What’s your life purpose? The journey starts here

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." - Eleanor Roosevelt.

Values, goals, actions

Periods of change or uncertainty can sometimes get us thinking about our life purpose and what we really want from life.

So what is ‘life purpose’? It can mean different things to different people. One way of thinking about it is as the reason to get up in the morning. It involves being aware of what motivates you, what you love to do and experience, the values you espouse and living by your values and passions, so giving meaning to the life you live. It is this life purpose that can help you shape your goals for the now and the future. Once your goals are clearer, you can begin developing plans and taking action towards them.

MOT your life

"Goal and life purpose are not the same. Your life purpose is the reason for doing what gets you up in the morning; the goal is the tangible end product." (Lucy Seifert)

The first step is to take an MOT of your life, a self-assessment of where you are now. It will show you where life is positive and what’s missing.

Give each area of your life a satisfaction number from one to 10, with one being low and 10 being high.

Career

• profession/trade
• role
• employed or self-employed

Learning

• education
• qualifications
• skills

Relationships

• with friends
• with family
• at work

Health

• general health
• fitness
• rest and wellbeing

Money

• income
• savings/investments
• potential

Where you live

• the place where you live (flat, house, boat, etc)
• the area where you live
• owning or renting

Time

• for you
• with others

Interests or hobbies

• hobbies and activities you enjoy
• creative interests
• time for fun and enjoyment
• opportunities to try something new

Contribution or volunteering

• helping others
• community involvement
• causes that matter to you

Other

• spirituality or faith
• personal growth
• sense of purpose
• anything else important to you that isn't covered above

Your values

Keep note of the areas where you score highly and where you score low and the reasons you feel as you do about each. What makes you happy, what deters you? What do you find easy? What do you dream about? Your answers may offer clues about the values that are particularly important to you. Here are diverse values to trigger recognition of what truly matters to you.

• achievement, adventure, aesthetics, ambition, autonomy
• beauty, culture, diversity, internationalism
• caring, community, collaboration, contribution
• calm, challenge, celebrity, compassion, commitment, creativity
• empowerment, environment, excellence, excitement
• generosity, gratitude, fairness, freedom, friendship, fun
• happiness, honesty, inclusion, integrity, internationalism, justice, kindness
• leadership, learning, love – to love, to be loved, loyalty
• open-mindedness, positivity, recognition, respect
  security, self-care, spirituality, stability, status, strength, success, sustainability
  what else?

How can you live your values?

Values can be incorporated into many areas of your life. Values can be intrinsic to both individuals and organisations. You can see this in the mission and values statements on company websites.

Organisations may also express their values through the causes they support, the way they treat employees and customers, or the commitments they make to their communities.

You may live your values through your choice of career, for example, the way you are with family and friends and how you relate to colleagues or customers/clients. You may realise them through your hobbies and interests. You might decide to volunteer. Where values are lacking in one area of your life, you might enhance them through another.

Suppose you are unhappy in your current role or career, or that you don’t feel driven by it. Consider how you might bring balance and motivation to your life by putting your energies into something important for you outside of your working hours. For example, if protecting the environment is important, you might take part in a relevant project. If you’re concerned about the impact on people locally, you might become involved with a food bank or another community initiative.

Moving forward

Considering together your values and how you rate each area of your life can help you think about the goals that matter to you.

1. Look at the areas in your MOT where you score low and set goals to raise the bar.
2. Review the areas where you score highly: decide what, if any, additional goals to set here.
3. Consider the values you espouse: how will they affect the goals you’ve set? What other goals are important for you?

Goals can be simple: a single step, through to complex and long-term involving many steps. If you have many goals, prioritise the areas you want to work on, choosing three to start with. Making them manageable is motivating. Then identify the actions to achieve them … and carry them through!

Taking time to look at where you are now, what matters to you and what you'd like to change can build greater self-awareness and help you picture what you want your future to look like.

Your life purpose doesn't necessarily need to be one grand destination. It can be reflected in the values you choose to live by, the goals you work towards and the actions you take along the way.