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| Life is Good |
Passion + Action = Purpose
Remember that equation because it is the key to living a fabulous life.
In an article at Huffingtonpost.com by Shannon Kaiser she points out that you can't just think about finding your passion or passions you have to take steps towards leading a purposeful life first.
This sounds a bit nuts but even though I knew that my passion in life was to design and create I wasn't living passionately. I was sleeping in later and later. I was designing and sewing but I felt like I wasn't making any progress. I was getting bored.
I stumbled on some articles by Mark Manson. He is way too raw for me to actually read it all but this one quote by him really resonated with me.
So when people say, “What should I do with my life?” or “What is my life purpose?” what they’re actually asking is: “What can I do with my time that is important?” Mark Manson
And remember, this is all about you. Not what you think someone thinks you should do.
I was always setting goals and then finding that I couldn't fulfil them or I just lost motivation and forgot about them. I thought there was something wrong with me. I could see lots of successful people around me. Why couldn't I be like them?
I have written some steps for you to think about but don't spend too long thinking about them. The most important thing you need to take away after reading this post is that you need to act.
I used to spend way too much time thinking and researching and not enough time acting. I still catch myself researching and thinking and planning when I should be acting on my plans.
1. Ask yourself "What are my life passions? "
"Am I willing to rearrange my life priorities to do more of these things?"
- When I was 30 my passion was being a great mother and getting involved in child centred activities like play group. I lead workshops at the local play group for mothers and children. I went to Play Group Association meetings and conventions. I wrote articles for the national association magazine. Everything was about helping my children and other's children reach their potential.
- When I was 50 my passion was making arrangements for a good retirement. I increased my super deposits. I insisted we invest in something concrete like real estate so we bought a block of land with the intention of retiring there eventually and we spent holidays there getting used to the place.
- When I was 60 I started to struggle with finding a passion and purpose for my life.
I realised that I had to work out what was important to me now. I am retired now but you can use the same process at any time of your life.
2. What matters to you?
Choose the areas of your life that are relevant to you now. I left out 'Financial' because I am not trying to get loans or buy a house or pay for education. I have a simple budget that doesn't require lots of goal setting to make it work.
The areas he covers are:
- Spiritual
- Personal Development
- Health
- Romance
- Family
- Business/Career
- Finances
- Fun and Recreation
- Social
Get your free brainstorming sheets and record everything about each area that you want to focus on in the long term.
3. Clarify your life purpose
Study all those things you recorded in your life areas. Create some sentences that bring them together. You can have 1 or 2 sentences for each life area or you may be able to link some together under general terms such as communication. For example " I want to communicate and really connect with friends, family and colleagues by listening and helping when needed."
I am still making slight changes to the wording of my Life Purpose as I set goals. Something that is really important to me but I don't think I expressed it specifically enough in my Life Purpose was 'What do I do with all the things that I learn?'.
I have added in that I want to share how I use what I have learned.
4. Take action
If you know there is something you are passionate about but you keep telling yourself that you don't have the time or resources to follow it then you need to start by implementing some of the things passionate people do.
- Setting up a productive morning routine is a good start.
- Getting up early is pretty much a given. See why HERE
- Exercise regularly
- Eat breakfast
- Work to a 'to do' list
- Focus on actions rather than outcomes
- Be positive, think big and be grateful.
You can see more about the things passionate people do
HERE
My favourite quote is:
"Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, and vision with action can change the world."
Nelson Mandela
