Do you know what your calling in life is? How are you making a difference in the world? In other words do you know what your purpose is? If you do not, then how can you authentically lead from who you are – your core purpose?
Perhaps you have had an opportunity to participate in the creation of your organization’s mission statement but have you ever thought of developing your own personal mission or purpose statement?
Developing and living your purpose statement are very powerful and important actions you can take in order to be in control of your life and lead from your authentic self.
According to Bill George, author of Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, your core purpose will act as your “true north” that will keep your career and life decisions in harmony with your authentic talents, values and meaningful contribution.
Living in purpose means that you are driven by something internally rather than allowing external influences to hinder you from living your life more clearly.
Purpose is not:
- a goal to be set
- something we create or
- a great idea we come up with.
Purpose is:
- something we discover inside ourselves
- our role in life
- what we have been prepared to express.
According to Stephen Covey, a mission statement is developed with a focus on:
- what you want to be (character)
- what you want to do (contributions and achievements) and
- the values or principles upon which your ‘being’ and ‘doing’ are based
Discovering your purpose and developing a purpose statement requires you to do some introspective thinking about your priorities in a deep way. To do this, you may want to reflect on some of the following questions:
- What is my life about?
- What do I want from my life?
- What do I stand for / believe in?
- Whom do I value?
- What is my reason for being?
- What is important to me in my life?
- What will I contribute to the people in my life?
- What are my talents?
- At the end of my life, what do I want to have accomplished?
- What do I believe in?
So how will you make a difference in all aspects of your life? How will your gifts and strengths serve something bigger than yourself? How are you expressing your internal sense of purpose in all of the many different roles and life circumstances? As a leader, how are you showing up?
The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Marielle’s new group coaching program, Up Your Game! Propel Your Career or Business to the Next Level will help you get clear on your values, strengths, vision, mission and much more to propel your career to the next level.
Marielle Gauthier, owner and principal of Redworks Communications, is a certified Results coach and is accredited as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) by the International Coaching Federation.
To receive updates about Marielle’s coaching program, training and webinars or for more information on coaching services contact Marielle at (306) 955-3205, marielle@redworkscoaching.com or visit www.redworkscoaching.com. She is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.