How To Find Your Purpose In Life (Step 1)

One of the most common things people ask me is, “How do I figure out my purpose? How do I figure out my calling?” The truth is, it takes multiple steps. I'm going to give you the first one today…

Think About What You Want People To Say At Your Funeral?

I want you to imagine you're watching your own funeral. And only one of two things can be said about you at the funeral. The first option is that people say you absolutely loved life and lived it to its fullest. You used every bit of time that you had on this Earth really, really well. The second option is that they say you made a difference, you made an impact, you left the world a better place than when you came into it.

The difference is the first one is someone who consumed life. And I mean that as a positive—there's no bad answer here. Someone whose mission in life was to consume it, make the most of it, make the best use of it, find as much joy and happiness and fulfillment in it as they could. The second option is someone who wanted to create while they were on this Earth, and used their time to make a difference, make an impact, and leave a legacy.

Consuming vs. Creating

There's no right or wrong answer, but society has taught us to go in one of these two directions. The problem is a lot of us try to do both. We try to go down the middle, and that's where the problem lies because we feel torn.

People come to me all the time and say, “I don't have work-life balance.” Well, because living life to its fullest and having an impact—that's a constant tug of war.

The people who are the happiest in life have genuinely made peace and either totally embraced the “live life, consume it to its fullest” purpose or the “create, make an impact, make a difference, leave a legacy” purpose.

But most of us sit in the middle, and until we figure out how to create a game plan for ourselves so that we can integrate the two, we can't balance them.

There's no perfect fit here. You have to find out where you fall and create something just for you. This works because a lot of us aren't either totally consumers of life or totally creators within paths. We fall somewhere in the middle.

Are You A Consumer Or A Creator?

So, ask yourself this question: am I a consumer or a creator? Think about these two choices. At your funeral, which one would you want to be said about you more? That means you tip more in that direction.

Once you know which way you tip, now we can start to talk about other aspects, other tools to help you assess and figure out how to create work-life balance based on that. But this is the first step in the process.

Which way do you tip? What would you want to be said about you at your funeral?

If you’ve figured out your answer, check out my FREE training "Unlocking Your Career Potential So You Can (Finally!) Find A Job You Like.”

Here's what you'll learn:

• What kind of work you should be looking for based on your lifestyle and needs
• How to identify the kinds of companies you would be happiest working at
• Which of your skills you should focus on leveraging in a job so that you feel happier at work each day
• How your personality impacts what type of work you should be looking for

Interested? Sign up for FREE today!