I can’t tell you how many people I meet who are looking forward to retirement. They are people who feel financially trapped in their “good” jobs. And whether that “retirement” is a few years away or in the distant future, so many people talk about how they don’t know if they can keep it up until then.
Sometimes, they are looking forward to leaving their jobs because they have big plans for what they’ll do when the day comes they can finally quit.
Other times they have no idea what they’ll be doing, but at least they won’t be doing this anymore.
That kills me. Nothing screams, “This is NOT the purpose of YOUR life!” more than that. And because I believe that we are all tasked with a purpose for this lifetime, figuring it out and living it is just about the most important thing to me.
We don’t know if that “retirement” will ever come, so there is no better time than now to begin to find our purpose and live it.
The good news is that you don’t have to quit your “good” job, because your job isn’t your life purpose.
If it were (like lawyer or mom), then what happens when the job goes away? Or when your kids move away? Do you see the problem? You’d be left without a purpose.
Those might be ways you express your life purpose, but they are not your life purpose itself. Let me use myself as an example.
My life purpose is to teach.
My audience has changed over the years. I’ve taught young students, teachers, students of life itself.
My subjects have changed throughout my life, as well. I’ve taught all sorts of things from algebra to how to wrangle your ego.
My methods are also ever-changing. Sometimes I’m teaching at the front of the room. Sometimes I’m teaching during a coaching session. Sometimes I’m teaching through writing.
The who, what, and how are the ways I express my life purpose, but they are not my life purpose itself. My life purpose is the action that they all support, the one thing I know through and through to my very core that I’m destined to do. Teach.
So what is yours? How do you figure it out? I promise that at YOUR core you already know. At some level, that knowing already exists within you. If you look closely, you’ll see evidence of it throughout your life. Here are some great starter questions.
- What do you love to do?
- What have you always dreamed of doing?
- What are you good at AND love to do?
- What were you doing at your happiest or most fulfilling moments?
- What would you do if you had absolutely NO obstacles (external OR internal)?
It just takes some investigation. And once you’ve uncovered that thing you are destined to do, you’ll see how you are in or out of alignment with it. Your job or the work you do is a great first place to examine.
For those of you who just can’t wait to get out of the job you are tethered to, your work is very likely not allowing you to express your life purpose. Can you make adjustments within that job so that you ARE living your life purpose?
For those of you who just can’t wait to get to all the exciting things awaiting you once you retire, how do you bring more of that into your NOW? It’s very likely that those activities you are looking forward to ARE ways to express your unique life purpose.
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