“Burnout comes from busy-ness plus a lack of meaning, purpose, and efficacy.”
– Courtney Clark

Meet Courtney Clark. Three bouts of cancer and a divorce couldn’t stop this lady from continuing to pursue her dreams, and make a positive impact in other people’s lives.

Courtney is a humorous and incredible professional keynote speaker. In this interview, we cover all sorts of topics such as:

• How to have a possible mindset about resistance and challenges in life.
• How challenges in life can be the fuel to a much bigger and brighter opportunity most of us often miss.
• How resilience has been the foundation to all the amazing results and success she has created in her life.

It’s all in the interview.

However, in this post, I’m going to discuss ONE THING I got out of this interview Courtney, which I believe deserves to be the FOCUS of this blog post.

It totally trumps anything else you can do.

If you want to know what the ONE THING is you can focus on doing right now, it’s this:

Define Your Purpose In Life

You guessed that right!

But defining your purpose sounds airy-fairy right? Because it’s not easy to put in words. It takes introspection. It takes time out of your life, to look at your life and clarify what’s important.

Remember, life first, and everything else you do should be in support of that. Your relationships, business, career … everything.

So, in this post, I’m going to share some 7 simple things you can do to get clearer on your purpose.

Oh! And I forgot to mention something …

If you haven’t already, you also have to read Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. Viktor is an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

In his book, which has become one of the most influential books of the 20th century, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward.

Frankl’s theory is known as logotherapy. Derived from the Greek word logos “meaning”— he asserts that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. Or as Courtney puts in her own way:

“When we have a greater purpose, a meaning, there’s nothing that’s going to stress us out or cause us to burn out or give up as quickly. That’s kind of the fuel in your fire.”

I 100% agree with them both. Here are my 7 tips to help you get clearer on your purpose.

1 – What Energizes You?

When you do what’s important to you, you feel energized.

That’s why many successful people who do more of what they love, find they have more energy at the end of the day than when they started. And they can’t wait to get up in the morning and tackle their day again.   

Look at the activities you do day to day, and rate which ones energize you and which ones deplete your energies.

2 – Who Are The People Who Inspire You?

The very people who we find inspiring reflect that very special something we have in ourselves too.

If you look at all your role models, all the people you look up to, whether that’s in the media, at school, in the books you read, or the films you watch: list out all their names.

Then ask yourself, “What do I find so inspiring about them?” After you write down all the answers, look at the common thread amongst them. This will give you a hint about your purpose.

3 – What Will You Never Compromise On?  

Things that are important to us are like life or death stuff.

For example, mothers will do anything to make sure their kids are safe and so will fathers. If you haven’t already, watch the YouTube Video on: Incredible Moments When Dad Saved the Day

Make sure you watch it.

Once you have, look at the things in your life: what you do, what you have, and the people in it.

Then make a list of the things (beyond just safety and survival needs) that you would never sacrifice.

For me, one of them is family. I always make time for family not matter how busy business gets. I make sure I spend time with my wife and my kids.

4 – Before You Die, What Do You Want to Have Achieved?

Death is a great friend most of us never said hi to. Imagine reaching the end of your life, the moment when you are about to take your last breath. Get there.

Now pause for a moment. And in that moment, look back at your life:

• What mattered most?
• What didn’t
• What did you wish you did do but never got around to doing?

Your answers can shine light on your purpose.

5. What Can You Talk About For Hours and Hours On End?

Notice when someone is excited or enthusiastic about something, they have a sparkle in their eyes, and they can’t stop talking about it?

If you ask a basketball lover about basketball, he or she will talk about it for days on end. Similarly, if you were to have a conversation about finance and investing, Warren Buffet could probably talk about it for a century!

It’s the same thing with things that are aligned with your purpose. You study them. You are informed. And you can talk about that subject matter with ease.

For this exercise, write down the subject matters you can talk about with ease and excitement.

6. What Items Do You Always Keep Close to You?

I had a musician friend who carried his guitar with him everywhere he went. Most of the time, he didn’t have the time to play it because he was in a crowded place. But he always had it there just in case.

When I asked him why, he said, “Because I’m always looking to jump on the first opportunity to express my music. And I don’t know when that’s going to come. I just make sure I’m as ready for it when it does.”

Things that are important to us, that are aligned with our life’s purpose, are things we think about all the time, and we plan for ahead of time. And often, we always carry instruments that facilitate our life’s purpose all the time.

What’s that for you? Is it a pen and paper? Is it a musical instrument? Is it your camera? A surfboard? Take a log of all those things. They reveal a lot about your life’s purpose.

7. If Money Weren’t An Issue, What Would You Do?

This is common. Lots of people use money as an excuse for not being able to live out their purpose. Then if you want to find out what your purpose is, reverse it.

Imagine you had all the money in the world, what would you do? And be as specific as possible with your answer.

I hope this post has been helpful for you! And …

I’m really looking forward to finding out what you discovered about your purpose and your life!

Feel free to PM me on Facebook with your answers! 😊

Goodbye for now.

Choose Gratitude Create Freedom

Steve Napolitan