3 Steps to Defining and Pursuing Your Life Purpose |

“Mister Cat, which way should I go?” – Asked Alice when she came to a fork in the road.

“It depends, where are you going?” – Reverse the question the Cat

“I don’t know” – Alice replied

“Then whatever” – Finished the Cat

This simple dialogue between Alice (from Wonderland) and the Cat (the one with an unforgettable smile) illustrates how important it is to be clear about where we want to go. We tend to live day to day meeting our short term needs. With that, we forget what is most important: knowing who we are in essence and which direction we should go.

This clarity leads us to act with more self-confidence and dedication. So we can get what we want with greater ease and satisfaction. This happens because we create a central pillar in our lives, which makes us always know where we should return – even when we get lost. In this way, the problems, fears, doubts, excesses and barriers that appear on the path no longer take us so long away from our center. They become just distractions or rest stops on our main journey.

How to trace your life purpose?

The first thing is to create a solid foundation and strengthen it. If we have a well-defined and coherent center with what we want for ourselves, nothing can deviate us from that path, unless we allow it.

So, in order to define our purpose in life, we will need to reflect on three pillars that will support this solid foundation.

1 – Principles (Morality)

First, we must define which principles are coherent and make sense for our current life moment. The principles are anchors that will dictate the moral conduct that we will follow in our daily lives. And these must remain unshaken, until there is an honest doubt whether they are helping or hindering. After that, we can replace them, if that’s the case, but with conscience – and not by orders of desire.

These principles can be found underpinning the ethical conduct of upstanding governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Below are some examples of universal principles that we can build on:

Humility Discernment Non-judgment Non-resistance Detachment Presence Observation Kindness Generosity Love Forgiveness Fearlessness Faith Non-violence Truth Mercy Compassion Harmony Peace Non-steal Non-promiscuity Abstain from drugs

Choose five to seven principles to be the rules of the game of your life. Those that, if you don’t follow, will only and exclusively harm yourself.

2 – Mission (Concentration)

The mission is the guide of what we commit to be every day. Concentration – which means “close to the center” or “with the center” – is the map for us to follow on our journey.

A well-defined mission presents, in a short sentence, one to two lines, what we determine to be every day. In a clear and objective way, without beating around the bush or mincing words. It needs to be formatted to leave no doubt.

Below, we see some different examples of missions:

Be kind and kind to people and seek to exchange condemnation for understanding Be committed to what I determine to do and move forward even in the face of difficulties and adversity Be a better person every day, observe my mistakes and failures to learn and evolve with them Be the change I want to see in the world Be someone who seeks to build a better life for myself and the people around me constantly Be authentic and true to myself and others so that I can build a foundation of trust around me

After defining your mission, we can go to the last stage of building our purpose in life.

3 – Vision (Wisdom)

Being able to see further than others is the quality that makes successful people visionaries. After all, it is through vision that you see your maximum potential to be achieved, your main long-term intention and the destination that will guide you on your journey.

We tend to sabotage ourselves when it comes to drawing up a long-term vision, either for fear of not achieving it, of becoming frustrated, of failing or not knowing how to deal with such power. But, in fact, this vision is just a guideline, as it will not necessarily happen. We often find more coherent destinations during our journey, however, we only found them because we were in that direction. So there’s nothing wrong with redirecting ourselves if we find a more compelling view than the last one.

The vision can be directed to the personal, professional, social, spiritual or relationships. It must also be built in a direct and objective way and, if it is concrete, it can have a deadline to be reached. It needs to be built with one or two lines at most.

Examples of views:

Become a multi-entrepreneur with branches outside the country Achieve a high state of consciousness and spiritual realization Be an inspiration for my social circle to evolve together Be a reference specialist in the marketing area by 2025 Set up my own company and work in the area I love by 2018 Form a solid and constructive family base for society Travel across five continents and experience as many cultures as possible

After you have mapped out this macro intent, you can see it in your mind’s eye with clarity of detail, as if you were on a screen. However, be careful not to fall into a feeling of desire, which believes that happiness is out there or in the future. Instead, already see yourself in the scene you idealized, with a feeling of love and worthiness, enjoying each stage of the journey.

What stops us from following our purpose?

It is normal for us to prioritize short-term pleasures, such as having lunch out every day, buying clothes when we go to the mall, going to “happy hour” or clubbing with friends, traveling somewhere nice with constancy or any other entertainment we like. In addition, we create beliefs that we “need” many things that we think are worn out, old or inappropriate. Many times these needs, in fact, arise from the same source as the pleasures: the impulse of desire.

According with the doctor. David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD, in his book “Truth vs Falsehood”, a person who evidences the medium and long term purpose in his life, that is, that he diminishes the importance he gives to the impulses of desire and invokes courage to reaching their goals and overcoming obstacles, has an initial average jump in their everyday happiness from 22% to 55% – more than double.

Desire comes from outside. It is born from a sensory stimulus that captures information and stimulates our thoughts to seek rewards that feed the pleasure of our six senses: smell, touch, sight, taste, hearing and mind (opinions).

However, the more impulsive the desire, the less we take into account the later consequences.

That’s why many people, after overindulging at a barbecue, promise themselves that they’ll never eat or drink so much again. Until the next barbecue… Or when they travel and are dazzled by so many different tours, attractions and material goods that they end up spending more than they planned and are full of debts.

The truth is that we spoil ourselves and tend to fulfill all our desires as they arise. Because we have a huge attachment to desire and don’t balance ourselves, we end up making him a villain. However, it is possible to leave desire in the background in life to choose the time that we will serve it, dethroning him from his role as emperor and naming him our servant.

Intention, unlike desire, arises from within. It is an internal call that leads us to analyze and face a challenging situation in order to reach a new state of consciousness and result, taking into account our evolution as a being and the subsequent benefits.

This inner power is able to guide us to where we set out to go and guide us to achieve our purpose every day, without depriving ourselves of pleasurable moments.

Below we can see some comparative characteristics that differentiate the impulse of desire and the power of intention.

Everything is possible! As long as it is split into executable parts.

With that solid foundation built, you can then chart a course of smaller actions and intentions that will show you are on the right road to achieving your vision. Doing a reverse planning to know the next steps to be taken can make your vision more tangible.

However, none of this helps if we keep this planning and our life purpose on paper, without following them. There will be obstacles and distractions strong enough to throw us off our path. So, with this map drawn, the most important thing is to seek to follow a lifestyle of self-challenge.

Unhappiness at work is related to life purpose

Self-challenges are practical and simple exercises that we propose to do to break and reduce the greed in our short-term desires. Something simple that has the power to transform the complex. By decreasing and learning to master our desires, they become less influential in our lives and we become better focused on our goals and purpose.

Here you will find an initial list of self-challenges so that you can start this new lifestyle little by little, in your time, without having to generate major shocks. Or if you prefer to receive more precise guidance, sign up here and request an exclusive mentorship with me, so that we can build this new cycle of your life together.

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Good habits. Gratitude!