only natural that we want to leave some sort of legacy. What’s yours going to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

Living a purpose driven life makes this a lot easier. You know what you want to accomplish and what impact you want to have on your family, your loved ones, your friends, your community, and the world at large. If that sounds a little overwhelming right now, don’t let it intimidate you. You’ll get there. Living with purpose starts small for most of us and grows exponentially as we notice the effect we can have on those around us when we start to live intentionally and with an open heart.

Even small changes and accomplishments are nothing to laugh at or dismiss. Raising your children well is an amazing feat and a wonderful legacy to leave behind in the world. Or maybe you will be remembered for the small community garden you started that will long outlive you and show others how tasty and rewarding it can be to grow carrots and tomatoes.

As you start to live with more purpose, you may get to a point where you’re wondering what else you can do. You may be asking yourself how you can help people around you and how you can make the world a better place. Asking yourself what you want to be remembered for and what your legacy will be is a great way to figure that out.

Here’s a little exercise you can do today. Get out a piece of paper and write down what you would like your eulogy to be. It will condense what you want to be remembered for and what values are important to you. Set it aside for a little while, then come back and read it. As you do so, compare it to the life you’re leading right now. What do you need to change? What do you need to work on to make sure your life aligns with the eulogy you wrote for yourself? That’s your game plan. It may take a while and it may change over time, and that’s ok.

What’s important is that we live our short lives with purpose and make the most of the years we’re given on this earth. Remind yourself of this and live a life full of things that you’ll be proud to be remembered for.

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Your Purpose May Evolve And Change As You Do… And That’s Ok

Posted on September 14, 2017 · Leave a Comment

I’m sure throughout this challenge you’ve been thinking a lot about living with purpose and what that means to you right now. I hope you’re living more intentionally already and are changing things here and there to better align with your purpose. You may even discover your big passion and your calling and working towards making that happen. That’s great, but there’s something we haven’t talked about much. It’s that we all grow and change as time goes by. And with that our purposes change.

Let’s say you’re a mother of small children. Right now, living with purpose may mean to spend as much time as possible raising your kids. That may mean becoming a stay at home mom, working only part time, or working from home. That’s great, but don’t feel like that can’t change as time goes by. A few years from now, the kids will all be in school and you find yourself with more time on your hands. It’s perfectly fine to switch focus and get back into your career or try something completely new. Things change and evolve. You change and evolve. Your purpose may evolve as well and that’s perfectly normal and how it should be.

That’s why it’s a good idea to occasionally take some time and think about what’s important to you and make sure you’re still living a purpose driven life based on your current values and ideas. It’s ok to change and adjust if things no longer feel like a good fit. While it’s something you can do “on the fly” as you move through your days and weeks, it can also be helpful to stop every few months and take time to really think about this.

We are creatures of habit and will often stick to a plan, an idea, or a routine because that’s how we’ve always done it, or out of a desire to tough it out. While that’s admirable and there’s certainly a time and place for this, it’s also good to take some time to reflect and second guess what you’re doing.

You want to live your life intentionally and with purpose. That means you should always second guess yourself and make sure you’re doing is a good fit and the best way to live purposefully. If it is, great… carry on. If it isn’t, make some changes until what you do aligns with your purposes.

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Your Loved Ones Will Benefit From a Purpose Driven Life

Posted on September 13, 2017 · Leave a Comment

In yesterday’s post we talked about how we can use our communities to have long lasting, permanent change by living a purpose driven life. Those changes can be small or large, and they all add up. We can make a difference. Today I want to take a look at the impact living a purpose driven life can have on your loved ones.

You Set A Good Example

The most powerful thing about living your life with purpose is that you are setting a good example for those around you. Trust me, your kids are watching. Your spouse or significant other is noticing what you’re doing. So are your family and friends. Living a purpose driven life can be quite contagious. Start and see how much of an effect you can have on those around you.

In other words, not only will they benefit from what you do directly (by being more attentive and patient for example, or making an effort to spend more quality time with people important to you), they also benefit by being encouraged to live a more purposeful life themselves.

You’re More Confident In Yourself

As you start to live with purpose and see the impact even small acts can have you’re more confident in yourself. As you gain self-confident, you start to feel more comfortable in your skin. You’re making a difference and live with purpose. This in turn makes you a more confident parent, spouse, and friend. Your loved ones will benefit because you are no longer busy second guessing yourself. You take massive action that benefits everyone.

You’re Happier And More Fulfilled

One of the big reasons self-confidence is so important is that it is directly linked with how happy you feel. Add to that the fact that living a life with purpose is very fulfilling and it’s no wonder that you are happier and more content once you start living with purpose and intention.

All this in turn will make you a kinder and better person overall. Living a purpose driven life makes you a better parent, a better spouse, a better coworker and a better friend. It has a positive impact on all the people who are close to you and who have an important part in your life. Keep that in mind as you continue on this journey of living with purpose. Use it as motivation and encouragement on those days when things get hard and you’re ready to give up. Don’t let them or yourself down.

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Living With Purpose is About Serving Your Community

Posted on September 12, 2017 · Leave a Comment

One of the most eye-opening experiences for me when I started to live with purpose was that life is about so much more than just me in my little bubble. Living a full and meaningful life means being part of a community and serving it in a variety of ways. Let’s look at a few of them.

Your Inner Circle

The first community you encounter and the one you spent most of your time in is your very own inner circle. By living more purposefully and more intentional, you’ll have the most influence on this one. It’s your inner circle that’s compromised of your family and close friends. These are the people you spent the most time with. It may also include your coworkers. This is the community you should focus on first. Start making a difference with the people you’re closest to.

Your Local Community

Your next step will be your local community. It’s amazing how much change you can affect here when you put your mind to it. Let’s say you want to live a life where you’re more aware of the impact you have on your environment. You shop smarter, recycle and reuse more at home. From there you can branch out into your local community and encourage positive change. Start a community garden and encourage people to recycle more. Get involved with communal policy that’s focused on environmental efforts. Join the organizations that are already present within your own local community.

Finding Your Niche In The Global Community

One of the amazing things of being alive today is how connected we are. The internet, mass communication, and fast travel make it possible to connect with people from all around the world. We all do it to some extent. Some of us work in global companies that get us in touch with team members who live in different countries or come from different cultures. We may connect with people online who enjoy the same hobby. We do more traveling today than ever before which of course exposes us to different ways of living and different cultures. We watch TV shows and movies from various different parts of the world. We have in fact become global community and that gives us a unique opportunity. As a result, living purposefully and taking part in online groups and global efforts can bring about change that affects the global community. That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it?

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