Your Purpose is Greater than your Why

Wait, what?!

Yes, friend! Your purpose is more than why you are here, it’s also how you intend to fulfill why you are here.

Your mission statement is how you articulate your purpose and make it real.

Your purpose gets you out of bed in the morning, your mission statement is what keeps you moving in the right direction, once you are up.

Businesses, organizations and communities have mission statements, and so should individuals.

A mission statement is a core and critical component of success in any being (business or human). Your mission statement is what powers, drives and grounds you. It’s how you make your intent clear to the world, how you keep yourself accountable, and a great part of how you are able to fulfill yourself in this life.

But without being clear on the full extent of your purpose, it’s impossible to develop an effective mission statement.

Before I dug deep and did the work, I thought that my purpose and my mission was to positively connect with every being that I encountered. I knew that I wanted my every interaction to leave people feeling better than before I interacted with them. But, I really didn’t know why. And, other than being kind to others, I really didn’t know how. There was no solid connection between my positive encounters with others and what that meant I was supposed to be doing with my life. You can be kind while doing anything at all (and I firmly believe that we should always be kind, by the way).

And so I thought, for far too long, that if I am here to be kind and make people feel good, then I could keep working the same job that didn’t bring me joy, indefinitely. I could spread positivity AND continue down a lifepath that wasn’t necessarily feeding my soul. Essentially, if I accepted this as my purpose in life, I could settle into anything and still fulfill it.

But was I fulfilled?

No, I wasn’t.

At some point, I answered some deeper questions. I worked with a coach (BIG thanks Janne Robinson). And together, we developed my mission statement:

Marie’s life work is to inspire people to touch the wisdom of their soul.

To do this, we got to the bottom of why I wanted to be kind and make people feel good. We dug into my values and learned what exactly it is that brings me joy, that gets me out of bed in the morning, that inspires me, and the things that I live for. We linked all of these with how I want to impact the world, how I show up and what I’m good at. Only after all of that, we determined the products/services/offerings that I would (intentionally) offer to the world through my mission.

My life’s work is to inspire people to touch the wisdom of their soul. This is my mission.

I inspire people to touch the wisdom of their soul by living authentically and openly sharing my lived experience. This is how I live my mission.

My offerings include writing, coaching, psychic readings, and retreats. This is what I do to fulfill my mission and impact the world.

Without understanding why I’m here, how I express this, AND what I can give to the world — I can’t say that I would have any meaningful direction or success.

Your purpose is greater than your why. Once you know why you are here, how you express this and what you can do to fulfill it, you not only have a clear purpose but also a roadmap for a fulfilling and successful life.

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Big thanks to Janne Robinson for walking me through this, and to Simon Sinek for creating the foundation in his work, Start with Why.