If you’ve been thinking about your life purpose the first question you may ask yourself is, “why should I even bother finding my purpose?”.

Here’s what I think, we are all here to live on purpose.  Typically we humans don’t really like to undertake activities if there’s not a good reason for doing so.  For example, I doubt you would walk into the middle of a forest and dig a deep hole and fill it back up for no reason.  However, if you were interested in planting trees you might do just that in order to plant a seedling.

I also think that we like to have a context for the activities that we undertake.  For example, if there was no purpose in planting trees you might not be that motivated to spend your time and energy on that task. However, if it was important to you to save the environment, then you might have the motivation and desire to work your butt off planting trees.

It is context that inspires us to do the things we do.  We all have basic needs (food, shelter, connection, etc) and many of us are living within the basic needs context. For example, paying the mortgage is the context that causes us to get up in the morning and go to work.

If you are only operating within the context of meeting basic needs then life is all about survival. I love survival…woohoo, keep surviving!  But I’d like for you to survive and thrive. I think thriving comes from having a different context, one that is outside of basic needs.

The context of basic needs is a limiting; it’s basically focused on survival.  This context is incredibly motivating when you are cold and starving; however, once your warm and your belly is full the motivation can fizzle.

The context of purpose is unlimited. Purpose connects you to your inner fire, passion, and inspiration. Purpose is consistently powerful and motivating. In fact, the more you live with purpose the stronger it gets.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think you should abandon the context of need it’s an important context to hang onto.  What I propose is that you begin to shift your attention from the need context to the purpose context.  The awesome thing about making this shift is that as you being living from the context of purpose, the context of need is naturally taken care of.

Here’s what my transition looked like; first I was 100% focused on need, next I discovered my purpose and each year focused about 20% of my attention on purpose.

Now I’m up to living 95% on purpose and my needs are automatically taken care of.  It wasn’t an over night thing for me and it might not be an overnight thing for you.  But let me tell you a secret.  Even living 20% on purpose is so much better than none at all.

Imagine, if you will, reaching the end of your days and discovering that you spent your entire life working on a project that was draining, boring, and unfullfilling. Blah! Now imagine that you’re given a second chance to go back and do it all over again, but this time you get to spend your life working on a project that makes you feel alive, intrigued, and inspired.  That feeling that you had when you imagined those two situations is the exact reason why I think it’s important to find, and live, your purpose.

If you’re convinced that it’s worth the effort to find your purpose and now you’re ready to take some action here’s a hint: your purpose is lies at the heart of where your deepest passion, your greatest talents, and your life experience connect.

Stay tuned for more…I’m spending the few months creating a process that will breakdown the steps of how to find (and live) your purpose.