Purpose Practice Sheet

When we stop listening to the inner voice that tells us who we are and what we value — that’s when we get stuck. When we allow the world to make our decisions for us, our to-do list transforms from planning tool to unwelcome tyrant. We feel busy, but we wonder, “Is this it? Where’s the excitement?”

Sure, we could ditch the day job to write the Great American Novel, or pack our bags for a Peace Corps adventure, but the truth is, we don’t have to go further than our own heart to find what fulfills us. Purpose is, after all, a process of decision-making, of matching your core values with what you do in your daily life.

When you define your purpose and commit to it, wonderful things become possible:

• A sense of integrity and consistency.
• A sense of being in the zone. Life becomes more navigable. Decisions become more intuitive. You wake up knowing what you want to do and why.
• A sense of value that what you do and who you are makes a difference in the world.

But what if you’re having trouble hearing that voice? To help you define your purpose without leaving your job or home, we created a four-part worksheet. The reason for each section is explained below. All you’ll need is a pencil and a quiet space to think, feel, and listen to yourself.

1. Reflect on what you really value.
Reflection “helps you say no to the less important things that simply clutter up a life and yes to the more important things that define the purpose in life,” say Richard Leider and Alan Webber, authors of the book Life Reimagined: Discovering Your New Life Possibilities. The questions in part one of the Purpose Practice Sheet ask you to consider your life from different perspectives to surface what is meaningful to you. Notice the patterns and motifs that emerge in your responses — that’s your inner voice speaking. It may be telling you that you value knowledge, or the spirit of adventure, or connection with others, or helping people be their best. Answer honestly to tune into what’s really true.

2. Match yourself to an opportunity.
An aha moment is just a term for when your core values meet a good opportunity to express them. When considering your options, let them run the whole range: Big and small, some that you’d need to stretch for, and others already in your own backyard. Then look for cross-connections with your values. When you let your values guide you toward an opportunity, you’ll be able to define your purpose.

3. Maximize/minimize what you need.
Any change in direction requires a change in resources. With a purpose in mind, you’ll need to add or increase some things, and remove or decrease others. Of course, there’s a lot of stuff in the daily grind that we don’t love doing (who really enjoys filling out a timesheet?) but are still necessary pieces of the larger puzzle. On the other hand, what else could you do with all those hours spent online reading blogs? Or the money spent keeping up with fashion trends? How can time and money become tools to express purpose? Is there a class you could take? (Coursera or Khan Academy offer hundreds of free online classes, ranging from coding to psychology.) Or an opportunity to travel, to indulge in a creative passion, or to volunteer? And, consider all the times you automatically say yes to others’ requests — what gets displaced on your personal to-do list as a result? Tip: Your answers to part 1 will be helpful for making these lists.

4. Use your purpose to filter your future.
Knowing what your purpose is serves as a kind of divining rod for your life. It lets you zoom out and test choices against the bigger questions of what you want in life. It’s especially helpful when you find yourself distracted, overly busy, or uninspired, so we suggest you keep the “Filter by Purpose” questions on hand.

INCLUDES:
PDF worksheet (1 page)