The Purpose Of Purpose — The Art Of Aligning Our Inner & Outer Selves
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain
Have you defined your personal purpose?
Finding a strong sense of purpose that is beyond because we are good at the subject or others praise us for it creates that incredible alignment and connection with ourselves, with what we do, and with the world.
Aligning our actions with our purpose and values allows us to achieve higher resilience, potential, motivation, and fulfillment, be authentic, and have a greater feeling of freedom.
It is a hard question to answer that takes time, self-analysis, and courage. Also, there comes a time when we need to redefine our purpose and values.
Join us to discuss:
- What is the importance of purpose?
- How do we set and/or reset the purpose?
- How do we live a purposeful life?
Purpose refers to the overarching reason or motivation behind our actions and the desired outcome we aim to achieve. It answers the question of why we exist or what our ultimate goal is.
Values, on the other hand, represent our fundamental beliefs and principles that guide our behavior and decision-making. They serve as a compass for how we conduct ourselves and the standards we uphold in various aspects of life.
Purpose focuses on the “why” or the ultimate aim, while values address the “how” or the guiding principles and beliefs that shape our actions. Purpose provides direction and meaning, while values serve as the moral and behavioral framework for fulfilling that purpose.
Define your purpose
Questions that help to start defining your purpose:
- What positive change do you want to bring and to whom? What impact would that create in the world?
- Based on your strengths and interests, what would be your role in contributing to the impact you want to create?
- What would you need to focus on to lead your life purposefully?
Edit your purpose statement to one sentence that would feel meaningful and inspiring to you.
Examples:
- Joe’s purpose statement: “To enjoy the process of deep connection, creativity, health, and wealth as a framework to bring focus to what matters most.”
- Adam’s purpose statement: “Being able to serve and being the better version of myself today than I was yesterday.”
- Inga’s purpose statement: “To grow by helping others to grow, breaking limits for the virtuous results.”
Define your values
Create a list of values that not only reflect how you would like to be defined but also serve as a guide to making difficult decisions.
Examples:
- Joe’s values: attentive, curios, simple, love, equilibrium
- Adam’s values: family, health, meaningful work, serving others
- Inga’s values: joy, deep connections, creativity, exploration, no compromises
RESOURCES
- Book: Find Your Why by Simon Sinek
- Book: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
- Book: Personal Socrates: Questions That Will Upgrade Your Life from Legends & World-Class Performers by Marc Champagne
- Book: Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High-Performance Edge by Cindra Kamphoff
- Podcast: https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/cultivating-your-purpose/
- Worksheet: https://brenebrown.com/resources/living-into-our-values/
- Worksheet: Defining your Core Values by Culture Sync
We invite you to join live talks with Olympians and Performance Coaches to explore topics that help us break our limits.
HOSTS
Inga Stasiulionyte, Olympian in javelin throwing, performance coach at Valor Performance, and founder of ofounders.com
Joe Jacobi, Olympic Gold medalist at whitewater slalom, author of “Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, & Bring Focus To What Matters Most,” performance coach at Valor Performance, and founder of joejacobi.com
Adam Hjerpe, Chairperson of the Board for the Special Olympics 2026 USA Games. Bringing over 100,000 people to Minnesota to celebrate the incredible ability of over 7,000 athletes and the inclusion movement.
LIVE TALKS: The Purpose Of Purpose — The Art Of Aligning Our Inner & Outer Selves
Watch the recording here:
TIMESTAMPS
05:00 — What is the purpose of purpose?
- Are we moving closer or further away from our purpose?
- Aligning our inner and outer selves
- The purpose helps us to gather and channel our forces.
- The purpose is a lens we use to see if we align with our values.
- What are our key five values? Do we have a purpose statement? Are we aligned with our values and purpose? Do we take time to reflect and course correct? Are we graceful with ourselves?
- Rediscovering ourselves, it is a never-ending journey.
10:00 — Defining purpose statement
- The purpose statement is always a work in progress.
- The best thing we can do is to begin developing our purpose statement.
- Joe’s purpose statement:
“To enjoy the process of deep connection, creativity, health, and wealth as a framework to bring focus to what matters most.”
- Joe’s values: attentive, curios, simple, love, equilibrium
- Getting ourselves in a position to bring our inner selves out. What environment inspires us to feel real and ourselves?
- Adam’s purpose statement:
“Being able to serve and being the better version of myself today than I was yesterday.”
- Adam’s values: family, health, meaningful work, serving others
- Going through drafts of our purpose statements and different drafts of ourselves
- Advice to younger selves — slow down
- We rediscover our values and purpose when we encounter big problems.
- Inga’s purpose statement:
“To grow by helping others to grow, breaking limits for the virtuous results”
18:00 — What does it mean to reset our values and purpose?
- There is a difference between goal setting and a purpose statement. Our purpose statement defines our destination that we will never reach. It is a compass, a guide to our journey.
- Who chooses our identity? What identity did choose us, and what identity do we choose?
- What do we do when our family expectations conflict with our wishes?
- How can we create more flow states in those conflicting situations?
24:00 — How to live a purposeful life?
- How does it feel when we are aligned or misaligned with our purpose?
- When we connect with our purpose, we experience a sense of slowing down during intense moments, increased focus, clearer vision, heightened presence, and a profound feeling of fulfillment.
- Equilibrium is achieved by balancing gravity and friction. When faced with friction, our goal is not to immediately eliminate it. Instead, we aim to embrace and comprehend how it contributes to the process of setting and resetting our purpose.
29:00 — How can we have the courage to perform at the highest level when faced with a debilitating fear?
- By staying mindful of our true purpose and understanding why we are in a particular situation, we gain valuable perspective and control over how we channel the energy generated by our fears. This allows us to shift our focus towards gratitude for the growth opportunities that lie within those challenges.
- How do we practice when there is nothing on the line?
34:00 — How can a purpose statement help us during challenging situations, particularly during times of transition?
- Maintaining awareness of how we handle ourselves in challenging situations, how can we cultivate the ability to keep looking forward?
“Be prepared, never ready.” Adam Hjerpe
- Being vulnerable and accepting that we may not be ready to face the challenges but knowing that we are prepared to move forward.
- What is our purpose? Why are we really here? What do we really want?
- Giving ourselves the confidence to take the next steps. The past experiences, developed skills, and knowing our purpose prepared us to drive forward to seek new opportunities.
39:00 — What holds us back? What makes us stuck? Why is it so hard to move forward when we are afraid? How can we create more intentional lives for ourselves? What could be the exercises?
- We resist the steps because they feel very big and overwhelming.
- Wearing the purpose lightly, start just trying things on
- Optimizing our performance by prioritizing important tasks when we are well-rested and intentionally selecting environments and timing that align with our peak energy levels, thereby setting ourselves up for success.
- What are we good at? What do we enjoy? What do people tell us we are good at? What does the world need right now?
- When things are going well, it’s important to prepare for difficult times because life is cyclical.
- Acknowledging that bad things suck, giving ourselves grace
- What are we proud of? What are things we want and can get better at? What opportunities can it create for us?
- Taking one step every day, starting small to build momentum
- What if this challenge could be meaningful for us? What would be our part to make this experience valuable and good? What can we control in this challenging experience to become curious and explore more?
50:00 — How has your involvement in the Special Olympics shaped the definition of your purpose?
- Looking for sameness — we are more the same than different
- Thinking about people’s potential instead of focusing on the limits
- Nothing about us is without us. We put our purpose in the center, not in the middle.
- Celebrating these remarkable individuals, who achieved so much despite numerous adversities, and the community they formed
- How can we apply this spirit to our daily actions?
