The 1st Pillar of Personal Development for Change Agents: Purpose

If you want to set yourself up for maximum fulfillment and impact, personally and professionally, you need to start with clarity about your purpose in life.

Here’s why: we achieve fulfillment and impact in life by consistently acting in alignment with our highest selves. Without having clarity about who we aspire to be and the positive impact we are called to bring to the world, we can’t be fully conscious of what it takes to act in alignment with that highest and best version of ourselves.  Similarly, without knowing our purpose, we lose our sense of progress—and that feeling of forward movement is vital for our sense of well-being in life!

The Seven Pillars of Personal Development  for Change Agents

This post is the first in a series of seven.  In this series we're going to walk through each of these seven fundamentals one by one, giving you key frameworks and practical action steps to maximize your joy and your impact as someone with a calling to make the world a better place.   Check out the video, download the worksheet and get started right here on the first pillar: PURPOSE.  

Three Key Life Domains in Which To Define Your Purpose

We all have distinct life domains—and it may be helpful to think about yourself as having a distinct purpose within each of these areas.   What do you call these different life areas?   Here are some options:

As someone who feels a strong calling to make the world a better place, you may find that “work” doesn’t fully capture this arena of your life, but whichever labels you choose, it’s helpful to think of these three areas as being interconnected, with your investment in your personal energy and self development as the foundation for the other two.

A Life of Extraordinary Impact & Joy Rests on Making Purposeful Investments in Your Personal Powerplant 

Whatever labels you find most personally resonant for each of these areas of your life, getting clarity about your purpose in life is about discerning your highest calling in each of these areas. 

• What contribution are you called to make as an instrument of impact out in the world?
• What gifts are you called to share with your family, friends and broader community as a vessel of joy and love?
• What ways are called on to grow and learn and build up your best, most energized self as the engineer of your personal powerplant?

Download the worksheet and watch the video to guide yourself through the process of producing a personal vision statement—an expression of your purpose  that can serve as your north star as you continue forward in your journey to show up as your highest and best self more consistently, and with more positive impact across all the key areas of your life. 

Even if you’ve done something like this in the past, it’s worth doing fresh right now.  Just as our life circumstances change and evolve over time, so does the best version of ourselves.  This is especially true for all of us with a strongly felt calling to make the world a better place.  No matter where your starting point, getting very clear about your guiding vision, how you intend to contribute to making the world a better place and the standards you hold yourself to in your personal and professional life is a great tool for moving through the world with greater joy and impact.