4 Basics To Living a Life of Purpose

I recently responded to an email where the author asked about whether his life still had purpose. From his experience, he believed that following his dreams was pretty useless, and wouldn't impact the world much.

This in turn led him to believe his life now lacked purpose. I figured in light of what I've been preaching and writing lately, my response fitted quite nicely on the Blog. I've edited it to be a bit more general. Enjoy!

And please, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the Comments section or Email them through.

1. Don't Let LIFE Jade Your Perspective of Your Purpose
The experience of life tends to jade us, and the more years we live in this strange world the more jaded we tend to get. It requires some serious focus and determination to keep your life filled with a sense of purpose. But if you are asking questions like "what is the purpose of my life", then deep down, you still long to live a life of purpose.

If you are thinking this way, then you're already in a small percentage of the world's population who long to live a life of purpose. Most people want a life of purpose from a young age, but with age comes the jaded cynicism of a broken society. So thinking this way is already a good path. And one that if you continue on without giving up, is sure to produce a fulfilling reward.

2. Your Dreams and Life's Purpose Are Connected
Dreams and life mission go hand in hand. I believe the dreams of our hearts are directly connected to the purpose of our lives. This isn't to say our dreams stay the same throughout our lives, though. But I firmly believe if we are fulfilling one seemingly small dream, it will lead to another and another, till eventually we have either accomplished many small dreams or find ourselves in the middle of building a big one.

What about you? Right now? Well, many factors will affect where to start. Whether you are married, in a committed relationship, your financial status etc. The less commitment you have to external factors determines how big you can start. This isn't to say such commitments are a bad thing, by no means! They just mean you would have to start a bit smaller before going after the big stuff. That is of course if you have big dreams. Many people don't know how to dream and therefore need to start small in order to "exercise their dreaming muscle".

I know much of this may be extremely cliched, but trust me... It works. I have seen in numerous lives, my own being the closest to home. The biggest cliche being "what do you love?" If you take steps in that direction, how much of an impact you have on the world will eventually follow suit.

If Walt Disney worried about how much cartoons would actually impact the world and make a difference, he may well have trashed that dream in pursuit of something more "impacting", and the world would be without The Lion King and Disney World.

It doesn't matter how much of an impact your life is going to have on the world, if you are doing what you love, you cannot help but impact people's lives and make this world a better place.

3. Start With What You Love - What You're Passionate About
If you had enough money coming into your account every month to support your lifestyle, and access to hefty capital, what would you go out and DO? Now, at first, obviously many people may say "well, I'll stop working! I'll rest. I'll go on a holiday." But eventually, you'll want to DO something. Start writing a book. Start a farm. Open a coffee shop. Start an orphanage. Etc.

What hobby/past-time do you have that when you do it, you feel most alive? Do everything you can to do that thing. Obviously this may be difficult depending on your work/financial situation. But once you have an idea of what "that thing" is, then start making steps in that direction. Do it in your own time. It may require you take a risk and take a loan, or do freelance/consulting work in order to pay the bills while you "build your dreams".

4. Don't Be Afraid To Aim High
Most people don't think of themselves as reaching great heights. But the key to living an impactful life is by aiming high. If you don't aim high, the arrows of your dreams won't travel very far. Big dreams are among the most important ingredients to success.

That's it for now. The rest is up to you.

I hope some of this has awoken the dreams of childhood within once again. And I do hope you take some steps toward living a purposeful life, and leave the spectating to others!

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DREAMS YOU HAD WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER BUT HAVEN'T STEPPED OUT AND TRIED YET?