how to discover your purpose

Finding your purpose is a lot like finding your soul mate. This question is huge because it points to what you are going to spend the rest of your life pursuing. Just like marriage is a huge question, spending the rest of your life with one person, this question is on the same playing field. One just doesn’t say, “Hey, you are funny. Let’s get married.” Likewise, one should not say, “Hey, you pay the bills let me spend my life’s efforts for your company.” The problem is we never intend to but we get caught up in the day-to-day rat race and then at the end of the day we are so tired we just want to escape from the reality that we call life. How do you muster up the courage to say first, I am not doing what I want to do with my life and secondly say I am going to do something about it…today? I am not going to wait till tomorrow today I am going to make a decision and today I am going to walk towards that decision.

Most of us know within ourselves if we are doing what we desire to do. When we look at the time and say it is almost time to go to work and immediately we feel the dread that comes over us. So most times what we do is we quit one job and go to another job hoping that we will find satisfaction in that. And initially we do. The change of people, problems and tasks energizes us and our hope soars until a couple months pass by and we are facing the same hate dread for this job as we did the last one.

The reason I know is because I did the same exact thing. That is the reason I started this business venture. I want help other people to discover the purpose for which they have been created and then learn how to turn that purpose into profit.

After reading this article you are going to begin your life all over again. You will learn how to put together a definite plan that will lead you down the pathway of discovery where you will ask yourself questions and take steps that you did not feel like you had the courage to do in the past. You will within the next couple of days discover the purpose for which you have been created.

Now that word created has a tendency to make some people nervous. The creation vs. evolution debt has been going on and will continue going on throughout the ages. I am not here to discuss theology or to get into a debate, personally I believe that God created the universe and nothing that could be said would sway me from that belief. However, you may have the same thoughts regarding evolution so lets look at discovering your purpose through both lenses. Let’s say we just evolved or happened as in the big bang theory. Though I do not know the ends and outs of the theory I can easily look at the effects of the process that is around me. And when I look at animals that are around me I notice one thing… their design points to their purpose.

A bull naturally does what his body is designed to do. You do not see a bull trying to frolic like a deer. Nor do you see a bull trying to climb a tree like a monkey. And you know what? The bull is ok with that. He does not make excuses for the way his is, he just…is. A bull does not get offended when someone says the expression, “That boy is like a bull in a china shop.” He does not blush, and wish that he were a cat so that people would not look at him that way. And then resulting from his insecurity makes an excuse such as, “Well last time I was in there so and so…He would just stand there nod and say if I ever got in the china shop again I would wreck it just the same or even more. Animals act on instinct not reason, therefore, they cannot sit back and analyze their emotions and say why did I respond that way, what did they mean when they said that about me? Maybe I am not as good as the cat?… Reason is the one thing that differentiates humans from the animals and reason is what makes us superior to them. However, our reasoning capacity can and often is swayed by things such as peer pressure, influence of society, insecurity, etc.

Some of people in middle school and high school may have been made fun of because they were not good at sports. Now, in middle school through high school when you got made fun of it seemed to really have an effect b/c you are still finding out who you are. So, instead of saying to the bully or jock that said you are horrible at basketball, “True. But, why don’t you sing me a note? Why don’t you solve this math problem?”  I am not good at sports, math, geography, music etc but here is what I am good at. We would concentrate so much effort trying to develop that which you were not good at instead of developing further what you were good at. In a sense we were like the bull that was trying to be a cat in the china shop. Over the course of time we began to focus so much on what other people thought about us (b/c it hurt so much when they did not approve) that we lost who we were. Here is the proof…look at a 5 year old child, they are self-assured, and confident even in their mistakes then look at that same child around the age of 17 who is embarrassed when a mistake happens, walks with their head down and cannot make eye contact during a conversation. Being different is GREAT! A duck’s quack doesn’t echo and turtles can breathe through their butts.

Now if we were created then someone with a specific purpose in mind created us. On this earth anyone who has ever invented anything has done so to solve a problem. A cup was made so that people could carry the water so if they were thirsty they would not have to go back to the river. A pen was invented so people did not have to write with a feather and ink. A car was invented to get people from point A to point B faster. Likewise, our inventor created you to solve a particular problem that He knew would be going on during your life on earth. The crazy thing is, and this is really hard to wrap your brain around, no one else will be able to solve the problem that you were created to solve like you.

When an architect is hired to build a building he asks questions such as what will it purpose be? What is it going to be used for? How many people will it have to hold? What is your budget? Likewise when God created you He thought what is her purpose going to be? What am I going to use her for? How many people is he going to effect directly? Indirectly? And since God’s budget is unlimited he spared no expense on you.

So an inventor or creator, acknowledges a problem in society or in his or hers personal world. Then they think of a solution to that problem. If only we had a blank we would not have to worry about blank anymore. The creator then forms an object that carries all of the components that are necessary to solve the problem that he sees. You are God’s object that He created to solve a particular problem on this earth. You were born into a particular family (regardless of the circumstances) so that your body, mind and emotions would be shaped in such a way so that you could not only solve some of the world’s problems but make a great living doing so while being completely satisfied.

I can hear your thoughts now, “Ok, that sounds great so what in the world am I here for?” Has anyone ever seen the movie City Slickers with Billy Crystal? In the movie these 3 friends who are city slickers are caught up in the everyday living and find themselves in the middle of a mid-life crisis. What am I supposed to be doing? Why is my life not exciting? So they go on a trip to the country to try to find answers to their questions. During the trip Billy Crystal has an ah-ha moment when Jack Polance says, “How old are you?”

Crystal responds, “I am 39.”

“Yeah, you all come out him around the same age looking for the same answers. You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope, knots in your belly and you think one week out here and everything is going to get better. None of you get it! Do you know what the secret to success is?

“No,” says Billy, “what is it?”

Then Jack says, “It’s this! (and holds up one finger) and says you stick to just one thing and nothing else matters.

The thing is we never have that aha moment like Billy Crystal has in the movie. Parents do not sit their children down and give us the Jack Polance talk. Schools do not train you how to find it. The best they offer is a guidance counselor who says, “Hey it looks like you are good in math, you should be an engineer.” And that is not a stab at counselors it has just been my experience…yours may have been different. So its no wonder why so many of us drifted along for so long doing miscellaneous jobs, jumping from college to college, moving from city to city and so on. We are searching for purpose, our place in life without recognizing what we are really searching for we just know that we are not happy with where we are. Earl Nightengale, said 9 out of 10 people have no idea why they get out of bed in the morning. So where do we go to find these answers? How can we get on with life, living on purpose?

Well, the problem is there are no definite answers to that question. Oh, great. It’s like thank you for wasting my time. Right? What I mean is that you cannot go to anyone and say tell me my purpose. Certain people close to you can tell you what you are good at but they cannot tell you your purpose. That is a journey that you have to make alone.

In Bible College I met a very wealthy man by the name of Matt. At the time when he and I became friends I was going to school full time to be a minister, modeling, starting an Internet company and taking Chinese lessons on the side. Matt had 10 different companies, 1 of which was rumored that he sold for $300 million dollars. One afternoon we were having lunch at the country club (on his membership) and I told him that I was going to take a job as a GM at a restaurant. I will never forget what he told me…because it offended me. He said, “What are you doing? You are going in all of these different directions, pursuing all of these different interests but you will never be satisfied or wealthy until you find that one thing that you were created to do.” But, I ensured Bill that this college student was much different than his multi-million dollar self. And now 6 years later I understand his wisdom, and the years has humbled me to be able to understand more of what he was talking about and so here I am telling you what he told me. If you do not find that one thing that you were designed to do, you will never be truly fulfilled or wealthy. (Wealth meaning much more than money.)

I was watching a show on CNBC called The Big Idea, which is a great show to watch if your aspiration is to become wealthy, it comes on Monday through Friday at 10:00pm, and there was a man on there who was a millionaire that said in high school he wrote down everything that he wanted in a dream business. He tried several other jobs but nothing seemed to fit him. And then he went into real estate and that business ended up fulfilling every one of those things on his list. And he suggested that the viewers did the same. So that evening, I thought heck what do I want out of a business? So, I took out a pen and paper and I wrote down everything that I wanted out of a dream business. This was the first step to beginning my journey that revealed to me my purpose.

Until you know exactly what you want how will you ever know if you get it? A lot of us have a basic idea of what we desire, but if you do not know exactly what you are shooting at there is no need to have a gun? Here is what I hear a lot when I ask people what do you want. They tell me all I know is that I do not want to do what I am doing. O.k. then be a trash man. What? It is something different. Well, what I mean is I want more than what I have right now. O.k. here is a dollar. Desires fulfilled. Right? Specific desires bring specific results, vague desires bring vague results. I took some time immediately after the show and I came up with the different things that I wanted in a dream business. And I suggest to you, immediately following this seminar that you go home and write out what you would like in a dream business. Think of how much you want to get paid, work, type of work, status, dress attire etc.

And then a couple of weeks later I still could not decide what I wanted to spend the rest of my life pursuing and it would not leave me alone. And so even though I had written down what I wanted my dream business to give me, I still did not have the dream business. What I did have was about 10 different ideas of what I wanted to do for one reasons or another. Has anyone ever had that problem? So I said to myself, “Self” and my self said “Hmmm?” We have got to narrow this list down to one business and then go all out for that one thing. Anyone who is remembered as a “great” person through history regardless of his or her skill was always remembered for one major thing. Socrates (philosophy), Alexander the Great (conqueror), Donald Trump (real-estate) and so on. So I came up with 7 questions that I thought would help me narrow down the list.

1. Does it fulfill my Dream Business Description?
2. Could I do this for 30 years?
3. How much experience do I have in this area? (<1, <5, >5)
4. How soon could I do this full-time? (1-3, 3-5, 5-7)
5. What/Who are my resources to help me get started?
6. What am I willing to sacrifice? ($, sleep, time, pride)
7. Where could this expand too? (What are my future options)?

After I came up with the 7 questions I wrote down every business idea, job opportunity that has been presented to me, and every occupation that someone had told me that I would be good at and that I actually had the desire to do in one way or the other. And then I systematically answered all of my questions in light of my potential purpose. But, when I got to motivational speaking my heart started to pump with anticipation and that is when I knew that not only could I do this for the next 30 years, everything that I wanted in a dream business could be found in motivational speaking but not just motivational speaking a development center, where I could help people turn their purpose into profit.

I desired to create a haven where entrepreneurial-minded individuals could come and detach themselves away from the cares of their problems and world and use this time to see the potential in their problems. It is my desire not to see you get rich only…but to live a life that is fulfilled. Where everyday you wake up and say to yourself, “I cannot believe that I am getting paid for this.” A world where the limits on your mind and the limits of your past are stripped away and where the only thing that remains is possibility.

I want to end with this quote by C.S. Lewis that shows this possibility. He said, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship…There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal.” There is nothing ordinary about you so begin today to do extraordinary things!

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