Make Your Purpose a Part of Your Life

It’s great that, in the previous lessons, you’ve narrowed down your primary reason for living, but how can you use that knowledge?
Knowing something has minimal value if you’re not applying the knowledge. Focus on making small changes to your daily habits to incorporate your life purpose into your life. Slow progress is the most reliable way to create major change in your life.

Let’s suppose your purpose is to help illiterate adults to read:

1. Look to the future. What does the end of your journey look like? Are you sitting at the library, helping someone learn to read? Are you in charge of a charity that serves those unable to read? Are you asking Bill Gates for $10,000,000 to fight for your cause?
2. What can you do today to get started? Starting is always the hardest part. What can you do today?
   • Learn more about illiteracy. What are the statistics? What are the causes? What is the best way to teach an adult to read?
   • What local resources are available? Can you contact them for advice?
     Could you put an ad in Craig’s List and get started helping someone today?
3. Remind yourself of your purpose each day. Each morning and evening, take a minute to remind yourself of your purpose. Look to the future and feel excited. This is especially important on those challenging days that inevitably happen from time to time.
4. Track your progress. Keep a journal and list your successes and failures. How can you experience more successes and prevent future failures? Appreciate how far you’ve come.
5. Spread the word. If you’ve found your purpose in life, it’s your obligation to let the world know about it. How can you communicate the importance of adult illiteracy to the world? You’re not just a worker on this project. You’re also a messenger.

Realize that making a big difference requires big effort and time. Avoid letting the magnitude of your dreams overwhelm you. A little work and attention each day are cumulative. Your progress will shock you.

Making your life purpose a part of your life is part of living authentically. In the next module, you’ll discover many other ways to live an authentic life and even plan a future that you’ll love!

But first, we’ll pause for summary and reflection of this module.

Here’s what you need to do today:

Remind yourself of your purpose each day. On a small card or sticky note, write down your idea of your life purpose. Post this where you’ll see it several times each day, such as on your bathroom mirror or your desk.

If you use your computer often, make a digital sticky note to show up on your desktop with your life purpose.

If you leave for work each day, make a couple of copies of your life purpose and post one at home and one at work.