Jan 09, 2017 / Purpose

The thing of the week is Purpose.

First things first. What is a purpose? From whatever little I’ve read and understood, purpose is that thing, that unique thing that you’ve been created to do. That one thing could be being a pawn in someone’s chess battle. And that one thing could be to be the supreme ruler of the Universe. And everything in between. For some, it could be selling soaps (or the more famous variant, sugared water). For some, it could be sending these long emails that no one reads. And for some, it could be being a role model for others to follow — think of all the people that inspire you. Tony Robbins if you will ;P

Also, purpose is NOT your job (actually, it could be — if you are lucky). Purpose is NOT what you are paid to do (it could be, if you are lucky). Purpose is your epitaph. Here lies a woman / man who ______. What you fill in here is your purpose. Examples. Here lies a man who lived on his terms and changed the way we interact with computers and telecommunications. Or, here lies a man who helped a country get independence by using simple language. Etc etc.

So, what is your purpose? What is that you want to consume your life with? Why are you here? What is the grand purpose of your life? The keyword is you. Your.

Second, how to you find your purpose? Assuming you want to find it. I am not sure. I have tried so hard to work on it and I have failed everytime. Two things have come close to helping me. One is a TED talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M.

In the talk, the guy asks 5 questions.

1. Who you are?
2. What do you LOVE to do? There is more. See the TED talk.
3. Who you do it for?
4. What do they want / need?
5. How do they change or transform as a result of interaction with you?

These are simple questions and yet super tough to answer. Have seen this talk a thousand times and I havent been able to answer these myself. May be this helps you?

The other way to look at it is by dividing things in 4 quadrants. See this pic.

So, its a simple intersection of what do you love? what are you good at? what does the world need and pay for? The love bit and the pay bit are most important in my understanding. Love because not every day will be rosy. So you till have to love it to be able to do the grind. Pay because I believe that the impact that you have in life is best measured by the money you make — every thing else is useless — awards, recognition etc. So, love and pay.

Look at me. I manage events. Am I good at it? Damn good. Does the world need it? Yes. Do they pay? Yes, but reluctantly. Do I love it? Hell yes! So may be, my purpose is to manage events. But then, do I like the daily grind? Attempt at building a team and all that? No! If I dont, is events my purpose? May be it is to entertain? And events is the route I am taking? May be. Sounds like a plan! Lemme work on it and lets see how it goes from here on.

Apart from this purpose-full email, the other thing that I read and found fascinating and insightful and scary and eye-opening is this 3-min read. Here. https://m.signalvnoise.com/whats-an-hour-d5966ee5ad7d#.o5uw6kpgl

So yeah, thats it for the Purpose battle. Do these two things and see if it enlightens you. Hope it does. Like always, please share your thoughts and do tell me if I could be of any help. See you guys next week.

P.S.: Dont want these emails? Please tell me and I will remove you. No hard feelings.