I believe each of us is born with a life purpose. Identifying, acknowledging, and honoring this purpose is perhaps the most important action successful people take.
They take the time to understand what they’re here to do—and then they pursue that with passion and enthusiasm.
So how to find your north star?
Many seem have a myth that purpose comes from having unique talent and sets you apart from other humans—but that’s not always true.
It also grows from our connection to others, which is why a crisis of purpose is often a symptom of isolation.
Once you find your path, you’ll almost certainly find others traveling along with you, hoping to reach the same destination as yours.
Here are 8 powerful ways to overcome isolation and find your north star.
#1. To Find Your North Star First Find Why You Came On This Earth?
I discovered long ago what I was put on this earth to do. I determined my true purpose in life, my “right livelihood.”
I discovered how to inject passion and determination into every activity I undertake.
And I learned how purpose can bring an aspect of fun and fulfillment to virtually everything I do. Now I’d like to help uncover the same secret for you.
You see, without a purpose in life, it’s easy to get sidetracked on your life’s journey. It’s easy to wander and drift, accomplishing little. But with a purpose, everything in life seems to fall into place.
To be “on purpose” means you’re doing what you love to do, doing what you’re good at and accomplishing what’s important to you.
When you truly are on purpose, the people, resources, and opportunities you need naturally gravitate toward you.
The world benefits, too, because when you act in alignment with your true life purpose when you find your path, all of your actions automatically help others.
#2. My Personal Life Purpose Statements.
My life purpose is to inspire and empower people to live their highest vision in a context of love and joy.
I inspire people to live their highest vision with the help of my blog improving there relationships, finances and person growth.
This are powerful tools for creating an ideal life and helping you find your north star.
Here are the life purpose statements of some of my friends. It is important to note that they have all become successful in life through the fulfillment of their life purpose.
- To inspire and empower people to manifest their destiny.
- To uplift humanity’s consciousness through my messages on my blog.
- To humbly serve the Lord by being a loving, playful, powerful, and passionate example of the absolute joy that is available to us the moment we rejoice in God’s gifts and sincerely love and serve all of his creations.
- To leave the world a better place than I found it, for horses and for people, too.
- To create and inspire people to become successful and give $1 million to their church or charity.
- To educate and inspire people to live their highest self based in courage, purpose, and joy, versus fear, need, and obligation
Once you find your north star or know what your life purpose is, you can organize all of your activities around it. Everything you do should be an expression of your purpose.
If an activity doesn’t fit that formula, you wouldn’t work on it. Period.
#3. Find The Reason Behind You Do Everything.
Without purpose as the compass to guide you, your goals and action plans may not ultimately fulfill you. You don’t want to get to the top of the ladder only to find out you had it leaning up against the wrong wall.
When Julie Laipply was a child, she was a very big fan of animals. As a result, all she ever heard growing up was “Julie, you should be a vet. You’re going to be a great vet. That’s what you should do.”
So when she got to Ohio State University, she took biology, anatomy, and chemistry, and started studying to be a vet.
A Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship allowed her to spend her senior year studying abroad in Manchester, England.
Away from the family and faculty pressures back home, she found herself one dreary day sitting at her desk, surrounded by biology books and staring out the window, when it suddenly hit her: You know what?
I’m totally miserable. Why am I so miserable? What am I doing? I don’t want to be a vet!
Julie then asked herself, What is a job I would love so much that I’d do it for free but that I could actually get paid for? It’s not being a vet. That’s not the right job.
Then she thought back over all the things she’d done in her life and what had made her the most happy.
And then it hit her—it was all of the youth leadership conferences that she had volunteered at, and the communications and leadership courses she had taken as elective courses back at Ohio State.
How could I have been so ignorant? Here I am at my fourth year at school and just finally realizing I’m on the wrong path and not doing the right thing. But it’s been here in front of me the whole time. I just never took the time to acknowledge it until now.
Buoyed by her new insight, Julie spent the rest of her year in England taking courses in communications and media performance.
When she returned to Ohio State, she was eventually able to convince the administration to let her create her own program in “leadership studies,” and while it took her 2 years longer to finally graduate, she went on to become a senior management consultant in leadership training and development for the Pentagon.
She also won the Miss Virginia USA contest, which allowed her to spend much of 2002 speaking to kids all across Virginia, and more recently she has created the Role Models and Mentors for Youth Foundation, which teaches kids how to be better role models for one another.
By the way, Julie was only 26 years old at that time—a testament to the power that clarity of purpose can create in your life.
The good news is that you don’t have to go all the way to England for a year abroad to find your path or to find your north star.
You can simply take the time to complete two simple exercises that will help you clarify your purpose.
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#4. Your Inner Guidance System is Your Gateway to Find Your North Star.
It is the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion - DAME REBECCA WEST
You were born with an inner guidance system that tells you when you are on or off purpose by the amount of joy you are experiencing. The things that bring you the greatest joy are in alignment with your purpose.
To begin to home in on your purpose, make a list of the times you have felt most joyful and alive. What are the common elements of these experiences? Can you figure out a way to make a living doing these things?
Pat Williams a senior vice-president of the Orlando Magic basketball team. He has also written 36 books and is a professional speaker. When he was asked what he felt the greatest secret to success was, he replied,
“Figure out what you love to do as young as you can, and then organize your life around figuring out how to make a living at it.” For young Pat, it was sports—more specifically, baseball.
When his father took him to his first baseball game in Philadelphia, he fell in love with the game. He learned to read by reading the sports section of the New York Times.
He knew he wanted to grow up and have a career in sports. He devoted almost every waking moment to it.
He collected baseball cards, played sports, and wrote a sports column for the school newspaper.
Pat went on to have a career in the front office of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, then with the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team.
When the NBA considered granting an expansion team franchise to Orlando, Pat was there to lead the fight. Now in his sixties, Pat has enjoyed 40-plus years doing what he loves, and he has enjoyed every minute of it.
Once you are clear about what brings you the greatest joy, you will have a major insight into your purpose.
This second exercise is a simple but powerful way to create a compelling statement of your life purpose to guide and direct your behavior.
==> Take time now to complete the following exercise to find your north star or find your life purpose so that you can follow your path.
#5. Finding Your North Star Exercise.
First off grab a journal, a pen and find a quiet place where you are not disturbed for sometime.
1. List two of your unique personal qualities, such as enthusiasm and creativity (write them down in the journal)
2. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others, such as to support and to inspire.
3. Assume the world is perfect right now. What does this world look like? How is everyone interacting with everyone else? What does it feel like?
Write your answer as a statement, in the present tense, describing the ultimate condition, the perfect world as you see it and feel it. Remember, a perfect world is a fun place to be.
EXAMPLE: Everyone is freely expressing their own unique talents. Everyone is working in harmony. Everyone is expressing love.
4. Combine the three prior subdivisions of this paragraph into a single statement. EXAMPLE: My purpose is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to freely express their talents in a harmonious and loving way.
#6. Staying on Your Life Purpose.
Once you have determined and written down your life purpose, read it every day, preferably in the morning.
If you are artistic or strongly visual by nature, you may want to draw or paint a symbol or picture that represents your life purpose and then hang it somewhere (on the refrigerator, opposite your desk, near your bed) where you will see it every day.
This will keep you focused on your purpose.
As you move forward and work on this your goals, dreams and desires will slowly start to align with your life's mission, make sure they are aligned with and serve to fulfill your purpose.
Another approach to clarifying your purpose is to set aside some time for quiet reflection—time for a period of meditation.
After you become relaxed and enter into a state of deep self-love and peacefulness, ask yourself, What is my purpose for living? or What is my unique role in the universe?
Allow the answer to simply come to you. Let it be as expansive as you can imagine.
The words that come need not be flowery or poetic; what is important is how inspired the words make you feel.
#7. Practice gratitude and self-acceptance.
Practicing self-acceptance can help you be kinder to yourself when things go wrong and you are not aligned with your higher purpose.
We all make mistakes. Instead of beating yourself up for your failures, try to see each setback as an opportunity to grow.
Practice self-compassion to help you develop self-awareness. When you accept all of yourself, you’re more likely to give the best of yourself in every situation. This might be at work, with your family, or while doing the things you love.
#8. Never stop experimenting
Personal goals and mission can change over time, and that’s OK. Your life’s purpose doesn’t need to remain stagnant.
Stay curious about the world around you, and watch out for situations that may uncover emotions you weren’t expecting.
This concept of continued curiosity can be especially significant when finding your purpose. You never know what unexpected passions you may stumble upon.
