How Does Knowing My Purpose Lead to Success?

"Your purpose explains what you are doing with your life. Your vision explains how you are living your purpose. Your goals enable you to realize your vision."
Bob Proctor

The relationship between purpose and vision affects whether or not we reach our goals. Each one of us has a purpose that is distinctly ours. The line of business that we have chosen should reflect that. Most of us try to find our dream job when we start out our careers. Others settle for what they can get until they find something better.

In the same way that you have found a successful career, you have followed a path that began with thoughts as to what you believed your purpose to be. Then, you moved on to the vision of what life could be professionally and personally. Finally, you reached the goals that you set out to accomplish, or you may still be on that path to accomplishment.

Are there areas of your business or career that represent challenges to you, where the goals seem elusive? I believe that I can assist you in targeting and attaining those goals.

How far would you get on a journey without an itinerary or plan? If you are going somewhere new, then you need a roadmap to follow. Otherwise, you could end up in a place you do not want to be or get stuck on a long detour that saps your resources. That can happen in your business and keep you from achieving the results you want.

Many people use a navigation system to get directions from where they are to where they want to go. The key to using it for the best results is to know where you are starting from and where you want to end up at the end of the trip. Setting goals that are really exciting and inspiring can be just the incentive to get us heading down the road.

I like one of the analogies that Bob Proctor uses. Imagine being dropped down from the sky with a parachute. You have a map stuffed in your pocket. Your destination is Denver, Colorado. However, if you do not know where you are; how are you going to where you are going?

You need to know that you are heading in the right direction to get to Denver, you may end up in Detroit or somewhere else you had not planned on being. The point is we need to do an honest appraisal of our strengths and weaknesses, and start looking for what we need to do so that we can achieve our goal for true success.

I have been on road trips where the map did not reflect current reality. I had to reassess my plan and adjust my directions in order to get to my destination. It is like taking a trip across the ocean on a ship. Each day, the actual location is confirmed. If they need to make a course adjustment in order to stay on the right track to get to their destination, they will make that correction.

Whatever stage your career is at currently, whether you are a manager or the CEO of your organization, you can be more than you are today. Rather than trying to navigate your course the old-fashioned way, finding your true north will give you a huge payoff.

As Napoleon Hill said in his book called Laws of Success, "What a different story people would have to tell if they would adopt a definite purpose and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming purpose." Not having a purpose is like being caught out at sea without a compass or a sextant. How do you find the way to your destination?

I have found that we do not just drift through life without picking up skills and finding out what we really enjoy doing. Finding those things that we are naturally good at is no accident. That is part of why we are here on Earth, to discover what our unique gifts are and then use them. Each person has a distinctive set of gifts and talents that is theirs alone. Yours may be similar to someone else, but no one has the exact combination that you were given.

You and I found our purpose by experimenting and working at different jobs or careers until we found the one that we could really identify with. If you are still not sure you have found yours, then I have a free tool that can help.

If you are working in a profession where you make good money but are not happy doing it, maybe you should take another look at what your purpose really is. You may be talented and enjoy something that you wanted to major in at college or that you worked at early in your twenties.

Then someone came along and told you that your choice was interesting to study, but you could never make money at it. I have found that statement is false. They wanted you to agree with them and do something else that they wanted for you, but let me repeat, it is not true. The fact is you can make money at anything that you love.

Ella Williams said, "Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it." The point I am trying to make is that part of leadership and developing your own professionalism is finding and knowing your purpose. Then you can see a vision of what life can be, and you can set goals in order to reach success. For more information on setting and achieving goals, please refer to Results: What Do Yours Say About You?