WonderFull Living NEWSLETTER – April…

The Importance of Having a Purpose!…

With so much emphasises placed on achievement and success – we are almost forgiven for feeling like failures if we don’t live up to this image. Truth is most of us won’t live up to this unrealistic societal expectation and more importantly, we don’t need to! Phew what a relief!

That’s not to say that succeeding in life is not important, it’s very important! But to succeed on our own personal journey, not based on the journey or agenda that belong to others. We definitely need something to strive for – a universal dream, a spiritual purpose, a community goal, a personal aim – big or small it doesn’t matter. What matters is having something to awaken for each morning – to move towards – that’s our nature, to find meaning in our daily existence. Victor Frankl calls it ‘Logotherapy’ – a therapy based on living life with purpose. Purpose and success are just as much about the journey (the beginning and middle) as it is about the destination (the end). You know, most of us will start many projects in our lifetime but will finish few (that’s the reality of it) so keeping it light and fun while having a clear aim, is essential. Success means to FINISH my projects and still be HAPPY!

Although there’s nothing particularly wrong with the following, success does not equate to having expensive possessions – big homes, expensive cars, fancy clothes. It does not mean to hold a higher position over others or how many ‘friends’ we can show off (Facebook doesn’t count). Success simply means to enthusiastically complete any outcome we set out to do. It’s easy to start something, it’s another thing entirely to finish it successfully… Sometimes we lack direction and never even start! Other times, we get ‘passionate’ about something but then quickly lose sight of the bigger picture, we lose our sense of humour and we bulldoze our way to our outcome – or maybe we quit!

Purpose gives me a ‘right’ to be who I was born to be – a right to be ME – without invoking resistance in others but rather to inspire in them, co-operation!… Without meaning we become bored, complacent, tired, confused, angry, unmotivated, afraid and disrespectful – each leading up the same path… Stress! Anxiety! Depression! Dis-ease!… Purpose gives us courage, determination, flexibility, tolerance, co-operation, contentment and love. Success means everyone involved is happy because everyone is working towards an aim – each one has a purpose!

Having a dream is very important – it’s where our aims, our goals and ultimately our success blooms from – but making a start is equally important! So here are 10 important questions to ask yourself, to help you get started and to help you stay on track…

1. What’s my goal? (outcome/vision)
2. Is it really my own goal? (often it’s not even our goal – but convinced to us by others)
3. Why do I want to do it? (reason)
4. What’s in it for me and what’s in it for others? (benefit)
5. Is it doable? (keep it realistic)
6. Is it timely? (setting a finishing date is essential!)
7. Is it short, medium or long term?
8. Can I commit to it now? (if you can’t, it remains in the dream basket until you can – pick something you can start now!)
9. How will I get there? (mission)
10. Create a daily action plan (to do list/journal). Make sure you tick off actions accomplished daily.

Having an aim prevents us from wandering around aimlessly through our day, our week, our year, our life! However, taking that first step is just as important as knowing our purpose – and having the courage to take a second step and a third step and fourth… Keeping our focus clear allows us to take these steps while flowing and learning (making mistakes) and growing (changing). Though it’s ok too you know if your completed projects aren’t perfect, that’s what the ‘journey of life’ is for (don’t wait till it’s ‘perfect’ or it will never happen)! Improve your skills along the way instead – otherwise you might get frustrated and give up – or worse, you may never start. When we regularly ‘succeed’ in daily tasks our confidence increases and our outlook will be happy 🙂

Question: What’s my purpose? (can be a daily purpose, or weekly, or monthly etc)

Consideration: Why have I not started? Or why did I quit?….

Activity: Pick one small dream you’ve been putting off (don’t waste time deciphering why you put it off). Look at this dream and check it against the list above. If it ticks all the boxes, regardless of how afraid you might feel, start anyway (anywhere will do) and ‘tweak’ it along the way (don’t wait till the plan is ‘perfect’ or it will NEVER happen)! Just get out there and change it as necessary (that’s what reviewing is for). Keep your focus clear, don’t let mistakes put you off, learn from them and move on. No plan with a start is much better than a plan with NO start!

Love Annemarie