The Purpose of Life

by | Feb 27, 2015 | Mindset |

The Purpose of Life

Download MP3          Listen on iTunes

Summary

“What is the purpose of life?” Or perhaps a better question is, “What is the purpose of your life?” These questions may seem a little overwhelming to you at first, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The poet, Robert Byrne once said: “The purpose of life is a life on purpose.”

So rather than asking the cosmic question, “Why am I here?” we can simply turn the question around and decide for ourselves. Rather than looking for life’s meaning outside ourselves, we can give our life meaning by choosing our own purpose and creating a life that will fulfill that purpose. You can make it as practical or as spiritual as you choose to, and that’s really the beauty of it. Give your life meaning by living like you mean it, by choosing your own purpose and creating the life that you choose.

Your purpose is going to be very personal. It doesn’t need to impress anyone else. It should be something that’s important to you.  It doesn’t have to be completely clear to you right now; it can evolve as you are creating the life you envision for yourself.

A great way to start is to simply live your life “on purpose” each day. As your broader life’s purpose evolves and becomes increasingly clear, you can incorporate it into your medium and long-term plans and goals.

If you practice living your life on purpose each and every day, you will find you can create the life you have envisioned and truly live rich!

Transcript

Have you ever noticed when you hear people talking about the meaning of life, that they sometimes get quite intrigued or introspective about the whole idea. Some people actually get quite concerned that they haven’t yet figured out the purpose of life.

Well, to me it’s a little bit like trying to understand or contemplate infinity or the size of the universe. In fact recently, it was learned that the universe is not shrinking, as some people used to think it was. It’s actually growing, and it’s growing at a more rapid pace each and every year. Some scientists believe there may be even more than one universe. These can be mind boggling concepts, to say the least. The idea of infinity is confounding enough and with this new information about the possible existence of other universes beyond our own, it gets increasingly difficult to imagine for me. I don’t know about you.

A Life On Purpose

So what does this have to do with the purpose of life? Well, I’d like to turn it around and quote the great poet, Robert Byrne who once said: “The purpose of life is a life on purpose.” Now, if you think about it, I believe that’s really the essence of the purpose of life, to live it on purpose.

Rather than asking the cosmic question, “Why am I here?” we can turn it around and decide for ourselves. Ask yourself, “What am I here to accomplish?” Now, you can make this as practical or as spiritual as you like. That’s the beauty of it. It’s your decision.

Your current reality may require that your purpose right now be getting some cash flow, to get your expenses under control, to find a job or get a better job. You may feel your purpose is to focus on things at home with the family. These might be the purposes that you need to focus on right now, or maybe your purpose is just to get enough money put away so you can send the kids to college. Your purpose may be that you want to be financially free and go overseas to help provide clean water or contribute to some other humanitarian endeavor. These can all be things that you decide are absolute goals for yourself; things that you can manifest and create in your life. I have a friend whose mission each year is to raise a large amount of money, several hundred thousand dollars, to buy toys at Christmas for needy people in the Denver area.

Your purpose is going to be very personal. It doesn’t need to impress anyone else. It should be something that’s important to you, so it’s your decision. It doesn’t have to be completely clear right now. If it is, that’s absolutely great, but most people are too busy with day-to-day survival to worry about the broader, bigger purpose in their life. It’s something that can evolve as you work toward it. As you develop and think on it, you can actually start to manifest it as you begin to build the life that you want to create.

Give Each Day Purpose

But for today, just start by living each day on purpose. It really starts with something simple, like knowing what you’re going to do each day before the day begins. Knowing what you need and want to accomplish each day allows you live each day on purpose because each day has a purpose. Begin by setting your day’s goals and tasks the night before. When you accomplish that list, you will have lived on purpose by accomplishing what you set as your purpose for that day. It’s an important concept that, once mastered, can carry you to significant heights of achievement.

The simple task of living every day on purpose can change your future one day at a time. Think about what you want to accomplish, today, next month, next year and so on. As you start to develop and gain greater clarity of the larger purpose in your life, what you really want to accomplish, whether it be financial freedom, retiring rich, retiring early, traveling the world or helping someone other than yourself, whatever it is that you envision, you can begin to incorporate it into the long term goals that you set for yourself, two, three and and even five years from now.

Now, remember, it starts with today, tomorrow and each day after that, knowing that you’re living your life on purpose. So start today. Make a decision to live on purpose each and every day. Not only will it change you, it can change your entire life. It can dramatically increase the enjoyment that you get out of life. There is great satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment you’ll get, when you know that you’ve achieved something, whether big or small, on a daily basis. When you live each day on purpose, your life has meaning and you really are living rich.