It's Hard to Stay on PURPOSE if We Don't Know What Our PURPOSE Is

Can you state your purpose in one sentence?

If so, good for you. Your clarity is the lead domino of a rewarding, well-led life.

If not, it's not too late to figure out why you're here - and what you're going to do about it.

The first step is to craft a mission statement that articulates your raison d'etre (reason for living).

I will always be grateful to my college philosophy professor for asking us to do this.

On our first day of class, he said, "Put away your textbooks. We are going to study Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, but your first assignment is to come up with your own philosophy.

If you clarify your purpose now, it can help achieve what Aristotle called eudaimonia."

We were all thinking, "You da what???"

"Eudaimonia is a well-lived life of serene happiness, as opposed to chasing temporary pleasures of the senses."

He suggested, "Take your time. Think deeply about what you want to achieve with your life, who you want to be in your life, and how you want to show up for the rest of your life."

What a gift he gave us. I spent a week crafting a mission statement that has served as my North Star since then:

"My purpose is to make a positive difference for as many people as possible, while maintaining a happy, healthy, grateful life with friends and family."

That's what I came up with all those years ago, and I haven't changed a word since.

How about you? Are you crystal clear why you're here?

If you can state that in one sentence, kudos.

If you can't, take the time to think deeply about why you're here and crystallize a purpose that would give meaning to your life, then write out a 100 word or less mission statement.

As Annie Dillard said, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our life."

If you'd like some support doing this, you might enjoy our Clarity Calls which feature people from all walks of life who have clarified what's important - and acted on it.

What's Clarity Calls? Here's a quick backstory.

As part of my give-back during Covid19, I hosted a SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week book club. We had a wonderfully engaged community. Many people told me our weekly calls gave them something to look forward to during those rather bleak days.

I decided to continue that tradition with Clarity Calls interviews.

Think of them as an online version of the always uplifting TV show CBS Sunday Morning.

No hidden agenda. No bait and switch. Just interesting people sharing stories of how they clarified their purpose - set it in motion - and how it's impacted their life for good.

Guests include Sandra Joseph, Christine in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, BootsnAll CEO Sean Keener, Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, the world's largest networking organization for small business, Nell Merlino, Founder of Take Our Daughters To Work Day, Kian Gohar, Exec Director of XPrize, Parisa Khasravi, SVP of CNN, and many more.

Hope you'll check out these free (and fascinating) videos out on our YouTube Channel.

Until then, enjoy these thought-provoking quotes about the power of purpose.

1. "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." - Pablo Picasso
2. “What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question.” – Margaret Atwood
3. "Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are ultimately to be at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be." - Abraham Maslow
4. "When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way." - Wayne Dyer
5. "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. - Zora Neale Hurston
6. “If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” – Bishop T.D. Jakes
7. “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
8. . "True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." - Helen Keller
9. "Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement." - W. Clement Stone
10. "The person without purpose is like a ship without a rudder." - Thomas Carlyle