Your purpose(s)
Chapter seven of Brand You is called Your Purpose. The purpose exercise is one of my favourites. Essentially it asks: “What would you do if you had eternal life and more money than you will ever need?” Putting it another way, “Why are you on the planet?”
Many of us have yet to ask ourselves these questions. We are too busy working to pay the bills and enjoy ourselves whenever we have the opportunity. However, once you start to figure out why you are on the planet, life becomes much easier. Knowing your purpose points you in the right direction. Jobs and businesses are vehicles for you to pursue your purpose. If your vehicle crashes or breaks down, it’s time to find a new one.
Discovering your purpose doesn’t happen overnight. Some people argue it’s a life-long pursuit. My co-author David Royston-Lee says we’ll only really understand our purpose when we die. I agree with him to the extent that things always make more sense with hindsight. I can see how events in my life which seemed chaotic at the time have contributed to my development. They brought me to where I am today. They enable me to do what I do now.
It’s comforting to note that even Albert Einstein felt he had a purpose, but wasn’t 100% clear about it. This is one of his best-known comments on the subject: “Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes here for a short time, not knowing why, yet somehow seeming to divine a purpose”.
So far I have been talking about your personal purpose, which only you can discover. However, there is a deeper purpose, which Eckhart Tolle discusses in his books and talks. He calls it our primary purpose. It can be described in various ways, such as awakening or discovering who you really are. Once you learn to be present and observe your thoughts, you realise you are not your thoughts. If you can observe something, it’s not you.
So who are you? You are the observer. Everything else comes and goes, including your thoughts, your emotions and all the cells in your body. The more present – or mindful – we are, the more easily we can observe what is sometimes described as ‘the passing show’. We no longer take things so seriously. Life becomes far more enjoyable. We are also much better at creating what we want when we are no longer lost in a fog of thoughts and emotions.
When I heard Eckhart speak in London last Saturday, he said that being fully present reconciles your primary and personal purposes. That makes sense to me. As he put it, “Your entire life consists of the present moment. It will never not be now.” I do my best to be present as much as possible during each day. The more present I am, the clearer I am about what I should do next. Things tend to go smoothly and work out well.
Very thought provoking blog. I focus on the “now” as much as possible but find it dificult to accept the “passing show” as just that. It seems to me that either you can influence life actively – in other words you are an active participant in the “passing show” and can develop its journey, or life is totally random and you are a passive observer to the “passing show”. The latter makes me feel uncomfortable and raises profound questions like “why bother at all”. Intuively that cant be be right I also had this problem when reading and trying to understand The Power of Now. Maybe there is something in between??
Discovering your purpose doesn’t happen overnight … you can say that again. I recently had a “discover my purpose” moment and it hit me over the head like a ton of bricks. I had been running from that reality for a while — if I had been more ‘present’ as you say, I may have discovered it sooner.
Hi John
Your book sounds interesting and I enjoyed your phone interview with Suzy Greaves of Big Leap.
The being in the now, being present etc is spot on. You brush over the find your purpose aspect in your post above, though. If only it were as simple as answering the question ‘what would you do if you were independently wealthy?’ variations of the same exercise. Do you believe doing the first will help you find the answer to the purpose question?
Karen
Thanks Karen – your purpose is rooted in the talents you love to use, in the way you love to use them, with the people you love to spend time with. For me the connection with being present is that, once the random thoughts die down, we become much more conscious and our intuition tells us which way to go. Our intuition will also tell us whether what we’re doing right now fits our purpose or not. If you’re already in the habit of being present, you might find that the talents exercise in ‘Brand You’ is the best next step. It’s about discovering your high points, when you experience ‘flow’. Good to connect with you on Facebook! Best wishes, JP. PS I am writing more about all of this for the next book.
Very thought provoking blog…
I came across this article as I’m enquiring into how to create my brand. Thanks very much for all this food for thought. But right now thanks for the prompt to stop work, turn off the computer & meditate as it’s time for bed!