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Purpose Rather Than Resolutions
Each New Year a lot of us think about the coming year and make resolutions about things we’d like to start doing or even more likely; stop doing. How many of us having given up something for good on Jan 1st and started again on Jan 14th? These are all good and great intentions, but not particularly helpful for bolstering our self-esteem around success.
So this New Year I invite you to do something with a greater meaning and power behind it. Many of us have heard about identifying our life’s purpose. Some find this easy, but many find this daunting, “what if I get it wrong, what if I don’t have one? Help!” Another way of looking at purpose is that is can be transitory; it doesn’t have to be the be all and end all of our life. It can be for a particular time in our lives, or within a certain framework, i.e. to do with family, career, health or relationships. You can create a purpose for whatever you like, so how about creating a purpose for 2008?
So what is a purpose? Well simply put is the Why. Why we want to do something. Following on from purpose is the vision – the What. What it is we want to do that will fulfil the purpose. From there we get to the mission – the How. How we will achieve the vision to experience the purpose. You can create all of these things for the coming year and that can become your leading light. If you have a strong connection to your Why, What, How, then you steer your year in whatever direction you’d like it to go.
To give you and example of this so you get a clear idea of the flow, a career-oriented purpose may be “To experience 2008 with ease and abundance”. The vision connected to that - the What - could then be “by identifying and moving into a new career“. The mission – the how could then follow as “researching all areas that are of interest to me, deciding the next step and following through the process so I gain in a new position that fulfils me.”
Another example for a relationship-oriented purpose may be “To experience my relationship in 2008 with a renewed connection and deep love”. The vision connected to that - the What - could then be “having time to be together and enjoy each other’s company.“ The mission – the how - could then follow as “creating the space for us to reconnect and make the effort to put us first”
You can see that the purpose, vision and mission all run into each other. They are not specific things to do, but rather overarching ideas of where you would like 2008 to go.
Starting with the purpose this springs from deep within you. Think about what you truly desire, not things but feelings. In the first example ‘ease and abundance’ are examples of states of being. Sure abundance can mean financial abundance, but it can also mean an abundance of time, laughter, fun. So take a few moments to ask yourself, “what feelings do I most wish to experience next year?” Maybe it is adventure, excitement, peace or belonging. This is your purpose, so touch deep into your heart and see what resides there. Your purpose is the why you will do something in the coming year.
Once you have identified your purpose then move onto your vision. The vision is the What. If you were to look at a landscape with a road running through it and a sunrise at the end of the road the vision is the sunrise. The road is the mission. The title of the picture is the purpose. So, what lies in that sunrise for you? What do you want to create in the coming year that would fulfil your purpose? Right now you don’t have to worry about how you will do it, simply about what you would like to be focused on in the coming year. Depending on what you have set as your purpose it could be a multitude of things; to have fit and healthy body, to have a better work/life balance, a new career, to start my own business, to get involved with charitable work, to create a loving home, to get promoted. Whatever will help you fulfil your purpose.
And then comes the mission, this is a bit more specific but remember this is not your action list of things to do. It is looser, a statement that holds the key to your action points to come. You will notice that the mission starts with an ‘ing’ word: creating, researching, empowering, starting, committing, deciding, moving, inspiring, building are all examples. It is the overarching action statement that will inform exactly what you will do to make it all happen. From here you can start to create the action plan for the year.
All three aspects of this focusing for the coming year are powerful but the one that pulls them all forward is the purpose. Once you set a purpose in place it motivates you to follow through with the doing side of our life. Until you have that motivation an idea can often stay as a nice idea. Purpose makes it deeper, both in meaning and in commitment. Make 2008 the best year yet, live it on purpose.