A topic that has come close to my heart in the last few years of my personal growth and helping others is the idea of identifying one’s life purpose. As you already know, currently, I coach three types of demographics through What’s My North? – Success Through Personal Transformation, my coaching practice. They are:
People seeking career growth
These are people in mid-career levels – Individual Contributors like tech leads and architects; first or second-level managers wanting to move to executive levels and people stuck in their careers (recently laid off, out of jobs for some time, or those frustrated with their current jobs).
People seeking a career transition and hence, growth
These are mid-career professionals too who chose to change their career path, rather than grow in their current job. The focus is relatively short-term – looking for a change of role or function, to pursue their passion. They need a quick-fix solution that will allow them to move into “their” space.
Engineering students who need help in shaping their careers
This is an interesting demography because, unlike the above two, who volunteer to be coached, these students are ‘told’ by their college to go through What’s My North?, which makes it all the more important for What’s My North? to be appealing to them.
If you notice, the goal for each of the groups above is different – career growth, career transition, and career commencement – in that order.
Obviously, since there is a fundamental difference in “focus” in each case, my content and approach for coaching these groups do differ, with maybe some overlap. However, there is one topic that is common to all of the above demographics, which I think is fundamental for achieving success, and that is the idea of living one’s Life Purpose. I strongly believe that one can be truly successful only when one is performing a function aligned with one’s true purpose (we will discuss what true success means in a separate post). One would be more peaceful, happier, driven, and content, if one’s life is driven by one’s true purpose. There are many more delightful benefits that come with a purpose-driven life and career, which is a topic for another day.
However, the sad truth is that only a few people care about purpose. The concept and activity of identifying one’s purpose is not common. Why is it so? I have some thoughts.
1. A belief that finding one’s purpose is tedious
The very thought of having to identify one’s purpose raises apprehensions about the feasibility and ease of doing so.
2. Tendency to focus on short-term priorities
Focus on the short-term goal (“Where is my next job?”) supersedes the need for a long-term purpose (“Where’s my destiny?”). ‘Is this due to the world of instant gratification we live in?’, I am not sure.
3. Crisis Frame of Mind
Even people with a relatively higher level of success in their jobs are sometimes “stuck” – possibly due to present, trying life situations; unwarranted displays of biased behaviors like taking pole positions, particularly in today’s polarized environment; mental blocks caused by early-life traumas; residual blind spots due to close-mindedness, and so on. Because they are stuck, they are frustrated and are in no mood to focus on more rewarding things like identifying their purpose.
However, the sweetness of success achieved by identifying and living one’s purpose far outweighs the constraints outlined above. Helping people “Live their Purpose” is a BIG focus in What’s My North? coaching.
Let’s look at each of the impediments above and how to overcome them.
1. A belief that finding one’s purpose is tedious.
Let’s remember that everyone, without exception, comes into this world with a purpose to execute. We just forget what that is the moment we are born. All we need to do now is bring that back into our memory. In other words, purpose needs to be discovered not invented. It’s possible. There are multiple examples of people who knew their purpose – they declared their purpose and lived it. They did not invent their purpose. Some examples below:
· Thomas Alva Edison – Create more inventions than any other person on earth.
· Henry Ford – Put an automobile in every household.
· Bill Gates – Every person on this planet has a computer.
· Walter Meyers – Use my writing to better the world.
It is absolutely possible for anyone to know their purpose. The question is, “Do you want to?”. Is it hard to identify one’s purpose? You bet it is. Some just knew it – perhaps a Tendulkar, an M.K. Gandhi, an M.S. Subbalakshmi … perhaps! The rest of us, we just need to perpend. But it’s worth it!
There is a method. And the method is what I teach in What’s My North?
2. Tendency to focus on immediate priorities.
We all fall prey to this phenomenon. While it is understandable that our immediate needs need to be addressed immediately, it is also essential that we find time and energy to periodically contemplate our long-term future. This is a classic dilemma we all deal with at all times – balancing our short-term needs with our long-term prerogatives. In his book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey talks of a time quadrant for time management. I think it is of relevance here. Imagine you designate your activities into four quadrants:
Q1: Urgent, Important – Tasks you must attend to immediately. These are crisis situations that demand immediate attention. Your life should have fewer and fewer of these tasks. e.g., fire in the kitchen, fractured leg, hysterical boss, etc. These cannot be avoided, just deal with them.
Q2: Not Urgent, Important – Tasks that are meant to make you a better person, that are valuable to your growth and happiness, and that don’t demand immediate attention. These are the kind of activities you should be spending more and more time on. e.g., identifying your long-term goals, discovering your purpose, attending training, etc. Create space in your life to spend enough time on this kind of activity.
Q3: Urgent, Not Important – Tasks that need to be completed, but are not necessarily important for you personally. These are usually tasks that are timebound. While they may be unimportant, you may not be able to escape them, at best you may be able to delegate them to others. e.g., attending your brother-in-law’s son’s birthday party, attending the door, answering the boss’s call, etc. It’s best to manage your life to be able to reduce these tasks.
Q4: Not Urgent, Not Important – These are time-wasting tasks. They have no benefit for you. These are usually tasks that make you feel good and provide temporary pleasure. The challenge with these tasks is that they suck your time like a vortex. e.g., scrolling on the phone, playing games on the phone, watching TV, endless gossip, etc. Stop these!
Obviously, if you manage well, you should be able to spend enough time on Q2 tasks – discovering your purpose is one of them.
3. Crisis Frame of Mind
When one is in the midst of challenges, it is hard for one to focus on long-term activities. But, it is exactly the time one should spend on such activities. It is easier than done, but when one pulls oneself up to center oneself and focus on such activities, the effect will be long-lasting and enriching. One way to do this is to find a resolution to challenges one is dealing with quickly and to work on Q2 tasks, including identifying one’s life purpose.
I sincerely believe that this article would have impressed you with the importance of identifying your purpose. So, when (not if) you are driven to identify your purpose, schedule a sample session with me by clicking here.
What's my North? 
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