Creating your life purpose

Hi there. I'm Bill Gallagher and I want to talk to you today about purpose. I want to talk to you in particular about your life purpose. Now, I've spoken to you before and I'll speak to you again about creating a powerful purpose for your business. Today, we want to talk about life purpose. And in fact, when we get your business purpose and your life purpose clearly established and we get those two things together, we've got something really, really powerful. So we want to talk to you about both of these things today. What is the purpose of your life? This is very much in the world of Simon Sinek. Start with why, right? We're looking for your why. And the why of your life is like the why of your business. It is a deep, emotionally eliciting answer to a question for the reason, for something so different than the explanation of how you do what you do and what you're up to and that kind of thing. The why is this deep emotional purpose. And it speaks to and triggers a deep part of our brain and keeps us powerfully in action from a place of power and inspiration. Right? So the purpose of my life is making a difference. So. And I hope that this video will make some difference for you in your work and with the people you work with. Now, when I ask groups of leaders and business leaders and entrepreneurs around the world, do they know the purpose of their life? The vast majority don't have a clear answer for this. Now, about 20% of people, only 20% will be able to raise their hand and say, yes, I know the purpose of my life. So I'm going to help you today to start to get a clear answer for yourself of what the purpose of your life is. Now, first of all, I want you to know there's a very simple exercise for this and there's a way to begin to get this and to begin using it. However, there are some really common barriers that I see and I want to talk to you about those first. The first one, and probably the biggest one, is people spend a lot of time and energy trying to find their purpose and thinking about finding their purpose and when they're going to have time to find their purpose and what they're going to do to find their purpose in life. So many of us know or think that it would be a good idea to have it, but. But we're always wanting to go look for it somewhere out there. And purpose is nowhere out there. It's all entirely in here. So your purpose is actually something that you create. It's not something you Find it's something you make up. So that's the first thing. The second thing is getting it right. So many people have a hang up about getting it right and not getting something wrong. Especially something so powerful as purpose. The thing that you want to remember is that the only function for purpose is to light you up, to give you some passion and inspiration. So there's not much to getting it right. You're going to make it up and you can change it. The last hang up people have is about actually committing to it sufficiently that they can share it, that they can speak it to other people. And this goes to the first two points. You're going to make this thing up and, and its only purpose is to inspire you. So don't worry about committing to it and sharing it. If you find that it's insufficient or it's not working, or it doesn't make you happy to say it to people, then you'll just change it. And you'll know exactly how to change it and where to change it from to keep it being something that's inspiring to you. Alright, so here's the exercise, the simplest exercise I know for this is the funeral exercise. Now if the idea of thinking about your own funeral is a little macabre to you, right, you can't think about that, it's depressing, then think instead about your retirement party and that'll put it on still very late in life. And a summation, but maybe in a more positive note for you, but one way or another, we're all going to either retire and as far as we know, our lives are going to end at some point, we're all going to die. So imagine that your life really turned out great part, right? Your life really turned out, we can just imagine that fulfillment, the end of your life, everything turned out, you accomplished everything you wanted to, you overcame your challenges and you really had a great fulfilled life. So at your funeral or at your retirement party, who was there? It probably includes some co workers, it probably includes longtime associates and deep friends. It probably includes your family members, your children and loved ones, spouses, things like that, siblings. So think about this environment, who's at this event now, what would you like them to say about you? When you think about the end of your life and you imagine what you love for people to be able to say about you in your life, you'll also get to what you want to be able to say to yourself in the mirror. So we're going for this. And the core of this thing that you'd like people to say about you is the purpose of your life. It's what you really, really long for. At the end of the day, it's not just what you want others to say about you, but it's about what you want to be able to say about yourself. So in the swirl of those things that you're imagining at this event, right, there will be a heart of something that really matters to you. Look for that thing that has the most emotion, that has the most longing, that you. That most moves you or scares you to say out loud. That is the world of your purpose. Now, we just want to begin to say it in some way that lights you up. So the way that you'll hone that or practice that is just by beginning to share it with other people. Talk about it with a spouse, a loved one, Talk about it with your children, talk about it with a parent, if you still have parents alive. Talk about it with your friends and co workers, begin to share it with peer groups and so on. The more you'll talk about it, the more you'll hone it. Now, for me, I still can be deeply moved by saying the purpose of my life is making a difference. And when I've come back from some activity or something like that, the next day or as I'm getting ready to go do something, and I look in the mirror and I see myself as someone who is living a life of making a difference, I'm moved and inspired by that person, by who I am for myself and for other people. Right? So. And if you think about it, then the purpose of my business is helping leaders build a better world. And my life purpose is making a difference. So that life purpose shows up in different ways in different environments and in my work. That's how it shows up. So we want to get your life purpose. We want to get the other thing. Your job now is to do this exercise. Imagine your life really turned out. What do people say about you? What do you want to be able to say about yourself and articulate that and begin to share it with people. Remember, you don't have to get this right. You can change it. It's something to make up, not fine. I hope this is helpful for you, and I hope it makes a difference for you. I'm Bill Gallagher.