Benefits of Knowing Your Life Purpose and Living It

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of life in general, and the meaning of your life in particular? Have you ever asked yourself why you are here on this planet? Answering this rather philosophical question can have a huge impact on the quality of your life, happiness and success at work. 

We all have something that we are meant to do: Your genius will shine through, and happiness will fill your life, the instant you discover your higher purpose, and then direct all your energies towards it.
Robin Sharma

Each person has a set of innate abilities, interests and passions that, if developed and applied in practice, allow them to make a unique contribution to their closer or wider environment through their work and other activities. These abilities are all related and point towards the life mission or life purpose of that person. Unfortunately, this mission is often not obvious, or it is not consciously defined. Unless you have one single all-consuming passion and abilities clearly related to it (passion for a musical instrument, for drawing, telling stories, for a sport, etc.), you might struggle with finding out what your life mission is.

If you are like most people, with several skills and interests, enjoying several activities but not feeling a strong "calling" toward any of them, you may not think about your personal mission and other elements of a life strategy, such as core values and vision, as long as things go relatively well in your life. Usually, it is a situation of crisis that forces you to ask yourself the question: "What is the real purpose or meaning of my life?" 

Finding your life purpose, the internal force that drives your actions and gives meaning to everything you do and your life, making you jump out of bed each morning and feel energised and motivated, is very important to live a life of joy, fulfilment and satisfaction. Having no life purpose, according to Bob Proctor, the author of "You Were Born Rich" and one of the speakers in the film "The Secret", is like "working with a broken compass". You will navigate the sea of your life without a real aim or a higher purpose. You are only wandering, visiting random places you might enjoy for a while, but none of them have a deep meaning or real sense for you. You will accomplish random goals you consider temporarily important, obtaining temporary success and satisfaction, but without any coherence and consistency. 

When you find and define your mission and live according to it, you feel like everything is in its place in your life, everything has a sense and a meaning, and your life is whole and complete. You feel happy and fulfilled because "with purpose everything in life seems to fall into place" (Jack Canfield).

Purpose gives meaning to WHY you're doing what you're doing.
Bob Proctor

When you relate your work to your life purpose, you'll feel happier at work, and experience more joy, satisfaction and fulfilment. 

Jack Canfield, in his book "How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Harper Element", says that "to be on purpose means you're doing what you love to do, doing what you are good at and accomplishing what's important for you."

The ideal situation is when your work directly supports you to live on purpose. You accomplish your mission through your daily work and the service and contribution it provides to society, or a part of it. Even if your work is not directly related to your life purpose, finding a connection between work and purpose, for example, how your work supports you in accomplishing your purpose, will give sense and meaning to work and increase your satisfaction at work.

Of course, this does not mean that if you define your life purpose and start living according to it, everything will be smooth and straightforward in your life, and you will not encounter hurdles and challenges. But the thought of your purpose and the passion for what you do will help you stay on track, solve problems and overcome challenges. 

The main reasons you should define your life purpose or life mission are:

• It gives you clarity and direction. You know that you work towards accomplishing your supreme aim every day.
• It provides you with a framework and keeps you focused on your priorities.
• It helps you express your most important values and talents daily.
• It gives meaning to your goals, so they all point in the same direction, and it puts your goals into the service of your mission.
• It makes the reason behind your actions.
• It provides you with a path to greater happiness and success.
• It guides you in the "dark" in turbulent times so that you don't get carried away in unwanted directions by the waves of change.
• It increases your resilience and helps you get up, recover and get back on track more quickly after a challenge.
• It permits you to say no to things that represent a distraction from what is important to you.
• It keeps you motivated even when you have to perform activities you are not really fond of.
• It helps you find support for your service and cause when you make it public, and others resonate with your purpose.
• It helps you experience flow, joy, satisfaction and fulfilment at work, all ingredients of happiness.

Getting clear on your life purpose and relating your work to it is the foundation of experiencing one of the elements of happiness at work, meaning or purpose.