subject: Change Your Life by Identifying Your Life Purpose [print this page] Change Your Life by Identifying Your Life Purpose
Many of us spend at least forty hours a week working to support a living and provide the necessary financial support for ourselves and our families. Some of us have found work to be a deeply fulfilling and enriching aspect of our lives but the majority, sadly, has not. It is a fact that many people are in careers and jobs that don't fully satisfy them and fails to bring them the joy, excitement and passion that they desire.
Find a job you love and you'll never have to work again.
Confucius
The starting point to deep job satisfaction and fulfilment is purpose. When we have a sense of purpose that is bigger than ourselves we lose track of time and become totally engaged in our work. Our passions are often the keys to identifying our life purpose.
Our passion for our work comes from the heart and is manifest as optimism, excitement, emotional connection and determination. Enthusiasm is deeply rooted in the power of choice. These positive emotions have more than twice the impact on our performance and job satisfaction, job meaningfulness, our engagement and our loyalty levels. Not surprisingly, when we feel positive we are far more likely to be curious, to learn, to explore and to be fully creative than when we are negative.
Did you know?
The heart is the most powerful generator of electro- magnetic energy in the body. The heart's electrical field is sixty times greater in amplitude than that of the brain and its magnetic field is more than five hundred times greater in strength than the field generated by the brain. One person's heart signal can affect another's' brainwaves and heart-brain synchronisation can occur between two people when they interact. That's why it pays to be around people who are positive and successful in life because they will uplift you with their energy. Studies have shown that there are more heart attacks across the world between the hours of 5 and 7 am on a Monday than at any other time of the week.
The word Heart' in Chinese means literally courage i.e. core which is all powerful. So in other words when we truly listen to and follow our hearts, when all our intentions and actions originate from the intuitive wisdom of our hearts we are far more likely to live in the moment and to find our deep passion and purpose in life for lasting authentic success.
As it is often quoted;
Success is a journey not a destination'
Ben Sweetland
This is very easy to forget sometimes and the best teachers convey the importance of living in the present moment. Finding your path to greatness requires a great deal of soul-searching and a great deal of courage. It requires a need to become inner directed and live in the present moment rather than chasing the future or dwelling too much on past failures or achievements.
By doing this we are able to identify the blocks that are holding us back and to remove any self limiting beliefs or, at least, acknowledge what they are through a journey of personal discovery. True entrepreneurs appreciate what is at the heart of success. They appreciate that you can't expect to feel any success at something you don't give your heart to it.
In today's workplace many people fear complete burn-out if they were also to give their hearts. They are already exhausted and feel drained having given their pound of flesh. The modern world of work is increasingly fraught and stressful. We are being asked to work faster, better, to do more with less, to change continuously and to invent new ways of working. So in other words success is measured by working faster with less resources, daily uncertainty and increased competition.
Today's workplace is characterised by a culture of long hours and presenteeism, permanent busyness, endless goals and inhumane attitudes. The consequences of this leads so many of us to question why because you can't be truly productive and creative when you are always doing' as opposed to being' in the present moment. For many people work takes over but at the expense of everything else and people simply acknowledge that their heart is no longer in it.
Successful entrepreneurs appreciate that we have to give our hearts to something if we are able to be truly successful. The heart engages the whole being and accesses your full potential which opens you up to greater inspiration and success. There is a major difference between being committed to your success and being interested in your success.
As John Assaraf & Murray Smith quote in their new book The Answer' if you're interested then you'll do what is convenient but if you are truly committed then you will do whatever it takes to succeed and you just can't do that in a half-hearted way. Successful types are driven by the idea of changing the world around them because they want to leave a lasting legacy. They have a sense that their contribution matters and there really is no better feeling than knowing that your business and your life have purpose and meaning.
Today so many people are settling for second best having abandoned their dreams and their passion because they just don't believe they can follow them and still make enough money to achieve all their goals. Everyone has the choice to choose what truly makes them happy and if they did they would realise that it is this key ingredient, 'passion' for what we do that makes ultimate success sustainable. Anything else just won't survive in the long term.
