What is my purpose? What am I going to do with my life? What is my passion? These are powerful questions many individuals will ask themselves at some point in life. Each individual has a purpose in life and it is your mission to find out exactly what yours is. Once you discover your purpose, your life will be changed forever. Discovering your purpose can energize your life. It can inspire and motivate those around you. It can also fill your mind, body, and soul with enthusiasm, love, and joy.
The first step in discovering your purpose is to find your passion in life. This will be your best guarantee for happiness and success: the most successful people are those who love what they do. Seek what you love, and you will find that a life full of happiness can be yours.
I would like to share a brief story with you about a man named James who was employed by a Duke and Duchess in Europe.
One afternoon the Duchess said “James, how long have you been with us”
James replied, “About thirty years, your Grace”
“Now James as I recall you were employed to look after the dog”
James replied, “Yes, that’s correct your Grace,”
Emphatically she said “James that dog died twenty seven years ago”
With a dull look on his face, James said, “Yes, your Grace what would you like me to do now?”
Like James, many people are waiting for someone else to tell them what to do next. Success in isn’t so much determined by where you start, but more or less whether you attempt to start at all. The key is getting started, so let’s get started today!
Many people are given opportunities and chances based on talent. Let us take a minute to dissect this bias word.
Talent is generally considered to be a personal gift possessed by relatively few people. In essence, someone with talent has a certain mental or physical level to do certain things.
Take for instance: Kobe Bryant, Drew Breeze, Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Oscar De la Hoya, and Oprah Winfrey all have talent. Even Larry Platt the creator of the song, “Pants on the Ground” from American Idol has talent and the list can go on and on… However if talent alone were enough then the most effective and influential people would always be the most talented ones.
Talent is not the same as having skill…Skill is something that you work on, something that you try to perfect or even master.
There are 3 essential resources you must have because talent is not enough. First, you must be intelligent. People feel that if you are intelligent you are “smart” and that is totally incorrect. A person who is intelligent is one who is able to understand and comprehend. They also have the ability to choose between, make sense of, or just simply figure out what to do. A person who is smart is able to learn with ease or quickly. Secondly, you must have an imagination. This means being creative or thinking outside the box. Be a dreamer. Thirdly, you must have knowledge. Knowledge is an expertise and skill acquired by a person through experience and education, but only effectiveness turns these into results.
Take for example; when I was growing up I loved to make Kool-Aid. The items needed to make this drink consisted of a container, Kool-Aid mix, sugar, and water. However, in order to produce the desired results I needed the most important item, a spoon.
Let us take a look at a few statistics that may surprise you.
50+% of all CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies had a C or C- average in college
65+% of all U.S. Senators came from the bottom half of the school classes
75% of U.S. Presidents were in the Lower Half Club in School
50+% of Millionaire Entrepreneurs never finished college
A French Poet Edward Pavillion said “Have success and there will always be fools to say that you have talent”.
Many in society assume talent is all it takes. Have you ever seen the guy who was 6ft 7in and many immediately believe he is going to be a great basketball player. Or the lady who is beautiful and has a slender figure and instantly many proclaim her to one day be the next supermodel. How about the guy who is enormous and we think he is automatically going to be a great football player. Maybe the young lady who makes A’s in school without studying and thinks she can easily become a doctor. Always remember, talent is never enough.
The journey to discovering your purpose begins with your mindset. Take a few words from Nike and “Just Do It”. If you fail remember Jay Z’s song, “On to the next one” and do exactly that move on to the next one…
When a person has put a limit on what they will do, they have put a limit on what they can do. Remember; shoot for the moon because even if you miss you will land among the stars.
On your journey to knowing your purpose you are going to encounter a variety of doors. First, let us discuss exactly what a door is and can be. A door is a moveable barrier used to cover an opening. Doors are widely used and are found in walls, on buildings, vehicles, and furniture such as cupboards, cages, and containers. A door can be opened to give access and closed to deny access. Doors are nearly universal in buildings of all kinds, they allow passage between the inside and outside. When open, they allow air and light to enter.
Doors are significant in preventing the spread of fire. They act as a barrier to noise. Doors also have a role in creating an impression of what lies beyond. Doors are often related with ritual purposes, and the guarding or receiving of the keys to a door, or being granted access to a door can have special significance. On your journey you will walk in and out of doors and how you walk in could possibly determine how you should walk out. The three doors that we will discuss pose as a way of change.
Door number one is your past. What is the past? This is the portion of time that has already occurred. I know that many of us have had a past life that you wish to forget. You may have situations and life experiences that you wish you could erase, but you can not. Avoid lingering in door number 1 because it has served its significance in your journey to moving on towards knowing your purpose. Door number two is the present. This is the time that is associated with the events that are happening directly and often referred to as the “now”. This is the door we need to spend some more time in before we move on because once this door is closed we need to make sure that we know our purpose. Before you can clearly know your purpose you must incorporate these 13 key elements into your life.
- Believe - this lifts your purpose
- Passion - this energizes your purpose
- Initiative - this activates your purpose
- Focus this - directs your purpose
- Preparation - this positions your purpose
- Practice this - sharpens your purpose
- Perseverance - this sustains your purpose
- Courage this - tests you purpose
- Teach ability - this expands your purpose
- Character this - protects your purpose
- Relationships - these influence your purpose
- Responsibility - this strengthens your purpose
- Teamwork - which multiplies your purpose
Once you have established these 13 principals you are ready to close the door on the present and journey to door number three which is your future. This is the time period commonly understood to contain all events that have yet to occur in your life. Continue to prepare yourself to enter door number three and with your intelligence, knowledge, and imagination you will effectively convert these 13 principles into positive results that will show the world that you did not make it here on talent alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment