All Purpose

All Purpose

The Secrets of Your Purpose

"There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.†~ William Barclay

Hands-down, the biggest question I get over and over from my clients is: how do I know my purpose? How do I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing? What am I supposed to do next? How do I KNOW that I'm living on purpose? (And then the question becomes: how can I make that into a business? But that’s for another time…)

Well, here's the irony… you are the only one who CAN know if you're on purpose. Why? Because there is no advance playbook or external judging system about your purpose – no one else has ever been YOU before, with your unique skills, spirit, desires, combination of resources, and more. So your purpose is partly revealed through the combination of your uniqueness, which emerges through where You Choose to put your time, resources and attention.

Even more, there are no rules about living your purpose because you are creating them as you go. It's been said that history was not created by conformists; in other words, you gotta be YOU to make your mark on the world. Your unique purpose is always wanting to be expressed, whether it's "appropriate" or not. For example, I have ALWAYS been driven to make a difference for people, whether they asked for it or not. Until I created a business that could be a container for my purpose, anyone I met – friend, foe or stranger – would be assured to get my well-intended but completely misdirected energy. Although those poor folks couldn’t escape it at the time, neither could I… my purpose compelled me to be a catalyst long before I knew it was my calling. It just kept showing up every time I turned around.

And, in my case, creating a business to be a professional catalyst was, well, laughable, ten years ago. People thought I was absolutely crazy. Even now, people insist on putting me in a box, because that’s what is comfortable for them. "Oh, you're a life coach', "Ah, you help people express their gifts", or "Gee, you do intuitive readings AND you do business development?" – and it's natural. Humans always try to associate new concepts with what they already know. But I've always been way ahead of the curve, pioneering my own niche against the tide, as it were. Your purpose may not require you to go against the cultural grain, but it will require you to do your thing your way. And that isn't always what people can relate to, much less be the popular route.

Your purpose has a compelling nature about it, which means there is a higher calling to it. Your purpose will leak out if you try to contain it. It's what keeps you going in the face of what might be daunting to the naked eye. It's all about the energy here…and energy is sensed or experienced rather than visible. That is, you know it exists by its’ effect rather than by what you see; in fact, what you see is the result of its effect.

Three Things You Can Do Today:

1. Trust that you've been on purpose up until now. You wouldn't be where you are unless needed to be there. And you need to trust that your purpose has taken you to this very moment with messages, details, and actions, whether consciously or not, in order to give you information that you can gather retrospectively to understand the core of your purpose. By gleaning the information about your path, up until now, you start to see where your purpose has been showing itself.

2. Your purpose feels right. That is, when you are on track with your purpose, you get a sense of flow, happiness, ease, "rightness". The focus is not on just the money (that's so limiting), or the struggles you have (which don’t really matter), or what you don’t have (because it doesn’t tell you what you DO have) – it's about feeling "right" with your world. Take some time to remember the moments when your world has felt "right"; consider the pieces of that, just like you would untangle a knotted piece of string. If you pull on this one, where does that take you? And now, pull on that one – what does that show you about your purpose?

3. Focus is on the bigger picture, not the details. Just like when you drive a car, it's important to focus on where you're going rather than where the tip of your car is pointed. Think about your life strategically rather than technically when you’re searching to find your purpose. That is, think about the bigger picture than the day-to-day details to see your life purpose in a greater context.

Your purpose is waiting for you… it belongs to no one else. It will wait for you. AND it will find a way to express itself every day, with or without your permission. Take the time to consciously discover your purpose – the world will be better for it!

About the Author

Lynn Scheurell, Creative Catalyst, works with soul-driven entrepreneurs to create a livelihood from their true purpose. This type of business development requires extreme personal clarity in combination with innovation and active implementation of proven business practices. Download a free report to learn "The Seven Deadly Mistakes That Keep Soul-Driven Business Owners from Making Money" at www.mycreativecatalyst.com.

If You Can Do X, Why Can't You Do Y? My All-Purpose Answer.