17 Questions to Help You in Discovering Your Life’s Purpose

If you want to experience inner peace and ultimate fulfillment in life, it's critical that you discover your purpose. Without a purpose as the compass to guide you, your goals and action plans may not ultimately fulfill you.

Identifying, acknowledging, and honoring this purpose is perhaps the most important action successful people take. For some of us, our purpose and passions are obvious and clear. For other people, though, it's not as easy to identify.

I believe that everyone has a purpose inside of them, and our job is to discover and fulfill that purpose. In my own life, I've met a lot of people who don't know their purpose. You know what? They don't know because they think it has to be some big thing so they are not keyed in.

The following are a list of questions that can assist you in finding your purpose. They are meant as a guide to help you get into a frame of mind that will be conducive to defining your personal mission.

1. What makes you smile? (Activities, people, events, hobbies, projects, etc.)

2. What are your favorite things to do in the past? What about now?

3. What activities make you lose track of time?

4. What makes you feel great about yourself?

5. Who inspires you most? (Anyone you know or do not know. Family, friends, authors, artists, leaders, etc.) Which qualities inspire you, in each person?

6. What are you naturally good at? (Skills, abilities, gifts etc.)

7. What do people typically ask you for help in?

8. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?

9. What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?

10. You are now 90 years old, sitting on a rocking chair outside your porch; you can feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face. You are blissful and happy, and are pleased with the wonderful life you’ve been blessed with. Looking back at your life and all that you’ve achieved and acquired, all the relationships you’ve developed; what matters to you most? List them out.

11. What are your deepest values? and prioritize the words in order of importance to you.

12. What were some challenges, difficulties and hardships you’ve overcome or are in the process of overcoming? How did you do it?

13. What causes do you strongly believe in? Connect with?

14. If you could get a message across to a large group of people. Who would those people be? What would your message be?

15. Given your talents, passions and values. How could you use these resources to serve, to help, to contribute? ( to people, beings, causes, organization, environment, planet, etc.)

16. What’s God’s plan for your life?

17. What would you do if you knew you were going to die in 3 months' time.What would be the last thing that you would do?

18. What would you do if money and fear were not a factor?

Remember, you were born in this world for a reason; and your real job is to figure out "Why am I here?" and fulfill that purpose.  

What questions can you add to the above list. Please share in the comments' section below. 

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How To See Challenges As Opportunities

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal  or greater benefit.”~ Napoleon Hill

 Are you a person who loves challenges, or hates them? I must admit I've spent most of my life as a person who hates them. I always thought of challenges as frustrating, maddening obstacles keeping me from where I want to be. I even used to take them personally, feeling like the world is against me :(  In fact, I used to tell people years ago "I have challenges"; but now I don't do that anymore. As I grow older and (hopefully) wiser - I find my tenacious nature rising up to meet these challenges, and I'm learning to see them differently. I alwayssay now "I have opportunities to grow". Whenever something happens in my life that Ididn't expect or can't control, my thought patterns are "This is an opportunity for me to test some untapped abilities to use some skills I never used before; and this has come to draw on hidden potentials in me that I never had the chance to use."

                                         Change Your Entire Beliefs About What  Challenges  Are

Many people look at challenges as problems but I want  people to really change the way they define and see challenges. We have to realize that the words we use create an energy  of their own. So, I want to challenge everybody to see that they can see challenges as opportunities for themselves since that's what they really are. Challenges are opportunities for us to expand and grow. As I look at the most difficult situations in my life, the biggest challenges have caused me to grow the most. Out of necessity, they have helped me to create the level of skill and ability that have shaped my life way beyond anything I would have dreamed of before.

                                               Every Challenge Contains An Opportunity To Grow

In the Chinese language the words "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same. This is a fascinating concept and suggests that every challenge you encounter contains a powerful opportunity to grow beyond your current mindset and circumstances.  The greatest success stories are created by people who recognized a challenge and turned it into an opportunity. You'll find that every situation, properly perceived, offers you an opportunity to delve deeper into your true nature and discover new aspects of yourself. In the process, you'll feel inspired and excited about your life and what lies ahead and motivated to live at the edge of your potential.

                                                         Conclusion

Challenges are truly opportunities -i.e opportunities to grow and learn, to strengthen ourselves, to test ourselves and our faith. They reveal how badly we want to create the dreams in our hearts, and how hard we're willing to work for them. This is such a blessing. It may not seem that way at first, but with a tiny shift in attitude, we can see that we have been handed an incredible opportunity.

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How To Think Big

"If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big" -Donald Trump

Thinking big sounds like such a simple concept but it's so difficult for so many people to do. How do you get started thinking big? Well, this is a mindset, it's an attitude; it's a whole thing! Thinking big starts with being thorough. Don't count on happenstance. Know beforehand if something will work or not.

Thinking big brings into your life bigger ideas, bigger plans and bigger success.It is saidthat thoughts create the circumstances and situations of life. This means that if you think big, you will achieve big success, but if you think small, you will not reach far and high.

So How Can You Mold Yourself To Think Big?

1. Believe in yourself and start acting now the way  you will  when you reach  a higher level of achievement. Develop an attitude that you are  worth  a lot and others  will respond  by valuing you the same way.

2. Start everyday with a little pep talk to yourself along the lines of "Today is a great day. I have a great profession. Its great to be alive.There are plenty of opportunities all around for me to do some great things today.

3. Make a personal commitment to do something great - and then scramble to find a way to do it.

4. Get a mentor - someone who can help you jump to a new level faster than you could manage on your own. Find an authority figure  in your industry  and get his or her advice and encouragement on a regular basis.

5. Keep setting the bar higher all the time - by always striving  to outdo  your own accomplishments. When you're constantly trying to outdo yourself, great things can happen.

6. Conquer your doubts and ditch them- by developing your own rock solid storehouse of self-belief. Nobody knows with certainty what the future holds so assume that you will succeed and work towards that as a goal. Other people  will take their cues from you so if you positively ooze the attitude you're worth listening to , people  will do exactly that. If you value yourself, others will too.Never look for approval from others. but generate your own self-belief by believing in your own competence and worth.

7. Hang out with other people who think big - because they will have an impact on your thinking as well.Meet with other big thinkers regularly and swap ideas, voice opinions, share success stories and your dreams.. While you can and should be approachable, be selective about who your friends are. It's best to spend the majority of your time interacting with people who genuinely want you to be successful.Negative friends can sap your energy and throw up roadblocks which is what you don't need.

8. Be prepared for big setbacks on the way to big achievements - they're part and parcel of the territory. Thinking big always means big setbacks. What matters most is how you respond to those setbacks. Great achievers  in every field analyze their failures  in order  to find new ways of succeeding in the future and you should do the same. View your failures  as temporary diversions and continue to think big about the future. Fill your mind  with your most audacious plan for the future and then get to work making that happen.

9. Get into the habit of speaking your mind - because top achievers want their thoughts to be known. They want others to know what they have to say is important. Don't be afraid of what others think. Speak up!

10. Match big thoughts with big actions as fast as you can. This gives you the credibility  which is essential. Drop your excuses and start doing what's required to succeed. By all means start small but then keep pushing yourself to do bigger things, one step at a time. It's not where you start that matters but what you learn as you go along. Remind yourself your capacity to do anything is just a state of mind so start thinking you can do more and pretty soon that's exactly the situation you'll find yourself in.

Conclusion:

Thinking big can transform your life; and for this to happen, you need the faith that you can succeed. You need to adopt a positive attitude and take positive action.Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!

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Developing Courageous Patience and Leading by Example

In a recently published video, Brian Tracy spoke about an important aspect of courage that you must learn to develop in order to become unstoppable. He called this courage courageous patience; and Brian stated that this is the courage to endure and persist in the face of criticism, uncertainty,doubt,and of course temporary failures. It is the willingness and ability to stay the course in the face of setbacks in any area.                                

                             Waiting Period

In his experience, there’s a critical time period between the launching of a new ventureand the results that come from that venture.During this waiting period, many people lose their nerve.They cannot stand the suspense of not knowing, of possible failure. They break and run in battle, they quake and quit in business. But the true leader is the person who can stand firm, who refuses to consider the possibility of failure. The turning points of many key moments in human history have been the resolution, or lack thereof, of one person. Courageous patience is the acid test of leadership.

                                                                                          Lead by Example

To encourage others, to instill confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best requires first of all that you lead by example.The second thing you can do to help alleviate the fears of failure and rejection in others is to encourage them to take calculated risks and allow honest mistakes.

Build People Up

Give the people who look up to you regular praise and approval. Celebrate good tries as well as success, large and small. Create a psychological climate where people feel safe from disapproval, blame or criticism of any kind. Then do things that make people feel great about themselves.

Build Up Your Courage

Courage comes from acting courageously on a day-to-day basis. Your personal development goal in this area should be to practice the behaviors of a totally fearless person until you become, in your own mind, unstoppable!

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10 Great Inspirational Quotes To Guide You Through Your Day

Today I  would like to share a few inspiring quotes I’ve come across lately. I hope they inspire you, as much as they did me!

1. I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. – Stephen Covey

2. Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso

3. You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus

4. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

5. Either you run the day, or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn

6. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain

7. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

8. People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar

9. Inspiration exists, but it must find you working. –Pablo Picasso

10. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. – Henry Ford.

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