Discover Your Purpose to Unlock Your True Potential

Have you discovered your true purpose in life?

It took me a long time to discover that purpose and career are two very different things. For so many people, their career is their purpose, which is why so many people seem to become lost or disenchanted within their careers.

What do I mean by that? Each of us has a life purpose, and surprisingly, it's often far removed from the career we choose. We choose careers for a variety of reasons, including interest, challenge, and money. Careers help us to establish ourselves financially, and socially, but often times we go into jobs for what might seem like all the right reasons, only to soon discover we hate the job.

I began my career in journalism at age 14, writing for the school newspaper and occasionally submitting historical articles for the local newspaper. And I loved it, and was good at it. But as often happens, the more I rose through the ranks, the more opportunity to earn bigger dollars came my way. I found myself segueing into digital media, and then digital sales (mostly because back at the start of the internet, no-one knew how to make money out of websites, so anyone with content experience soon found opportunity in sales).

I was pretty good at sales and soon found my career in media going from journalist to sales guy. I was on the other side of the coin and while the money was great, I actually didn't enjoy sales. A decade would pass and I would be offered a job running the R.M.Williams Publishing company, as general manager, and a director on the executive board of R.M.Williams itself. Great stuff, and even better money but I longed for my days writing and interviewing people.

Eventually I found myself working for a large international software company out of Singapore, travelling endlessly, making great money, and hating every day of it.

I couldn't figure out why I was so miserable, when on the surface I had it all.

But I discovered the truth years later when I began working with Dr Ann Shivas, PHD, ostensibly to write her book on Quantum Wave Theory. To better research her book, she took me through her program, which involved quantum dynamics and recognising and replacing patterns that no longer served me well. And one part of her program struck me to the core.

It involved discovering my life's purpose. Now at the time I figured the work I did was my life's purpose, but I soon learned I was terribly mistaken.

I won't go into the intricacies of how Ann helped me discover my true purpose, but I do encourage you to look her up. Needless to say, after a bunch of sessions I sat staring at the life purpose I had discovered - 'to live joyfully through self expression'. WTF? How could I make money out of that, whatever that even was?

But as we continued our work together, I came to realise that living our life purpose is not about being good at a career or making lots of money. My life purpose was to find inner joy in the way I expressed myself. And the way I have always expressed myself best has been through writing, and engaging with other people. It was something at my core that I was aware of from early life. It's no wonder I found such happiness in being a journalist, and such dissatisfaction in being a salesman. But even being a journalist was only part of the equation.

There's so much more to the way I express myself than just writing, and I set out to find a way to live my purpose, and make money out of it at the same time. This website is part of that journey.

The amazing thing is, each of us has a unique purpose, but very few of us actually live it. Some people confuse identity with purpose. I'm a dad to three boys, but raising them, while an important part of my life, is not my life purpose. My wife is an excellent mother, but again, being a mum is not her life purpose. She's a singer, and her life purpose is to make beautiful music that resonates with her listeners.

Elon Musk ... there's more to him than making money.

Elon Musk is a multi-billionaire, but I'm certain if you asked him what his life's purpose is, it's got nothing to do with making money. He makes money in bucket loads because he lives his life purpose, not the other way around.

Since truly learning what my life's purpose is I've discovered a new focus, and new opportunities have been opening up almost daily. In fact, sifting through what is right for me is the hardest part of my day. I judge each opportunity on whether it will help me fulfil my purpose, not whether it will make me money.

As a result, I've launched a new business coaching people in becoming effective communicators, I've written two new books, and I'm working on a television series in which a mate and I will travel Australia having barbecues with, and celebrating, Australia's unsung heroes.

But don't get me wrong, fulfilling your purpose doesn't mean finding a job that aligns with it. You might make a decent living, and be genuinely happy in your job, but your purpose might be to coach young people in a certain sport. Your purpose might be to be the best partner you can be in a relationship, supporting and nurturing both your partner and yourself in the process.

Fancy a rib eye?

Whatever your purpose is, I doubt you'll be truly happy in life until you discover it and start devoting time to it. I've got a friend who works a 9-5 day job, and is happy enough in his role. But where he truly comes alive is when he's supporting musicians at their gigs. I mean, this guy travels the length and breadth of Australia to support the artists he loves. He posts their music, buys their albums, goes to their shows and genuinely loves doing that. So much so that he was invited to be a special guest at the last Country Music Awards. It was his night of nights and I was delighted for him as he walked the red carpet and met his idols.

Do you see the difference? Fulfilling our purpose is what drives us to genuine happiness. Not our jobs, or our social standing, but living life truly as we were intended to. I am lucky that I have been able to combine my purpose with my career, but it may not be that way for you. Either way, to find true happiness we need to discover our purpose and devote time each day to fulfilling it. Even 30 minutes a day doing what we are called to do will add energy and focus to all the other things we do in our day. Investing even a small amount of time in our purpose will pay big dividends in everything else we do.

I encourage you to spend time discovering your own purpose. There are loads of books to guide you and I'll be adding these to my upcoming online reading library soon (just Google search in the meantime).

You can find Dr Ann Shivas at www.WELLEVATE.live ... I highly recommend her work for anyone wanting more out of life!

Be Peaceful,

Jay