9 - Write your life purpose . . .
and understanding what is life purpose!

Reason for this Goal and what is life purpose?:  Finding life purpose through writing out your life mission can change your life. It will give more meaning to everything you do; and it will help guide your key decisions in life.   

The purpose of life is one of the great mysteries. There is no one answer.

I’ve been a goal oriented person interested in personal development as taught by my Karate Sensei more than 30 years ago. I’ve read close to 100 self-help books, several of them about the importance of fulfilling your life purpose. I’ve spent hundreds of hours contemplating life purpose and the best answer I've come across is . . . 

"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose" - It doesn’t really matter what your purpose is, only that you have one . . . and that it is important to you. If you are living a life of purpose, you will lead a fulfilling life. “The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose”

Here are some examples of possible purposes. A mentor of mine suggested you pick no more than 3 or 4 primary purposes (goals) for your life:

• Raise a family that love and respect each other
• Support an environmental cause that has far-reaching impact
• Work for a company that sells products or services that make a global impact
• Donate a significant amount of time and effort to an important charity or cause
• Achieve a level of fame in the field of __________
• Write books that have a positive message and provide inspiration
• Help others in key life areas such as health, career, finances, fitness, investment, education, real estate, travel . . . (the list is endless)
• Develop a net worth of ___________ by helping others achieve _________
• Live a goal inspired life
• Be the very best ____________ employee you can! (insert any job from cleaner to corporate executive)

What is life purpose - key questions

In contemplating your life purpose, developing your life purpose statement will come into focus once you ask yourself some key questions:

1. How do I want to be remembered at my funeral? -  What would I like people to be saying about me?  This reminds me of the key principle taught by Stephen Cove]y which is to "start with the end in mind". This is one of the best strategies to contemplate your future. 
2. What are the top 3 or 4 most important things in my life? - What will I devote most of my time and energy to?   Focusing on just a small number of things is key to developing your life purpose. If you choose too many things, your life purpose will be "watered down" too much.  Try really hard to choose just 3 or 4 things. 
3. Who do I really want to be? - There are so many different options for the type of person you could be.  Look to your core values as key inspiration for this question.
4. Do you want a long life or a life well-lived?  - If you had to choose just one, which would you choose.  At the 100 Goals Club, I believe you can have both.  Asking this question raises the importance of considering both options.
5. What inspires you the most? - This is a great question to consider in contemplating your life purpose. Things that inspire you are likely things to nurture and build a life around. 
6. What does your ideal life look like? - A great strategy is to take the time to write down what a perfect day, month, year and life looks like.  By taking the time to write down your 100 life goals, you will be answering this question perfectly. 
7. What is the one thing you can not live without? 

The challenge in understanding what is life purpose or life mission is that it is not  easy—and many people never do.   The author, Cal Newport, suggests that discovering your life mission is something that can only be accomplished once you’ve developed your career to a point where your own unique skills and passions have revealed themselves. 

These types of questions are best contemplated when you have some alone time in nature—either in a park or forest, or at the lake or ocean.   

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Suggested Target Goal:  To figure out what is life purpose and write your own life mission.
Outrageous Goal:  To accomplish all 100 of these outrageous goals.

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What is life purpose . . . my perspective

In developing my own life purpose and writing it down, it has evolved where I've written and re-written it several times.  My life purpose is written below, in four parts: 

1. To be a good husband, father and family member - It is easy to say these words.  It takes work to live up to them and truly put the most important people in my life first. 
2. To live and teach a goal-inspired life - I believe that the writing down of life goals, and planning your life and living your plan is essential to a good life. I will continue to develop good content on the 100 Goals Club site representing the best strategies and goals for living a good life, while living what I preach and living out my own 100 life goals.
3. To preserve our 4 heritage homes known as Gables On The Park - We have been fortunate to acquire 4 adjacent heritage homes which we have been fixing up for more than two decades and renting out.  I will continue this project and promoting these properties for rent in our beautiful downtown location, the # 1 ranked community in Canada as ranked by McLeans magazine in 2019. 
4. To develop my leadership skills - I work for a top employer in my community and have a good career as a Manager of Bids and Proposals. I will continue to grow personally and professionally while developing the talents of those that work there. 

It is essential that you invest time in to understanding and writing down what is your life purpose.  Plan on writing it down and changing it over and over again until you've got a deep emotional connection to it.  

Return to personal development goals.

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Last updated: April 26, 2020