F5 Purpose: Part Two

If someone was a fly on the wall, would they watch you and say that it looks like you’re “in it,” like really enjoying what you do? Or would they look at you and say, “Crap, they really aren’t enjoying things much, are they?”

When you are living out your purpose, it’s pretty awesome and also visible to others that you’re enjoying this wild ride called life.

In part one of this newsletter, we covered how to identify your strengths, the early inclinations and childhood queues that could be indicative of your future purpose, and some signs that you aren’t living it out. In this round, we’re talking about becoming emotionally engaged with your purpose, signs that you are on the right track, and how to spend more time in this purposeful place if you’ve already got the whole purpose thing locked down.

Emotional Engagement

Typically, when we are living out our purpose-driven life, we do so because we are emotionally engaged. Being engaged will do a few things for you.

1.?It will keep you rolling & inspired to keep at it even when things are boring AF (because it matters viscerally to you).

2. You will produce great work faster & learn up to 4x faster because you CARE.

We created a quick framework to help you identify whether or not you’re emotionally engaged. When you are indeed engaged, you will find the work:

• Interesting:

Whatever it is that is going to emotionally engage you has got to be really interesting to you & stimulate a hunger to either learn more or do more in that arena as a result.

• Impactful:

To me, this is the “it factor” here, folks! Your purpose/passion has to be less about what you want and more about how you can use this calling. Start thinking about the impact you can deliver as a result of honing in on it.

• Intellectually Engaging:

To stick with anything and have an emotional tie to it, it’s got to keep your brain firing on multiple cylinders. Does your purpose create something in you that challenges you intellectually and keeps you learning? If so it’s going to keep you coming back for more. You’ll be thirsty and engaged in this arena.

Flashing Neon Signs

Maybe your purpose has unfolded itself to you loudly, or maybe it’s more of a quiet nudge or whisper in your ear begging you to listen up. It’s not always a flashing neon sign; often, purpose unveils itself to you after a hardship or loss (I know it did for me).

Here are 10 signs Jeanette Brown wrote about that hit the nail right on the head:

1. You Feel a Deep Sense of Fulfillment
2. Your Work Doesn’t Feel Like Work
3. You’re Excited About the Journey, Not Just the Destination
4. You’re Eager to Learn and Improve
5. It Gives You a Sense of Meaning
6. You’re Willing to Make Sacrifices
7. Others Notice Your Passion
8. You Feel a Sense of Resilience
9. You’ve Overcome Fear and Doubt
10. It Just Feels Right

Lock & Load

If you’ve locked in on your purpose for the first time, congratulations. It feels really awesome to lock eyes with it, doesn’t it?

If you are like many of my readers, you already know your calling and purpose, but (insert every possible excuse known to mankind here) you simply aren’t living it out for one reason or another. I’ve mentioned the book The Big Leap on more than one occasion. It’s all about tapping into your “Zone of Genius” rather than staying in the other spaces we usually reside. Remaining in a state of mediocrity, whether out of necessity or complacency, well, that's up for debate.

As the author mentions in his book, the only way we can start living in this zone is to look at time a bit differently. Even thinking about it like Einstein's theory of time that states; “Time is not absolute. In other words, despite our common perception that a second is always a second everywhere in the universe, the rate at which time flows depends upon where you are and how fast you are traveling” and gradually shift more and more of our time to our true calling and purpose.

My hope and prayer for you is that you can identify that very special calling, you can get emotionally engaged with it, and you can stay in that space and live it out.

Please stop ignoring it, and coming up with every reason to avoid it. You, my friend, are unique and have a beautiful calling; the world needs you to share it. And part of unraveling requires us to stop covering up that light and keep working towards the best you needed to shine.

Let's close with some awesomeness:

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to the shining—they just shine.” – Dwight L. Moody

?