Stephen Scoggins breaks down six sources of meaning: status, mission, belonging, self-improvement, relationships, and material possessions. He defines purpose as an internal sense of being on track, then walks through each with examples like CEOs chasing recognition or researchers driven by mission work.
One of the biggest questions I've got recently is how do I find more meaning in my life? Or more purpose, more significance, if you will. Well, in today's lesson, we're going to talk about six specific areas that it's easy to find meaning and hopefully get you clear on your purpose. So stay tuned.
Alright, So I kind of opened the whole thing up with helping you understand meaning and purpose, but what I want to do is talk about where those things come from. So purpose comes from the inside. It's how you feel about your overall basically level of success currently, whether or not you're actually on track to do something you want to do. Meaning is a little different. Meaning is the event or the significance we place on an event or an attribute of our life. And meaning for me is obviously going to be different, a little bit different for meaning from you. So certain people will find meaning in one way and other people will find meaning in another way. What often happens when people are searching for meaning, they're trying to search for their significance and their purpose in the wrong place over here or when they really should be doing it over here in this place. So what I want to do is I want to break down these six areas individually and talk a little bit about each one of them. Hopefully to trigger something inside your mind and your heart to make you say, that's mine, that's mine. That's where I need to focus at. Because when you do, all of a sudden you'll become awake and alive and full of passion on a regular basis. So let's jump into these. Alright? The first area that I like to talk about is status and recognition. Alright? Some people, their primary motivator is they were built this way in order to stand out. And when they stand out, they want to do such a great job and they want to do such, such great things that they want other people to notice. Okay? You see this a lot with CEOs, with entertainers, people in the arts industry. These people were designed to stand out and it's okay, provided they're bringing people to an organization, a structure or something special. And as part of standing out, they're the lighthouse, if you will, of making sure that they're giving off so much energy and so much passion, so much fulfillment that they're drawing people into something special. Okay, let's move on to the next one. Number two is probably my favorite what drives me every day and that's a sense of mission. Okay? The sense of mission is something that you see bigger than yourself. One of the missions that we're trying to do, and I've said this publicly before, is we want to transform a million lives in the time that I have left on this earth. Okay, so what does that mean? That means I want some piece of content, some piece of inspiration, some piece of empowerment to have such an effect on someone that it completely changes their trajectory and where they're headed. Okay. Others may find a sense of mission in cancer research or drinking water, or traveling the world to a third world country to help out in education. Each of these are mission driven meanings. In other words, I'm going to find my overall level of meaning tied to an event, tied to a situation, and tied to something special. Right. For us, it's mission. Again, mission is something bigger than yourself. Means you, means you already. Historically, if you're mission motivated, so to speak, then what? Inevitably what happens is that means you've already got secure in your identity, you already know who you are and things of that nature to make that possible. All right, so again, two is mission. Okay? Three is sense of belonging to sense of belonging. A lot of people grow up like I did who were unfortunately not really connected to a lot of people. Meaning they were more of an introvert. They kind of stared at them way off to the self in the corner. Well, as adults, those people become a whole lot more interested and have a sense of longing for belonging. Right? They want to be part of something bigger and something special. There are certain people who are naturally gifted to be relationally oriented. And when people are in the building, they're happy, they're excited, they're woo. People are here, right? At the same time, there are other people who are like, that's enough for the day. I'm done with the people. Okay, so you already know which one you are just by that brief description. Right? Sense of belonging is about being part of something. It's maybe it's. Maybe there's a mission. But then the team that's building the mission offers the chance for belonging. Okay, all right, number four, self improvement. Yes. You can be so motivated by self improvement that what you're going after. You see this a lot with a lot of influencers. You also see this a lot with people that are gurus and things of that nature or perceived gurus. What they've done is they've climbed Maslow's hierarchy of needs to self actualization. So their greatest search now in life, the greatest meaning, is whether or not they're able to find, quote unquote, self actualization. The truth is, is personal development. Self Improvement, things of that nature are always ongoing. There's no such thing as the ultimate atonement, but it's such an area that's such a passion point that if they feel like they're making progress on a regular basis, then what happens is they feel like they have a sense of passion, purpose, and meaning. You see what I'm saying? Each of these are exactly the same way, right? It's about the search, it's about the find, and it's about the result. All right, let's move on to number five, personal relationships. Okay? Personal relationships can easily be a love life or it can be a family life. I know husbands and wives and even families, if you will, that are very, very passionate about family unity, right? They're the ones that are always going on vacations together. They're the ones sitting down with their child, doing homework. Togetherness. They're the ones that put a special emphasis on playing ball or doing. Going to the dance recital and doing things of that nature. They find a sense of meaning on whether or not they're being a great parent or a great husband or wife. That's what I mean by relationships, okay? Where belonging is about being with a group. This is about being with your immediate group. Does that make sense? So that's the difference between the two. So more family oriented, more relationally oriented, but they're both very similar in that they both tie meaning to whether or not they feel connected. Okay, all right, last one. Material possessions. See my guy here. This is my quasi Gucci shades. Okay? Material possessions for a lot of people, unfortunately, and fortunately, depending on where you're at in your life are motivating factors. Right? I know great entrepreneurs that I actually feel like later in life they're going to be like, super powerful and super. Have all. Have all the wealth they need. But right now they're using the car, the house, the bus, the whatever, the travel, the fame, if you will, to motivate them to. To get out of bed every day and to try something new. Okay? Now they'll probably get to the place like I did, where you're like, oh, I got this stuff now. I don't know. Now I don't even need it. I need to do something better. And a lot of times the people that are dealing with material possessions end up over here in the Mission area. You see what I'm saying? Everything in life, everything about self awareness, everything about self actualization, everything about finding meaning and purpose and significance is all about the journey.
Right? You'll find purpose in progress. Are you actually taking steps to make these things a reality and if you are meaning will be easier to find. Sense of purpose and significance easier to find. Okay. Hopefully these six areas will give you some insight on what you need to be doing and where you need to be focusing because there's a good chance that at least one of these kind of jumped up in you a little bit to kind of say okay, I need to focus there. Right? Or it intensified after watching this video. Okay I hope you enjoyed these six areas and so you can actually start having more meaning in your life and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.
Hey it's Connor with the Journey principles. If you enjoyed that lesson you should totally grab our free ebook linked in the description of this video. It's all about self awareness and it'll really take you to another level. Also do us a favor and like comment and subscribe and we'll see you in the next video.
