The Problem With Purpose

Almost everyone agrees it’s a good idea to believe you have a purpose to your life rather than wander aimlessly. Hard to disagree with. But then you get left out in the cold to figure out what that purpose is. Because life purpose is so misunderstood, it can seem too confusing or hard to identify. People give up trying.

The confusion about life purpose starts when we’re young. Schools focus on academics and strengths. Ever seen a class on life purpose at your local school? And yet, your ancestors believed helping a young person figure out their purpose was an essential task in growing up. What happened?

Knowing your life purpose helps you decide what to do in all parts of your life and how you want to be known to others. It’s a source of self-esteem and personal power and describes how you want to show up in all parts of your life. It’s your go-to problem-solving tool when you’re in trouble. It’s the real, unique you. Everything you do should spring from that central kernel of you. It’s there waiting.

This is what we get instead of genuine help figuring out our purpose:

“Take a strength/Interest finding inventory.”??Strengths aren’t a life purpose. Not even close. Strengths are the abilities you use to help you achieve your life purpose. Depending on strengths is like buying ingredients for a cake without knowing what kind of cake you want to make.

?“Your life purpose is your job.”?It’s called a “life purpose”, not “job purpose.” By definition, we ought to be bringing our life purpose to all parts of our life. And what about people who aren’t working? Don’t they have a life purpose?

“I saw an article online about life purpose.”?Quick assessments in magazines or online are passion tools. They help name what you’re good at and love to do. But your life purpose is not dependent on whether or not you’re really good at it. Sometimes you fail at your life purpose, but you still keep working away at it. Because it’s what you’re supposed to be doing.

“Somebody said I could try praying.”??Prayer and other kinds of discernment have been used for centuries to identify purpose, but many of us don’t have a developed enough spiritual practice to accurately navigate those waters.

“Just try to be a good person.”??There are a lot of “good” people who are not happy, have this gnawing feeling that their life could be “more,” and wonder who they really are. ?Good people without clear purpose are often frustrated with themselves.

Want some genuine help finding purpose? Join us, and you won’t be left out in the cold to figure it out yourself.

Core Gift Discovery is one of the very few methods that exists today that results in a person identifying their main purpose, their Core Gift, and the 3-4 other Gifts they use to bring that Core Gift into all parts of their life. Developed and in use for more than twenty-five years, the process evolved from a blend of positive psychology, indigenous gift-finding methods, motivation theory, and youth initiation practices. ?

Core Gift Discovery is NOT an expert-driven process where you feed a batch of information into a program and it tells you what your purpose is. It’s not a test. Our process believes in you, not an algorithm! We believe that when you get a chance to participate with us in a guided process you will identify your Core Gift. And you’ll know it’s the real you speaking. And you’ll be able to tell us stories of how it’s been coming out of you your whole life. And how your life makes more sense now. And you head out the door with a solid piece of information you can apply to all parts of your life.

We train and certify Core Gift Master Facilitators in the Core Gift Discovery process. People from all walks of life that are helping people make decisions about next steps.? Counselors and coaches, teachers, mental health and disability workers, faith leaders, youth advocates, community organizers. If you help people or groups navigate change points in their life, this tool can be helpful to you.

You can find out more here https://www.coregift.org/master-facilitator-certification-program