Purpose = Passion
Have you ever woke up feeling like you can’t wait until the day was over?
Jumped into the car and leaned your elbow on the door and your head into your hand?
The day had only just begun and already you were over it. If you have, well, that makes you normal because we all have! What if I told you that there was a way to wake up every morning like you did on Christmas Day when you were 8? I’d be willing to bet that you and everyone else alive would take it. Good news, there is! Unlocking a life where each moment is exciting is actually simple, it’s just not easy. Find your purpose.
The Purpose Formula
At some point in all of our lives (especially during our teenage years!), we have asked ourselves, “why am I doing this?” Usually the reason we asked this question is because the task at hand seemed mundane, monotonous and mostly useless. I bet we had no idea that the question we asked ourselves was actually the most important question we will ever answer! Understanding your purpose is the sure fire way to unlock passion. Passion helps us with the preparation that is necessary to be great at whatever we do. Preparation is the key to elevate and maximize our performance.
Performance Pathway
Purpose → Passion → Preparation → Performance
You may be thinking, “this is great information and all, but how do I find the purpose to set this pathway in motion?” Purpose is much easier to find than most people think. It doesn’t require rocket science and may evolve over time as you learn more about yourself, but to start use this formula:
What you are naturally good at + What you are naturally passionate about + How the combination can be used to make others lives better = Your Purpose
One of the most important parts of this formula is believing and buying into what Jackie Robinson said best:
“A life is not worth living except in the service of others”.
If you start to think a little less about yourself and a little more about how your attitude, words and actions are impacting those around you, the stakes get much higher and therefore take on more meaning! It’s a beautiful discovery because it means that everyday that you wake up matters!
Now let’s get started.
Think of the things you are naturally good at. We all are drawn to things that we can succeed at, so what are yours? Maybe you are incredibly intelligent or have a great eye for taking a breathtaking photograph. Maybe you can stand up in front of people and speak with eloquence and confidence or maybe you can make the best chicken parmesan in the county. Whatever those things that you are naturally skilled at, write them down. Make a list.
The next part is important and needs to be done with complete authenticity! Start to cross out things that you are good at but you don’t care about. These things are great, but they won’t withstand adversity. You won’t stick to them when things get tough. You have to find something that sparks emotion in that list and believe me, if you look hard enough, it is definitely there. No one is on this earth by accident. Everyone was gifted in certain ways to help the collective. The evidence of this truth is all around us. Look at the world and civilization that we have created together — you have a unique role in the continuing, even bettering, of it!
Once you find the unique gift you posses that you simultaneously care about infinitely, the last piece to the puzzle is creatively finding a way to use this to make those lives around you better. This can seem tough on the surface, but just think about how using that gift could make your best friend’s life easier or more enjoyable. Start small because success is in the little things. If your gift can impact your best friend, chances are, it can impact others, too!
Putting Purpose Into Action: Opportunity vs Obligation
Now that you have an idea as to how to find your purpose, the next step is to train your mind to truly find that purpose in every single action, every thought, every moment. Remember what we mentioned before about waking up and already wanting the day to be over? The only reason you thought that was because you have trained your brain to think in those terms. We all categorize tasks as either purposeful (opportunity) or useless (obligation) and once we are set on those categories our brain no longer questions them. It is time to rewire the brain, reboot the hard drive, hit “select all tasks” and “mark as purposeful!”
Try this exercise.
Before you go to bed, make a list of everything that you are responsible for the next day. After you have made the list, go back and think of a way that each task you are responsible for can be used to serve your purpose. This will begin as an exercise, but if you do it enough, will become a way of life!
This is an example of how I do this in my life:
Responsibilities
Purpose of Each
5 am: Wakeup
A chance to change people’s lives!
Morning routine
Build the habit of being productive!
Make bed
Clean house
Make my wife happy and win the small tasks that will snowball myself into winning the big ones!
Read my bible
Reset my mind to think about others instead of myself! Challenge my perspective and learn!
5:15 am: Workout
Use my functioning, healthy body to practice what I preach!
7 am: Performance Course Baseball Team Training
Mold athletes to strengthen themselves physically, sharpen themselves mentally, change lives!
9 am: Team Meeting with Performance Course Leadership
Embody the submission to authority I ask of my athletes, being attentive, learning and growing!
10 am: Meeting with Head Football Coach
Ensure that I am serving the athletes I work with in line with what the leader of their program expects!
12 pm: Lunch
A chance to fuel my body to meet the energy needs of this day. I am what I eat!
12:30 pm: Prioritize communication: respond to emails, text/call people back.
Show people that they matter and that their relationship is important to me, to be able to love others!
1:00 pm: Performance Course To Do List:
Send Head Girls Basketball Coach Offseason Template
Set up Presentation with Football for Summer PC
Check website to ensure all programs details are correct
Keep myself on task and up to date with all the little things that can slip between the cracks. I ask it of my athletes, here is my chance to do this!
2:30 pm: Present to Middle School 8th grade athletics about Summer PC
Shape the minds of young people to choose hard work over the easy way! If just one person is impacted and learns that life will not be handed to them and their success, just like their character, is earned, then it will be worth every breath!
3:30 pm: Performance Course Softball Team Training
Mold athletes to strengthen themselves physically, sharpen themselves mentally, change lives!
5:30 pm: Prioritize communication: respond to emails, text/call people back.
Show people that they matter and that their relationship is important to me, to be able to love others!
7 pm: Dinner with Wife / Family Time
Chance to show my wife how much I love her and make her feel cared for!
8 pm: Phones off
Get away from the distractions and be completely present in the time I get to spend with my wife!
9 pm : Sleep
A chance to recharge and refuel so that I can attack tomorrow with energy! I need energy to match my opportunities tomorrow! People are counting on me!
Obligation = I have to
Opportunity = I get to
You didn’t wake up on Christmas morning at 8 years old psyched out of your mind because you had to open presents. You were fired up because you got to! There are no “obligations” in life with the right purposeful mindset.
There is no reason to dread the day or any of your responsibilities if they have purpose! Life becomes inexplicably exciting every moment when it is filled with meaning; when everything matters. This is attainable for every person with a pulse.
Finding your purpose may take you time. It may not come quickly, but it is so worth it. Training your brain can be exhausting. It is true what they say, old habits die hard. You owe it to yourself, however, to utilize the one life you have, to not waste one single day or take one for granted. Living a purpose-filled life is infectious, it will impact everyone around you not the least of which is yourself. So get started, because after all… you get to!!
