While many of us make sure we have that annual check-up, we don’t necessarily check-up on how our spirit is doing. The purpose check-up is the wonderful idea of reviewing our spiritual well-being.
Author and executive coach Richard Leider, the founder of Inventure – The Purpose Company – whose written books such as Repacking your Bags and The Power of Purpose, says your spirit is intrinsically linked to purpose.
Step one to finding your purpose is to take a good look at your life’s journey.
What is your story and significant highlights, what are the major threads and themes in these stories.
They should reveal lifelong gifts you’ve had, including passions and values. Perhaps you have always had green fingers and love spending time in the garden. You might have been a dancer and still have poise and grace in all you do. You may not have been a NASA scientist or world-class engineer, but you have always been a problem-solver with a knack for fixing things.
Take a good look in the proverbial mirror and find yourself and the gifts bestowed upon you.
Step two is to create a clear purpose statement with these gifts and talents, abilities, hopes and dreams in mind. Your purpose statement should simply be what helps you get out of bed each morning, energised. If it does that, you have aligned yourself to your purpose in life.
Your purpose statement will capture your essence and you will have to be bold at accepting it, as you yourself have called it. Perhaps you really want to help others but have been afraid to get involved in the trenches or begin something with only a prayer in your pocket. Be brave.
The more effective your purpose statement is, the more it will require your action.
You will undoubtedly live with intent if you live with purpose.
Many people have found that they get up daily with energy, intention, and joy, because they know who they are and what they are meant to do in their lives.
The third, crucial step, the secret, is to envision the impact you will have on your world as a direct result of living your purpose. Actions, rather than just words, are ultimately what matters.
Please read each statement carefully and take a few moments to decide on a true response for yourself. Then write the number that most nearly reflects that response. The answers offer the following range of responses:
___ I wake up energised about the day ahead. ___ I feel good about my life and grateful for what I have. ___ I have taken risks to do things I care about. ___ I have found ways to offer my gifts and talents to the world. ___ I’m excited and hopeful about the future. ___ I don’t have many regrets about things I haven’t done. ___ I go to sleep at night feeling that my day was well lived.
___ Total Having Score
___ Doing things for others is important to me and I make time for it. ___ When I have key decisions to make, I focus on what deeply matters to me and let that be my guide. ___ I enjoy being alone. ___ I know what I’m good at and I use my gifts to make a difference in people’s lives. ___ I have the courage to face my adversities. ___ I’m growing and giving. ___ I maintain a balance of saving and savouring the world.
___ Total Doing Score
___ I sense the presence of a Higher Power. ___ I maintain a consistent spiritual practice. ___ I feel a sense of the sacred when I’m in the natural world. ___ I offer compassion to others readily. ___ I offer forgiveness to others easily. ___ I feel a deep sense of gratitude for my life. ___ I know what I’d like to be remembered for.
___ Total Being Score
___ Total Purpose Checkup score
Interpretation
Having (outer life) – The dimension of your external experience and activity—how effectively you relate to the “having” choices in your life.
Doing (inner life) – The dimension of your internal experience and inner activity—how effectively you relate to the “doing” choices in your life.
Being (spiritual life) – The dimension of your invisible experience and spiritual activity—how effectively you relate to the “being” choices in your life.
Your score in each section is one measure of your development in that dimension. Your total Purpose Checkup score (out of 84) gives a measure of the power of purpose you are experiencing in your life at present.
64 – 84 Yes, living purposefully! You’re clear about what truly matters to you and you’re mattering in the world.
43 – 63 Yes, basically fulfilled! Keep on growing and giving in your life.
22 – 42 Unlocking purpose requires more clarity. The next step: Clarify your gifts, passions, and values.
21 – 0 Living purposefully isn’t reserved for the elite few. So, don’t give up because your score right now is low. The power of purpose process works, if you work the process!
Unlocking Your Purpose
Now that you’ve completed your purpose checkup, use Richard Leider’s Guide to Unlocking Your Purpose to write your personal purpose statement.
