Discovering your sense of purpose

Many people search for greater confidence, direction, or fulfilment in life without fully understanding what is missing. Often, the answer lies in discovering a deeper sense of purpose. When we understand our values, beliefs, and what truly matters to us, we create a stronger foundation for confidence, self-belief, and personal happiness. Living in alignment with who we really are can transform not only how we feel about ourselves, but also how we approach our relationships, careers, and future goals.

It’s summer and barbecue time!

While I was at a barbecue celebrating my niece’s one-and-a-half birthday, I found myself deep in conversation with another guest, Karen, about our respective professions.

It turned out she is a psychologist with a healthy scepticism for coaches, due to the ever-expanding number of people setting themselves up as coaches without any training in the profession at all.

Yet, she was pleasantly surprised by my approach to coaching, which she said resonated strongly with her.

Why purpose matters

Many clients who come to me for coaching don’t have a very specific issue to address, but rather broader questions around building confidence, developing leadership and managing their career.

I encourage them to spend time working in our early sessions, and to reflect between sessions, on their values, beliefs and purpose.

They find this approach pays dividends in achieving their more intangible goals, like knowing what they want to do and being more confident.

Why?

Because a sense of purpose and knowing your values and beliefs brings:

• Personal meaning
• A sense of being
• Knowing who you are and what is important to you
• A sense of harmony, peace and well-being when living in alignment with your core values
• A feeling of direction and energy
• Being true to yourself
• Respecting yourself
• Self-belief, self-confidence and self-esteem built honestly on evidence and personal achievement

The importance of meaning in life

Having a sense of purpose can make a real difference to the way we feel about ourselves and how we live our lives.

Karen reminded me of Frankl, an Austrian psychologist who survived the Holocaust and helped other inmates in concentration camps during the Second World War.

He noticed that survivors of these terrible places were often those people who felt a sense of purpose.

For some, it was love for children or a wife that gave them a meaning to cling to, or a talent to be used, or perhaps lingering memories they felt worth preserving.

The people who felt they had nothing to live for died quickest.

The people who felt a sense of purpose found meaning even in these most miserable conditions and survived.

Unlocking your potential through purpose

Most of us now are fortunate; we live in incredibly good conditions in comparison, yet we still feel stress, a lack of direction or confidence.

Taking time to discover our sense of purpose can help us release our full potential, turn our dreams into reality and be who we want to be.

Life coaching is a fabulous way to discover your personal purpose with the support and challenge of your own coach, whose focus is all about you getting the best for you.