One of my biggest problems is telling people (especially family) what I “do.”
Many people want to hear a specific job.
I’m a doctor!
I work in IT!
I’m a paleontologist!
They want something they can sink their teeth into.
I don’t have that.
I’m doing a bunch of different things, like designing advanced marketing funnels.
Or hosting streaming TV shows.
Or hacking Elance.
It all sounds nice. But in the end, having too many “balls in the air” actually makes it hard to communicate your message with people.
So I usually just say something lame like, “I write stuff online.”
Still, that’s not the 100% truth — and I want to be authentic.
Now, I can be.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a new friend, Rajiv Nathan — and he opened my eyes in a way that I didn’t expect.
He helped me dig even deeper into my purpose.
It’s so easy to think that our purpose is a specific job, or a career path, or even a hobby.
But it’s so much more than that.
When I was talking to Rajiv, I realized that all those THINGS that I do are just the side effects of my true purpose: To help others find freedom. Specifically, through entrepreneurship.
It’s not about WHAT I’m doing, it’s about WHO I am.
How often do you think about that?
Have you ever thought about it?
Most of us don’t.
Today, you’re going to. I’d like to introduce Rajiv for this wonderful guest post.
Take it away, Rajiv!
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There has never ever been a shortage of work, although often there is a shortage of money to bribe the people to do some of it. Besides, most people who want paying jobs have paying jobs. What they don’t have is a burning desire to do the work for it’s own sake. And the reason for that is that they cannot see a point to it all. In short, their work lacks purpose.
That paragraph, along with the title of this post, are from an article I recently read by Brooke Allen. It was perfect timing because just before reading it my cousin from India was in town and we had a 2-hour discussion about purpose. Whether you have a job, want a job, or need a job the one thing you must have is purpose. It’s not an easy thing to know or find, and it becomes even harder to uncover when it’s masked by money, perks, status calls, working lunches, performance reviews, Outlook notifications, and “Sent from my iPhone”.
But somewhere amidst the never-ending task lists and day-to-day happenings, you have a purpose.
We all read and didn’t question the traditional script of “go to college, get a degree, and get a job.”
I have been fortunate enough that, for me, the script has worked out pretty well so far. But I know people who have had 5 jobs in 3 years, or kept 1 job for 3 years and hate every minute of it.
How come we spent thousands of dollars learning equations, hypotheses, fundamentals, and principles, but we didn’t spend a single penny on personal development? We ate up countless hours on case studies, but we didn’t spend one solitary second studying ourselves.
I’m not discounting the value of education, but for all the time and effort we put into learning everything else, shouldn’t we at least try to use some of that time and effort learning who we are?
I remember in college the career center would tell us to write resumes, and include an objective at the top like, “My objective is to gain an internship that allows me to leverage my creative and analytical skills.” <<<NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.
Isn’t it obvious that by applying for this job your objective is to get this job? We were taught to think tactically, and so we live and work tactically. We go through the motions without knowing why we’re moving in the first place.
Let’s just stop for a second and think about the meaning behind our tactics.
In the movie “Hitch” (which I saw for the first time two weeks before reading the Brooke Allen article), Will Smith gives a toast and says, “Begin each day as if it were on purpose.” I really like that quote. In order for a day to happen on purpose for us, we should know our own purpose for the day. What are we contributing to the day, and every day before, and every day thereafter?
15 months ago I found my own purpose.
It was truly life-changing. My purpose is to inspire others by sharing my experiences. This was not something I just decided to start doing one day; it’s a consistent theme across how I have lived my life. Whether it’s currently through my business Idea Lemon helping people discover their inner awesome, in my sales role at the ad agency where I work, or for years through the music I write and create, I begin each day as if it were on purpose because I wake up knowing that I have a chance to inspire someone.
My question for you: What is YOUR purpose in life?
Email me at [email protected] with “My purpose is__________”
If you don’t know the answer to this question that’s okay. My Idea Lemon Co-founder Martin and I are here to help. Reach out to me via email and set up a virtual discovery session with us.
Responses like below are NOT purposes:
“My purpose is to work at a startup.”
“My purpose is to photograph weddings.”
“My purpose is to become the VP of my company.”
Those are all things people have said to me before. If you think like that, then you are thinking tactically just as you were taught. DON’T think tactically. You are better than that. Your purpose is what you can live out until the day you die. It does not have a finite end point. If your purpose was to work at a startup, what happens once you work at the startup?
I look forward to your responses.
Very sincerely,
-Rajiv
Always evolving, never changing, Rajiv Nathan lives to inspire others by sharing his own encounters. He is the Co-Founder of Idea Lemon, helping people create personal brands from the inside out by discovering and owning their inner awesome, a rapper under the name Fenetik (soundcloud.com/fenetik-raps), and in his mid 20’s still a fan of WWE. Subscribe to the Idea Lemon Newsletter for inspiration from him and his Co-founder, Martin McGovern.
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