56 CALEDON LIVING AUTUMN 2012 AUTUMN 2012 CALEDON LIVING 57

Why our purposeis the key to lasting success and fulfillment

Have you ever played darts and tried to hit the bull’s eye? Not easy, right? But when you do, boy, what a satisfying feeling it is. When you don’t, you look for the next best thing: “How close did I get it?” The closer your dart is to the bull’s-eye, the better you feel.

Same thing applies to our purpose in life. When we’re living with purpose and working with purpose, it’s just like hitting the bull’s eye. We feel happier, in fl ow and fulfi lled. The farther we are from our purpose, the worse we feel.

What exactly is purpose?Philosophers past and present have grappled with this concept since time immemorial. Many of them agree with world-renowned contemporary philosopher, Marianne Williamson, who suggests that “The Purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best that is within us.”

Our purpose is a way to articulate our best self. If every day we use the best that is within us, we are living with purpose. As we challenge ourselves to become even better, we are ful-fi lling our life’s purpose. And when we offer this best self in service to others, we are providing our most valuable—and fulfi lling—contribution to the world. This is what Deepak Chopra means when he writes, “The seventh spiritual law of success, the Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life, says that everyone has a purpose in life—a unique gift or special talent to give to others—and for every unique talent and expression of that talent, there are also unique needs. When we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our spirit. This is the goal of all goals.”

Through my own journey of self-discovery years ago, I was able to devise a way to defi ne and articulate my purpose, and this is how I turned my life around.

well-being

WORDS ROBIN ALTMAN

First, I discovered that my purpose wasn’t about a single destination, one job or one goal, but that I could live with purpose and be on purpose every day of my life. I also gained a greater understanding of myself and others, and was able to articulate what fulfi lls me. What’s more, I felt like I had something to contribute to the world, I had a purpose, and I was fully motivated to execute on it.

Because of its multiple benefi ts and uses, defi ning my purpose allowed me to start living a more congruent, authentic and fulfi lling life. I then began to share this with my clients. Below is a summary of the benefi ts we experience.

Top 5 ways that our purpose holds the key to lasting success and fulfi llment:

Our purpose defi nes what motivates and gives us direction and meaning. We get most excited and perform at our peak when we focus on what’s important to us. Based on its key components, our purpose allows us to create a tailor-made road map for how we want to channel our time and efforts. It allows us to pinpoint gaps, articulate needs, create alignment and add meaning in all areas of our life;

Our purpose is the most important assessment tool we can use to create a successful, fulfi lling and authentic life. It offers a framework of who we are at our core. It allows us to evaluate business and career opportunities, prospective partnerships, potential relationships, project proposals, activities and other endeavours. In connecting with our purpose, we therefore gain the confi dence required to make better decisions.

Growing into our best selves is how we become elite performers who produce world-class results in a personally fulfi lling way;

Our purpose helps us save time and achieve positive results. Armed with a well-defi ned purpose, we have the ability to identify more creative choices that align with our best self in any given situation. When we’re connected to who we are and what we want, we become the subject matter experts (SMEs) of “ourselves.” We are able to evaluate opportunities, issues and choices with more ease, and take action quickly with increased success;

Our purpose gives us strength and perspective. When we’re living with purpose, we’re less daunted by obstacles and challenges. We have a deeper understanding, a higher goal, we see more options, and therefore become less emotionally attached to outcomes. Our purpose is so aligned with who we are, that we derive just as much fulfi llment from the journey as we do from the reward, and sometimes more. Our purpose gives us built-in resilience and determination;

Our purpose is our personal brand: It off ers clarity and understanding of the distinct personal char-acteristics that are at play when we’re at our best. It’s the unique style we use to get things done. While others may have the same responsibilities as us, when we live with purpose we are putting our personal stamp or fi ngerprint on everything we do.

Where and how do we fi nd our purpose?Discovering and articulating our purpose is not as complex as it sounds. Rather, it is something we already have inside us. To become aware of it, we identify the core strengths, values, talents, gifts, passions and dominant styles that characterize who we are when we’re at our best. We explore how these attributes work together in a way that is most meaningful to us.

Living with purpose is like hitting the bull’s eye over and over again. It’s an ongoing process we engage in. We test it out day to day, tweaking and refi ning as we go. The clearer and more specifi c we are about our purpose, the easier it is to hit, and the more lasting success and fulfi llment we have.

As a professionally-trained, certifi ed coach with 20 years of business experience in Media & Entertainment, Robin Altman helps executives and creative professionals get connected to who they are and what they want, and then build strategies to achieve their full potential, professionally and personally.

Robin is certifi ed by the International Coach Federation (ICF). She obtained her Bachelor of Commerce with a Major in Marketing from Concordia University and received her Certifi cation in Leader-ship Coaching from Adler International Learning in conjunction with the University of Toronto. For more information: www.radiatecoaching.com

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