Daily Changes You Can Make to Live A Life of Purpose

Have you ever felt like there was more to life than what you are experiencing? Have you ever wondered about the reason for your existence, or life for that matter? I have! 

Introduction

When I was a child, I looked around me and wondered why the adults I knew seemed to live life each day in a circle. They woke up, did the same things every day, and went to bed at night. I even wondered why they made us children live almost the same way. 

Don’t get me wrong! I had fun times as a child, was dearly loved, and enjoyed my family and friends, yet, still felt like something was missing. I grew up and did everything I was expected to do. I went to school, got good grades, got good jobs, and had what seemed like a good life, yet the same feeling persisted. 

I knew I had not hit the nail that was bugging me on the head. I knew something was missing, but didn’t know what. I started to withdraw from social activities, minimized my social interactions, and became more pensive and introspective. I needed to know what I was missing. I have only one life, and I need to live it well.

I needed answers to life. I had become a parent. What answers will I give to my children when they ask questions? I hadn’t even figured out life myself. One day, I said, "You know what? I need to know. What am I missing and why?" My journey of inquiry started. In the course of my journey, I realized I was searching for purpose and meaning. Simply put, "Why am I here?"  

Initially, I thought I was the only one interested in such a question, but I discovered several others were also on this quest. I did get some answers. 

I have decided to share my journey and some of the answers I got. Hopefully, it will help many others save time and effort in discovering their purpose so people can live a more fulfilled and peaceful life with minimal regrets.

If any of these challenges I experienced resonates with you, you are in good company. I wouldn’t want anyone to waste years searching for purpose and meaning as I did. I want you to live a blessed and fulfilled life now. So, come with me on this journey, and let’s share perspectives and learn together as we take steps to win in life. 

Some of the experiences I will list below are pointers to a lack of purpose and direction in a person's life. If you experience any of them, you might feel overwhelmed addressing them. You don't have to feel pressured to make big changes at once. Daily incremental changes will improve your life in ways that make a difference. 

I learned the strategy of making daily incremental changes toward your preferred life. That is what this blog aims to do. Provide practical, bite-sized daily steps you need to take to build value into your life and help you discover purpose.

Pointers to a Lack of Purpose and Direction

You need to know where you are currently before starting any journey. Do you understand your current state and what it means? If you experience any of the situations listed below, it could mean that you’re searching for purpose and meaning in your life. As you read through, see if you can identify with any of them. If yes. Not to worry, as suggestions on how to tackle each situation are listed in the next section.

These situations are;

• Feelings of Emptiness and Dissatisfaction:

• Your life can feel meaningless without a sense of purpose, leading to chronic dissatisfaction and a sense of emptiness. When you discover your purpose, you wake up energized. When there is a feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction, it could mean that you are searching for meaning in life. This could influence you into negative behaviors. Like they say, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. When you do not live energized, you might fill the gap with unhealthy behaviors such as binge-eating, binge-watching TV, and even substance or alcohol abuse in extreme cases as a way to cope with feelings of emptiness and lack of direction.
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• Increased Anxiety and Depression:

• When you experience prolonged feelings of emptiness, it can contribute to or increase depression. You might feel your life is going nowhere, even when you are looking busy. Lacking a sense of control over your life and uncertainty about the future can trigger anxiety and lead to increased stress levels.

• Loss of Motivation:

• You might find it difficult to find motivation to engage in activities or pursue goals when there's no clear sense of direction. This could affect the way you show up at work, your performance in a team, or your ability to deliver on strict deadlines. Even self-care can be compromised when you feel there’s nowhere special you’re going to.

• Increased Stress:

• You are stressed when you see time going by with minimal achievements and accomplishments to show for it. You allow complacency to take over after a few successful efforts that are not followed through, thereby making you appear unserious and uncommitted. This can impact the way you show up in things. There’s no fire, and your efforts are below par because there is no drive.

• Procrastination and Avoidance:

• You could be experiencing difficulty making decisions and always second-guessing yourself when you do. You are never sure of your actions or feel it might not be worth it, which can lead to chronic procrastination and avoidance of responsibilities.

• Drifting Through Life:

• You might find yourself just going through the motions of life without any real joy or fulfillment, which could lead to relationship difficulties because you come across as ambitionless and underproductive. You might even be tempted to withdraw from social interaction, compromise your relationships, and possibly struggle to connect with others.

These are just some of the ways a lack of purpose and direction can manifest itself in your life.

However, there is good news as there are practical steps you can implement daily and even immediately to get you out of that space. I believe in baby steps. Gradual incremental steps you can take even today. Nothing heavy but intentional and result-oriented.

Daily Steps To Live with Purpose

So, let’s look at the suggestions below on how to tackle the issues identified in the list above and see what you can do immediately after reading this post to kick-start your journey to purposeful living, one step at a time.

• How to Tackle Feelings of Emptiness and Dissatisfaction:

• To tackle feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction, sit back when you are free. Relax and calm yourself, maybe in the night when everyone is asleep or early in the morning before they rise. Quietly scan through your life and identify one action you took or activity you participated in that helped someone else but made you happy. Relive that event again and find out why it made you happy. What was it about it that made it an enjoyable experience for you? Tell yourself that you have what it takes to impact another person's life. Meaning you're important and the world needs what you have to offer. It is your responsibility to make the world a better place through your gifts. If you have helped someone before, you can help another person again. You don't need to help everyone in every area of life. You only need to help in that one area where you have the gift to help. Gifts are specialized and tailored to specific persons and situations. Find an opportunity to repeat a similar act for someone else. Just one act only. Focus and build on the ability you displayed in that circumstance. It could be your superpower; step in any time such help is needed again.

• How to Tackle Increased Anxiety and Depression:

• To tackle anxiety and depression, try not to think about the distant future and all the bad news out there. Control your environment and what comes into your consciousness. You have control over what you see, hear, eat, say, or where you go. Turn off the radio and TV, if you don't like what's on them, and listen to the news only twice a day. Once in the morning to gauge the environment before you step out, and once at night to be sure nothing else happened during the day. The same with your email. Try not to scroll through social media always. You’re bound to see what can upset you and make you panic. Check your social media on a need-to basis to keep in contact with your network healthily. Keep depressing news out as much as possible. Listen to and read calming, educational, and inspirational content to build up your spirit, soul, and body. You can learn about self-care, health, and personal finance. You can build up your digital skills to prepare you for opportunities that might come knocking. Keep yourself occupied with what you enjoy doing as you build value for yourself. You have what it takes to control your world. Live courageously and say “No” to what you don’t want and “Yes” to what you want.

• How to Tackle Loss of Motivation:

• Tackle loss of motivation by building something you love into your day. Structure it as a reward for achieving one important goal for that day. Have a work goal and a personal goal mapped out each day. Let’s say you like watching movies. Instead of binge-watching them or watching movies in your free time, you can structure a daily movie time of 2 hours for yourself after reading two chapters of a book on personal finance to build up your financial skills and knowledge. Try not to rush over the two chapters, but read them thoroughly to gain insight into your finances. You can jot down notes and relate them to what you will immediately apply. After building value in yourself, you can then relax and watch your movie for two hours only, and get back to a work goal for the day. So, you accomplish a work goal and a personal goal for each day. You can either use a planner or create a manual To-Do list with pen and paper the day before, of what you would like to do the day after. Identify key results you want to see each day. You will become motivated as you intentionally plan your day and protect your time.

• How to Tackle Increased Stress:

• To tackle stress, look at any area of your life that is not doing as well as you expect. Let’s say you’re having difficulty at work. Maybe you’re showing up late because of personal challenges, thereby causing you to have a poor evaluation, which might impact your promotion.  You can look at one thing that could move the needle in your favor. Just one thing. You can decide to get up an hour earlier each day to make it to work on time. You could make it a goal to be conquered, which gives you a reason to beat the clock. You could turn that goal into a personal challenge to keep you moving forward. Showing up earlier can start yielding productive fruits at work that minimize stress in your life, giving you a sense of accomplishment. As you feel more in control at your workplace, you might find the inner strength to tackle the personal challenge.

• How to Tackle Procrastination and Avoidance:

• Trust in yourself. One way to go is to make informed decisions. Find out more about the direct benefits to you and your loved ones, and the likely pros and cons of whatever action you need to take.  Trust your instincts also and quickly run through your mind the worst-case scenario, opportunity cost, and likely benefits, if any, before you commit. You do not have to feel a particular way to decide on anything. Think in terms of what needs to be done in every situation and the best course to take in the sight of God and man, then do it. Make that decision and be responsible for it. With time, you will develop confidence in yourself and a sense of control over your circumstances as you steer the ship of your life.

• How to Tackle Drifting Through Life:

• Instead of drifting through life, decide to do anything that comes easily your way and do it well. I always teach about the low-hanging fruit of life. For instance, you might need to boost your finances but find yourself in a situation where the only work available to you is something you don't like to do. It is an opportunity. My suggestion would be to take a deep breath and do it. There is dignity in labor, and whatever your hand finds to do, you should do it. You do not need to discover a purpose to keep busy. For example, you could be looking for a particular job in your area of expertise, meanwhile the work available is in an industry you don’t understand. Instead of rejecting it and drifting along, hoping to get something better, I advise that you grab that opportunity and educate yourself on it. It could lead to your self-discovery in ways that you could not have imagined. Many people have found purpose in serendipity. Life has an uncommon twist whereby you can find yourself in a place you never expected, only to thank yourself later for taking the leap. As long as that opportunity is not a dangerous one, you can give it a try and maybe learn something new about yourself. In the pathway of life, I have discovered that the way is sprinkled with low-hanging fruits that are, at times, designed to pull you in the direction you should go. So, don’t drift, but take a leap of faith.

Conclusion

Life is designed as a journey, and the search for purpose is woven into it. You are expected to search for it. Otherwise, life would have handed us a blueprint for our lives at birth. 

All I have done above is provide some helpful tips to tackle certain challenging situations you might experience as you seek purpose and direction, so you can live with intention and purpose each day. 

The search for purpose is not an outward search but an inward search meant to discover the “you” within you. 

Join me as we discuss finding your purpose in my subsequent posts.