Finding Your Purpose

Since I’ve graduated, I have had the familiar graduate’s question posed to me multiple times in different ways –

“What are you going to do with your life?”

And a lot of young people don’t know the answer to that question.  Some say that you should follow your dreams and do what you’re passionate about, and some say you should get a nice, safe, secure job no matter what.  And some do kind of a mixture in between.

But let me ask you this:

If you stopped getting paid, would you show up at your job on Monday morning?  Are you so passionate about what you do for a living that you would do it for free?

If not, you may not be living your purpose.

I feel like a lot of people just drift through life, trying to figure out what their purpose is.  They constantly struggle to answer the question, “how do I find my purpose?”

Well, top leadership expert Orrin Woodward says that when your passion, potential, and profits line up, that’s your purpose.

Sounds simple, right?

I made this graph to illustrate:

I have added the career, fantasy, and hobby categories, just to be clear 🙂

Let me explain it a little more.

• Passion – Does it make you cry?
• Profit – Does it make you money?
• Potential – Are you good at it?

Profits + Passion = Fantasy

When you love something and you could make money at it, it’s either a fantasy or a dream that hasn’t been realized.  This is the easiest category to overcome!  All that is required of you is a little bit of effort.  Put in the time to become good at the thing you love and produce a profit with, and it’ll become your purpose.  However, some aren’t willing to work to become skilled, so they stay in that fantasy section.

Profits + Potential = Career

When you have something you can make money at, and you’re good at it, it’s a career.  Another word for this category is “job.”  It’s called a job for a reason – it’s work.  And I know there are people who love their jobs, but I’m talking about the people who don’t love their job.  They dread waking up early and going to work every day.  They lack passion.

Passion + Potential = Hobby

When you have something you love and you’re good at, it’s a hobby or an activity.  These people often have big dreams, but the bills still have to get paid, so their career doesn’t line up with their passion.  Maybe the market is just too competitive for them to rise to the top and make money doing what they love, or maybe it’s impossible to get paid for it.  Either way, you’re stuck wishing you could do what you love, but end up trading time for money for what you need.

Passion + Potential + Profits = Purpose

When you find something you love to do, that you’re good at, and you can make money doing it, you’ve got it.  You’ve found your purpose.

Sure, you’d do it for free in a heartbeat – but the money is needed to fund you so you can KEEP doing what you love, and so you can bless others along the way.  I know many people think that it’s materialistic to pursue money, but is it really materialistic when your heart is in the right place?  Good people do good things with money, and bad people do bad things with money.  The love of money is the root of all evil, but I don’t love money.  I want to get as much of it into the hands of good people as possible, and I want to use money to help others in ways they can’t help themselves.

So, create art and share your story.  Inspire others to do more.

Because when you get all three of these things aligned, you’ll change the world.

You are here for such a time as this.

What are you waiting for?

 

Until next time,

Hope Frances