“What’s the point? My marriage has failed, I am looking old, I’m depressed, and there’s just nothing worth living for anymore.”
I listened with compassion, and leaned toward her as I asked gently: “Do you know the purpose of your life? Because that is the point.”
Her lip quivered and tears began to flow as she said: “I guess that’s the problem. I have no purpose here.”
I felt her despair, and knew that I could help her. Because I knew the answer was in finding her purpose.
It’s not an unusual interaction in my office. Males, females. Teens, senior citizens. The wealthy, those barely getting by. Painters, C level executives.
They all express it differently, but they all have one thing in common: They don’t know their purpose, and they want to believe that there is more…
And they are correct! There is more. And the “more” is found in our life’s purpose.
What is purpose? It has been defined as:
- The reason that something is created
- The recognition that you are alive for a reason
- The reason you get up in the morning
- The reason you exist.
- Living intentionally and becoming the best you were created to be
- The insatiable desire to share the gifts that are in you for the good of yourself, others and the world
- It’s something that when you discover it, you become more then you could’ve ever become otherwise
I love what is written in the 21st-century edition of James Allen’s “As A Man Thinketh:”
“Too often, we allow our thoughts to drift aimlessly on the seasons of life; purpose powers them to a desiree destination. Those who lack a central purpose in life fall prey to worries, fears, and petty troubles, and end up stuck.
Conceive a central purpose for your life and set out to accomplish it. Whatever it is, make it the focal point of your thoughts. Dedicate yourself to its realization.
Thought becomes powerful as it is focused and concentrated. Allied with purpose, your every thought is energized, giving you the courage to face and overcome any obstacle. Purpose driven thought is a creative force.“
About 20 years ago, it seemed that the word “purpose“ was everywhere! I’d begun studying it, and reading everything I could find written about it.
I used it to great success with my clients on many fronts. However, I heard the same question repeatedly: “How do I find my purpose? Or know what it is?“
Sad to say, I could not answer the question. I didn’t even know exactly what my purpose was, but I knew in general. I was trying my best to not just live it, but live it powerfully.
But this thought plagued me: “How can I help other people find their purpose if I didn’t really know mine?” Interestingly enough, I saw the power of the general concept of “purpose“ long before I got some creative downloads about how to help other people identify theirs.
Shortly after I developed steps and a process from my creative download, I got the opportunity to create a workshop around it. I named it simply: “The Power of Purpose.“
Just this week I received an email message from dear friends in Minnesota…
“It absolutely made me smile and brought tar to my eyes when I saw that you were doing the Power of Purpose again! Our time in the Power of Purpose gets brought up occasionally! And I think about it in my own internal movies in various ways. The little snapshots I remember. A space where you are so in your element … As you often are! Have a wonderful time.”
What I so loved about this email (other than the sender who is an awesome wellness advocate) was that I believe it was almost 20 years ago when she attended it!
Purpose. Yes, it’s powerful! Yes! You can know yours. But before you know it, I’m a big believer in knowing your “why” and getting a “fire in your belly.” That’s why I begin my Power of Purpose workshop with the reasons you simply MUST find and live your purpose.
This week, I’d like to share seven of them with you:
1. It installs and amplifies hope.
Recently I wrote about the seven things that I knew to be true, and one of those was: “ There is always hope!” I received multiple messages over the following week asking me what I had seen or experienced that made me believe that was true.
One of my responses is that when people find and live their purpose, no matter the depth of their state, they find hope.
I received this evaluation from a beautiful, creative, and very smart young woman a year after finding attending and finding her purpose in The Power of Purpose:
“I’ve struggled with feeling hopeless since I was a little girl. I had prayed for hope; I had read everything I could find about hope; I even watched hopeful movies, just to see if a hope message might infiltrate me. Nothing seemed to influence my hopelessness for more than five minutes.
I came to the Power of Purpose because a friend of mine (who had attended) talked about how it helped her to hope again.
At the beginning of the day, I heard Dr. Neecie say that purpose provided hope. I had no hope that her statement was true. But in the very first exercise, something awakened in me.
By the time the second exercise came after lunch, I realized I still had a nugget of hope from the first one exercise hours before. I would say the nugget of hope turned into a pot of gold nuggets by the end of the second exercise.
Then by the end of the third exercise, I felt like there was a pot of gold nuggets on each side of me and a beautiful rainbow arching over me. For the first time in my life I had been hopeful four and almost 10 hours.
After my ‘breakthrough’ exercise, and having my personalized blueprint for success to move forward with my purpose in hand, I have to admit … I wondered if it would still be with me the next day.
I waited a year before submitting my evaluation to see what I might have to say about hopelessness a year later. In all honesty, I have nothing to say about hopelessness, because it truly evaporated on that purpose filled day! I live with hope as I step passionately into my purpose every day!”
Finding your purpose, and walking in it, definitely provides hope. Do you know yours? Are you walking in it? Powerfully and passionately? It will definitely demolish hopelessness!
2. It significantly reduces anxiety and depression.
I am aware how real anxiety and depression is. Not only did I successfully fight my battle with both of them, but I have helped clients for years do the same.
When I launched my private practice, Prozac and Xanax were en vogue. Although I’m certainly not opposed to medication to jumpstart our systems, I was concerned. I noticed that I rarely saw passion or a rich quality of life for people on those medications. Certainly they helped in some ways, but I believe there had to be a better way.
The program was certainly not designed to address depression and anxiety, but my feedback forms often had comments addressing relief from one or both.
I began collecting pre and post quality of life surveys from participants, and saw incredible results of improvements in depression and anxiety levels prior to and after the Power of Purpose.
As I begin speaking of it, many therapists, as well as family and friends of depressed and anxious people would be referred to my program. Now there’s actual scientific research that shows that knowing and living one’s purpose does indeed relieve depression and anxiety.
If you or anyone you know and love struggles with it, I hope you will point them to finding their purpose!
3. It provides powerful focus.
Early in my practice, because of my own struggle with ADD/ADHD, I was always looking for something beyond medication that might help me focus.
I had already read Al Reis’ book “Focus“ and began reading his focus quote daily:
“The sun is a powerful source of energy. Every hour the sun washes the earth with billions of kilowatts of energy. Yet with a hat and some sunscreen you can bathe in the light of the sun for hours at a time with few ill effects.
A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light. But with a laser you can drill a hole in a diamond or wipe out a cancer.”
One of my highlights of Mastery University was hearing and meeting Al Reis. Although I had already been familiar with his work, I became deeply committed to laser focus!
Previously, focus on almost anything was a tedious and seemingly impossible task. But as I was beginning to read about purpose, identify mine, and use creative downloads to put a process together, I found focus becoming easier. And after Mastery University, my office began calling me the “queen of laser focus.”
I mentioned that fact in regards to my own struggle with ADD/ADHD in one of my Power of Purpose workshops, where focus is a key topic. There happened to be a physician attending who was conducting research on ADD/ADHD. He asked if he could send a number of ADD/ADHD people through my program to test my theory. Over the course of the next few years, although I never knew who they were, apparently he sent hundreds of those diagnosed to attend.
Because of being able to reduce ADD/ADHD medication 50% or more, and titrate others off completely, he adopted my process into his clinics across a five state region.
Whether you have ADD/ADHD or not, finding your purpose will provide laser focus, multiplying your time back to you, and accomplishing greater things than you ever imagined due to the power of focus. Al Reis was right on!
You can become laser focused!
4. It inspires self-motivation.
I’ve been motivating people since I was a little girl. I grew up across the street from a huge multi acre park. When they would mow the grass that was sometimes 3 feet deep before they began mowing, there were rows of hay. I motivated the kids I played with to build fancy forts using the hay.
When we would raise money for our band every year, we sold live greenery for the holidays. I rounded up my band friends and motivated them to go with me to a neighboring city that had many wealthy people living in what we called “rich” neighborhoods. (In our minds they were rich because they had paved streets and sidewalks!) We raised thousands of dollars for our band.
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me when people call The Power of Purpose a “motivational seminar.“ However, I only motivate people for one reason in the seminar. I motivate them, as I hope I am motivating you, to find their purpose.
For people who are unmotivated, purpose provides that motivation. For people who are already motivated, it provides a super power of motivation.
I say that, because I have pretty much always been motivated. But the super power of motivation that came to me once I found my purpose has motivated me to do amazing things that I would have never done otherwise.
Need motivation? Or need more motivation? Your purpose is the answer!
5. It awakens passion within you.
We all at one time had passion. But trauma, challenges, poor programming, disappointments and heartbreak put a shadow on our passion. Or sometimes hides it totally under a bushel!
People never come to me and say they’ve lost their passion. They say things like this, which might be true for you too:
- I’ve lost my edge
- I guess I’m just getting old
- I’m not as productive as I used to be
- Things that used to interest me are just dull now
- I find myself bored a lot
- I don’t seem to have any energy (or as much as I once had)
- Is this all there is to life?
All that means is that people have lost their passion.
Purpose reignites your passion. For some people their passion was covered up earlier than they can remember. So they think they’ve always been that way. Sad to say, they don’t even know what they’re missing. They see it in others and wonder…
Whether you watched yours fade, or whether you never knew it existed, finding your purpose is like throwing a match on fire starter drenched stack of wood!
What does that kind of passion look like?
- Someone ready to bounce out of bed every morning
- Someone looking for ways to serve all day long
- Someone with a big smile and bounce in their step
- Someone living an extraordinary life
- Someone who sleeps like a baby all night long! (More on that in the next point).
No matter your age, no matter your education level, no matter your income, no matter your cultural background, no matter your successes, no matter your failures… You can live purposefully with great passion! Find your purpose and set it on fire!
6. It provides more restful sleep.
I get new clients regularly with sleep disorders. Whether they want to sleep all the time, or they have terrible insomnia, or they have sleep apnea, or they worry all night… One of the quality of life changes that we have noted from participants in the Power of Purpose, is that their sleep ability and quality improves dramatically.
Less sleep required for those who sleep all the time, more hours and quality of sleep for those with insomnia, it appears that the all night worrying sessions disappear. Of course, if you have sleep apnea use your machine! But even they report greater quality of sleep both by their reports, and the report of their machines.
Use sleeping pills if you must temporarily. However, most people find they do not need them once they find and live their purpose powerfully and passionately!
Who doesn’t want to sleep like a baby? Finding and living purpose will do that for you!
7. It provides the fulfillment of knowing that you can and will leave a lasting legacy, giving great meaning to every day of your life.
For years now, we have been studying the job complaints of employees, managers, supervisors and C level executives.
Of course you would expect we would hear things such as:
- Not enough pay
- Demanding management
- Too much stress
- No outdoor views
- Coworkers not doing their share of the work
Although all of those showed up down the list, the overwhelming number one dissatisfaction at all levels was: their work had no meaning.
Later studies moved employees to what they defined as meaningful work, and their productivity increased dramatically.
Why is this? Because every single one of us wants to do something that has meaning. We want to contribute something, be a part of something that is making a difference, and hoping it might leave some sort of legacy to our family, our church, our community, or our world.
Finding and living our purpose adds that fulfillment. And .. it doesn’t always require a job change. Recently I spoke with someone who had been through the Power of Purpose when we ran into each other at Target. He said, “You said one thing in your closing remarks that was a game changer for me. You said that it did not always mean that we needed to change careers. But we could change the way we view our career, as the way we are financing our purpose. I still have my J – O – B in high tech. But I think of it as a vehicle for funding the tech classes that I teach at the homeless shelter. I love my work now, and every weekend, I am helping people who hit upon misfortunate become relevant to the job market.
Through the years, I would say that over half of my Life Coaching Institute graduates came into the program because they wanted a career that provided more meaning to their life, and increased their ability to leave a lasting legacy for many people, and therefore many families. Whether they graduated as a Business Coach, Life Coach, Relationship Coach, Health Coach, Executive Coach … They did so to multiply extraordinary living into individuals, families, businesses, and communities. And of course, we all hope to leave something to the world.
Finding and living your purpose powerfully and passionately adds meaning to your life immediately, and it also provides a path forward to leave a lasting legacy.
Sometimes things like “purpose“ are a fad concept. They come along, people grasp it, and move onto the next fad.
I’m all about any feds that help us grow and become better human being. But I believe the core foundation of all of our growth is to know and live our purpose powerfully and passionately.
What about you? What is your purpose? If you don’t know, find a way to discover it and launch into it. You can read books, attend seminars like The Power of Purpose or speak to a Mentor or Coach.
Take one immediate action steps today to move toward your purpose! You were created to leave a lasting legacy whether it’s to your children, or to the world!!
*******
I read your article carefully, it helped me a lot, I hope to see more related articles in the future. thanks for sharing.