Alyceum

Igniting Leaders, Inspiring Revolutions

Purpose

How to make the most of your day

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How you spend your days is how you spend your life. Time is the ultimate currency. We spend it on what we deem important or interesting, but sometimes it feels like we don’t gain anything in the end. Either we wasted time mindlessly watching or scrolling, got bogged down by mandatory tasks, or struggled to achieve our best.

It’s easy to get frustrated or stressed when this happens, but the only way to solve the problem is to rethink how and where we direct our time and attention. Here’s how you can start to maximise your day and get more of a return from your time.

Making time

We each get 24 hours. You can’t make more time in a day, but maybe we can structure each day so we feel accomplished without a mad rush? In their book Make Time, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky explain how you can slow down your day by carving out time for things you care about. Instead of doing more, you focus on things that will bring you a sense of satisfaction.

There are four steps to making time.

1. Highlight

Each morning choose a highlight, something that you want to focus on that day. Even if you have a day full of urgent tasks and long meetings, you should take 60-90 minutes for your highlight.

Adults spend an average of more than four hours watching TV or on social media each day, so most of us actually do have room for 60-90 minutes. Allowing your highlight to be the focal point of your day doesn’t take long, and it will give you something positive to look back on. Each day you will have done something important to you.

2. Laser

Avoid things that draw your attention away from your highlight. Distractions prevent you from entering a state of laser focus, so you get less of a pay-off for the time you are trying to spend on your highlight. Think about what chews up your attention when you are trying to work. Is it your smartphone, other people, background noise or discomfort? Once you’ve identified your distractions, use strategies like keeping your smartphone out of sight, putting in some headphones with white noise or choosing an environment to best suit your purpose.

3. Energise

Stick to daily habits that improve your physiological health. This includes eating nutritious foods, staying hydrated, being active and sleeping well. We can be quick to neglect our bodies as soon as stress piles on. Healthy habits become less of a priority, which is to the detriment of our ability to make the most of each day. When you maintain daily habits that keep your body functioning well, your mind is freed up to attend to other things. Not only can you be more productive but enjoy the rewarding feeling of having looked after yourself!

4. Reflect

Look back on each day and learn from it. Each day provides you with data—your energy levels, emotions, appetite, productivity, interactions etc.—and you can treat the next day like an experiment based on this information.

  • What factors could have been influencing you today?
  • How do you think they helped or hindered you?
  • What does this tell you about how you should approach tomorrow?

Taking this analytical stance is a very helpful technique to avoid feeling like your day was a total waste if things didn’t go as planned. There is always something to be learned!

Attention

Another vital part of getting the most out of your day is learning how to direct and restore your attention.

Attention restoration theory, developed by professors of environmental psychology, Rachel and Stephan Kaplan, gives us two modes of attention:  Directed attention and effortless attention, also called fascination.

The Kaplans point out that our directed attention mode becomes fatigued over time. This is why a long drive can be exhausting. Even though our bodies aren’t working hard, certain day-to-day tasks require a sustained effort to focus attention on one thing and shut out other distractions.

So, how can we first maintain directed attention well enough to complete work (even the boring stuff), then rest properly when the time comes? Resolve emotional turmoil through productive reflection

Author of Focus and Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman explains that emotional turmoil is one of the biggest challenges for people trying to direct their attention. It could be an upcoming event you are stressed about, a troubling relationship or any other personal problem. According to Goleman, productive reflection is the best way to get over this hurdle and regain control of your attention.

Productive reflection means stopping, reflecting and resolving those thoughts that keep creeping in and distracting you rather than letting them continue to stew. These thoughts draw our attention because we know they need to be dealt with through action or simply processing their emotional impact. Give it a go if you find yourself struggling to be attentive; is there something that might be causing you emotional turmoil? What is the best way to move past this?

Use your rest time wisely to really rejuvenate

Do you go straight to screens when you have time to rest, watching TV and movies, scrolling social media?

Even though it doesn’t require any effort to pay attention to a TV show, spending rest time on screens will actually do nothing to reduce mental fatigue. You may be resting your body, but your mind is fully occupied for hours on end.  This is called hard fascination.

Attention restoration theory tells us that there are two types of fascination: hard fascination and soft fascination. Neither states require much effort to sustain, however, hard fascination takes up all of your mental bandwidth.

On the other hand, soft fascination leaves room for reflection and contemplation. This is necessary for your mind to unwind and restore after a period of directed attention. Thoughts are able to arise and settle during rest times instead of work times.

Natural environments are recognised as a wonderful source of soft fascination as they effortlessly hold our attention while leaving room for other mental processes. Natural environments are a perfect setting for rest time because they are accessible, extensive and separate from workspaces.

Next time you feel mentally fatigued, rest by walking through a garden or park, going to a river or beach, or even just looking out the window for a few minutes! This is going to allow your attentional abilities to restore which is going to make the most of your rest time and improve your productivity later.

In Summary

Sometimes it feels like we just need an extra hour or two in the day to feel satisfied with what we can get done, but that’s never going to happen. Instead, we just need to be conscious of how the use of our time influences how we feel about each day.

Your steps to maximising your day are:

  1. Set your highlight
  2. Eliminate distractions from your highlight
  3. Take care of your body
  4. Learn from each day
  5. Allow yourself to deal with emotional turmoil
  6. Rest effectively

These are all choices you can make throughout your day that will add up. Challenge yourself to make more of a return on your time and feel more satisfied at the end of each day!

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

How to achieve your goals with the WOOP method

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Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 July and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

We all love an inspiring vision board – but is it really going to help you achieve your goals? We sit there daydreaming of what we would love to have happen in our life. But is it time well spent or just a waste of time?

I’m all for getting clear about the vision you have for your life, work project, or business. But some people get so wrapped up in the visualisation of their goal – they forget about how to get there. Do you focus on the process or the end outcome of your goals?

Gabriele Oettingen, a professor at New York University, developed a practical activity to help people achieve their goals. And visualising is only one part of the story! She breaks goal setting into four main parts and calls it WOOP.

 

The WOOP Method

Get your pen ready!

Wish – What is something you want to achieve? Make it specific and challenging – but also achievable.

Outcome – What will be the result or outcome of you achieving this wish? Imagine, visualise and feel what it will be like to achieve your wish.

Obstacle – Time to get realistic here! What could be the main barrier to you achieving your wish? It’s time to think about how it’s not going to work, and what obstacles or barriers may spring up.

Plan – You’ve brainstormed the challenges. Now it’s time to get that positive hat back on and make a plan to overcome the challenges! When these challenges pop up, this is the plan you turn to.

Now that I’ve outlined Gabriele’s model, I would like to add one more element. Let’s change WOOP into WOOPA!

Action – What is a small action you can take every single day to move toward reaching your wish?

 

Why I love this model

I love this model because it busts some serious goal setting myths.

1. Vision boards are really popular. But I think they can sometimes have the opposite effect. When you only imagine your goals and aspirations, it can soon turn destructive if you can’t achieve it. The more time we spend thinking about our goals, as if we’ve achieved them, it can downplay our sense of motivation to actually achieve them!

2. Another popular saying in goal setting is to “always think positive.” The trouble with this is that any goal worth achieving is going to encounter challenges. We need to dive into the obstacles that we might face to consider innovative ways around it.

3. Focus on the process – not the overall goal. Once you have a clear sense of your vision, then focus your attention on the daily actions required to achieve it. Make this your focal point and get good at smashing the everyday activities needed for your success. Yes, it’s not as alluring as focusing on your big goal – but it will make all the difference in actually achieving it!

 

Same Goal, Different Approach

Even the biggest goals can be broken down into small actionable tasks. Take the NaMoWriMo Challenge for example. Every November, thousands of writers globally challenge themselves to write a book in a month. 50,000 words is the target.

Now you may be thinking, “50,000 words – that’s huge!” But if you break it down, it’s just 1,667 words each day for 30 days.

Small but consistent action can be really powerful. When you focus on the daily action, the results will take care of themselves. Dare to try?

 

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Five ways purpose can help in tough times

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Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 25 February and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

The reality is everyone experiences tough times in their lives. The trick is to build your resiliency so the tough times don’t beat you! One thing that you’ll often find common in resilient people is the presence of purpose in their lives. That’s right – having a purpose in life can help! No one’s life journey is without detours, failures, setbacks, and challenges. Whether it is work challenges, anxiety, stress, unstable personal life, health challenges or family issues, having a purpose makes it all easier to bear.

5 ways purpose can help in tough times

1. Purpose Gives Us Clarity

Don’t get me wrong, having a purpose won’t solve your problems and it won’t ward off the tough times either (sorry). A purpose simply provides you with clarity when everything else might be spiralling out of control.

In his book, Rick Warren says, “when life makes sense, you can bear almost anything; without it, everything is unbearable.”

This clarity driven by purpose will make you unstoppable. Come rain or shine, you know what you want and nothing can sway you from it. You’ll see the obstacles only make you stronger and help you achieve your goals.

2. Purpose Leads to Emotional Recovery

University of Wisconsin’s Department of Psychology, conducted a study to find out the correlation between purpose and negative emotions.

The study discovered that having a purpose in life, helps us reframe stressful situations and allow us to deal with them in a more productive manner–leading to recovery from even severe stressful and traumatic episodes in life.

“How might higher levels of purpose in life contribute to the ability to recover from aversive and unpleasant events? Additional research is needed. However, having greater purpose in life may provide motivation to constructively learn from and reappraise negative events in an adaptive manner and avoid brooding and ruminative tendencies, so as to quickly refocus on one’s goals and purpose.”

Like the study suggests, a purpose in life allows us to build up a resilience muscle that keeps us strong even during hard times. You won’t find purpose-driven people being gloomy and ominous during challenging times, you’ll find them directing all their energy and focusing on recalibrating!

3. Purpose Gives Us a Greater Will to Live

Wow – this is impressive!

One study researched the connection between purpose with our physical, biological and neural health and what did they find…

“The present results showed that higher purpose in life was associated with greater use of preventive health care services and fewer overnight hospitalisations above and beyond the effects attributable to depression, anxiety, and negative affect. This outcome underscores the important point that psychological strengths, such as having meaning and direction in one’s life, involves more than being free from emotional distress.”

So greater purpose can encourage us to utilise preventative health care services and less hospital visits. That sounds good to me!

4. Purpose Helps Us Make Decisions and Smart Ones at that

“Like a compass, purpose offers direction for individuals when making decisions and formulating life goals.” – McKnight and Kashdan, 2009

Stuck on what decisions to make in life?

Researchers, McKnight and Kashdan “proposed five roles that purpose in life fulfils, namely: stimulating behavioural consistency, generating target motivated behaviours, stimulating psychological flexibility, fostering efficient personal resources allocation, and applying higher-level cognitive processing.”

In short – when we have a purpose in life, we are able to execute stable thinking processes and instead of taking impulsive decisions out of grief or stress or anxiety; we make smarter decisions.

5. Purpose Gives Us Hope

Last one is my favourite!

Purpose gives us goals, and goals give us hopes of achieving it with hard work and commitment. It motivates you to set higher expectations for yourself and your future.

In the book, Making Hope Happen, author Shane Lopez shares that having hope can be broken down into three areas: Goals, Agency and Pathways.

You have a goal to inspire you, the agency to believe you can achieve it and the pathways to know that no matter what obstacles you face, you’ll get there.

Time to seek your purpose?

Finding out the purpose of your life has the potential to change everything.

You’re clear about what you truly want and desire in your life, you know what matters to you, and you are constantly striving for that goal. It serves as a strong base in your life and whatever comes at you, this base will always be there to support you lest you fall.

Are you ready to be guided through a self discovery process to understand yourself so you can get on with the important work of cultivating your best self and improving the world around you? Register now for the Purpose Masterclass.

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Four practical experiences to help you form your life purpose

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Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 January and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

For years I’ve been helping people uncover a truly meaningful purpose in life.  There are a number of truly wonderful reflective (research based) activities you can do to demystify purpose, break it down, understand it and start to form it for yourself. This is your life’s work to keep focused on it and refine it to give you meaning in your life.

I love it so much that I developed a three week online course about it called the Purpose Masterclass, where I walk through through these reflective activities as well as practical challenges to get you not only thinking and reflecting but talking with others, stretching yourself and doing stuff – to help you uncover your purpose in life!

In this post, I wanted to share four practical activities that will help you in your journey to purpose as they have done in mine.

1. Volunteer

“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.” – Kofi Annan, seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Volunteering has been the BIGGEST pathway to purpose for me. I started volunteering as a ten year old in my school environment club and I’ve never stopped. The picture to the right is me at my first international conference representing my community project and country!

It’s allowed me to see the challenges in the world and focus on how I can contribute to them. It’s given me a platform to develop my skills and master my strengths. It’s offered me the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with some incredible people from around the world! The list goes on.

Finding a cause that it not focused on you but other people (or animals or our environment) taps into a deep force of energy in our lives.

How to start?

  1. There are many websites that can connect you with volunteering opportunities. If you have no idea where to start – try a few out to see what really connects and engages you.
  2. See if your family, friends or workplace are involved in any volunteering projects.
  3. Get a group of friends together and find a place to volunteer as a group.

 

2. Travel abounds

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustav Flaubert, French novelist.

Whether it’s a regional town in Western Australia, a very large city in China or the regional communities of Italy, my travels have taught me so much and maybe most importantly it’s taught me that how I live is not the only way to live.

There is a huge world out there. Taking the time to explore how people live their lives gives us greater understanding of our own culture, values and norms. It highlights our own worldview and hopefully allows us to gently uncover how you came to that worldview.

Another way that you can do this in your own backyard is to meet people who are different to you. Perhaps from a different culture or religion. Attend the multicultural festivals, eat at different restaurants, explore the different cultural museums. In Western Australia (my home town), we have the incredible Museum for Freedom and Tolerance facilitating powerful experiences to break down barriers and invite curiosity and learning.

How to start?

  1. Be a tourist in your own city.
  2. Learn about another culture.
  3. Pick up a novel that takes you to another place.

 

3. Experience (or create your own) art

“Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness.” – Anni Albers, German-born American textile artist and printmaker.

We are all artists, remember that! Music, art, theatre, comedy or dance to name just a few.

These experiences get us out of our heads and into our bodies. It’s an opportunity to truly be in the present moment – without worrying about the past or the future. To just be! This is the transformative power of the arts.

Art gives us a safe place to challenge boundaries and learn through being part of an absorbing experiences. The creativity of art gives us inspiration in our own lives and helps us fully tap into the human experience.

I love how art organisations are continually stepping up and give us transforming experiences to share with our friends and family. I can highly recommend Perth Symphony Orchestra and the WA Ballet in my hometown.

How to start?

  1. Go visit the Art Gallery, see a play, go to a concert or comedy show.
  2. Get into art yourself – sign up for an art class, dance class or do some improv!
  3. Listen to different music than you usually would – jazz, African, hip hop or classical.

 

4. Revel in Nature

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” – Rachel Carson, marine biologist, author, and conservationist.

There was nothing like hiking up the mountain to Tiger’s Nest (Paro Takstang) to the sacred Buddhist site and temple located on the cliffside of Paro Valley in Bhutan (see the pic above at the half way point to Tiger’s Nest which you can see in the distance on the side of the cliff). The natural environment has a transformative power to invigorate. The good thing is you don’t even need to go to Bhutan to experience this. The beach, stars, trees, waterways and connection to animals can do this for us too.

Nature improves our mental health. It helps us to think clearly. It encourages us to breathe deeply. My friend Erika runs beautiful walking tours in Margaret River and around the world.

Nature creates this space for mindfulness. It encourages movement and increases the use of our senses – touch, smell, sound and sight.

The trouble is that we are too disconnected from nature in modern society. We forget about its transformative nature. We wonder why we lack clarity when we are cooped up in buildings all day every day.

How to start?

  1. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Observe the rhythms of nature.
  2. Find a short walk or hike close to home.
  3. Find your natural environment happy place – is it at the beach, under the trees, near a river, the outback, in a park or out under the stars.

 

Get started today

And this is just four practical experiences to help you find and live your true purpose in life! These practical experiences can support and inspire the self reflection and awareness needed to defining your purpose in life.

If you’re ready to discover your own purpose in life, register for the guide below to guide you through the purpose-creating process!

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Are some purposes better than others?

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Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 January and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

Ok, I want to get straight to the point here – do you think some life purposes are better than others? It’s a topic you want to get right, but how much time do we invest in it to consider? Instead we head straight into our careers and lives without understanding if it’s important.

Emily Esfahani, author of The Power of Meaning: The True Route to Happiness, highlighted in her book:

“In the late sixties, the top priority of college freshmen was ‘developing a meaningful life philosophy.” Nearly all of them – 86% – said this was an ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ life goal. By the 2000s, their top priority became ‘being very well off financially’ while just 40% said meaning was their chief goal.”

No wonder there often comes a time when you wonder what the point of life is and perhaps go in search of something meaningful to you.

Four types

In his book, Noble Purpose – The Joy of Living a Meaningful Life, William Damon, people fall into one of the four categories.

1. The Disengaged (and non-purposeful)

People in this category show no engagement to others. They have no interests and activities that involves anything other than themselves.

2. The Dreamers

The dreamers are pro at dreaming. They have ideas and notions about themselves but these dreams never see the light of day. The dreamers never do anything to enact their ideas, not in the present and not in the future.

3. The Dabblers

The dabblers dabble in everything, but temporarily. Their resume consists of several pages in which they seem to have experimented with everything under the sun. And yet, nothing lasts because they lack the commitment, the driving force that will make them stick.

4. The Purposeful

These people have become aware of something that truly matters to them, they have discovered the reason behind their passion, and they have committed to stay with this thing for a long time. All their actions are towards that one thing that now matters to them and will continue to matter to them.

Damon’s research of 1,200 12 – 26 year olds found that only 20% of people fell into the category of purposeful. He found that the majority of people fell into the dreamer (25%) or dabbler (30%) category which have the most potential to find their purpose.

What’s the true meaning of purpose?

A life purpose is a central motivating aim in our lives. The thing that means the most to us, the very thing that makes us get out of bed every morning.

A purpose can help guide your decisions, give you a sense of direction, removes the feeling of confusion and being lost. It influences our behaviour, and most importantly it creates meaning.

The purpose is also different for every single person. One person’s life purpose could be their vocation and to achieve certain goals within that vocation. For another person, it could be providing a good life for their family. Since purpose is quite personal, it cannot be compared to another person’s purpose.

In that regard, one’s purpose is never better than the others.

However, when you compare your own goals and aims in life and how you are drawn to it, then indeed some purposes are better than others.

What purposes to focus on

So just to re-iterate, we are not comparing your purpose with others. All of our lives are different, our stories are different and that is why our purposes are different too. We are comparing the purposes you can focus on in your life.

 

  • A prosocial purpose is better than a non-prosocial purpose

Research describes prosocial behavior as an “action primarily intended to benefit others”.

So, respectfully, let’s forget about you for a moment! Sometimes our ego can catch us thinking out when our purpose becomes all about us!

A better purpose would be something that involves helping, donating, sharing, creating, and volunteering for others.

 

  • A purpose with vertical coherence is better than the purpose lacking it

In his book, The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt discusses the concept of vertical coherence.

According to the research, Haidt drew the conclusion that all the emotionally happy and healthy people have short-term goals that align neatly with their long-term goals–hence the vertical coherence.

So having our purpose align with our daily or even yearly goals is important. Our short term goals may give us clues as to a more overarching purpose in our life.

Are your goals in alignment?

 

  • A purpose that comes from intrinsic motivation is better than an extrinsic one

A purpose based on what others think, the craving for fame, for beauty and fortune is not as helpful as the purpose that is drawn from intrinsic motivation. Your intrinsic motivation comes from connecting with others, giving back and learning and developing yourself as a person.

This is associated with eudaimonia, a Greek concept that refers to the right actions that result in the well-being and happiness of an individual.

When your purpose is based on morals, ethics, goodness, and kindness as opposed to conforming to extrinsic factors then you can truly achieve eudaimonia.

 

  • A purpose based on calling is better than a purpose based on career

Now don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of people get a lot of meaning from their work and career. It’s sometimes good to question – why is that? For example, some people get a lot of external validation from their work – money, status or money – which drives them to focus on their careers.

My question for you is does this lifestyle allow you to exercise and take care of you physically, mentally and emotionally? Does it give you time with your loved ones, your partner and children? Does it allow you to give back to your community? What happens when you retire and your children have grown old? Will you look back and be proud of the life you’ve led?

I want you to push yourself to think bigger than just your career and focus on your calling.

Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor at Yale School of Management describes a person with a calling as someone who works not for financial gain or career advancement but instead for the fulfilment that doing the work brings and its usefulness to society.

Not all purposes are created equal

Taking the time to consider your purpose and the motivations behind it can have such a positive effect on your life and wellbeing. In a world that is often feeding you down a pathway of fame, fortune and beauty, it’s important to consciously choose the life you want to live. If you need guidance you’re more than welcome to check out my new Purpose Masterclass.

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Finding your Purpose in a Noisy and Distracted World

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Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 January and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

“All change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few people start talking with one another about something they care about.” – Margaret Wheatley

Finding and living your purpose is more important than ever in a world that can lack meaning and connection. But how often do we truly focus our attention on what’s important to us?

Do you feel a little lost at times? What about turning up the volume on your inner voice and work on a purpose that resonates with you.

I’m going to be honest, it’s not easy. Like any type of self reflection work, it is work! The answers won’t all come immediately. You do have to work at it and it will take time. You can continue to evolve it too, it will become your life’s work. But it is nice to think about the body of work you want to create in the world.

Before you jump into the three powerful activities below, I have a few smaller recommendations to get you started:

• Get out into nature more. Less screens and walls means you can breathe more deeply, get more oxygen into your bloodstream and connect back with you. Research says that nature helps our heads as well as our bodies stay healthy. You know the feeling you get after a walk or hike in the bush, a stroll on the beach or a day at the river. Diarise nature time to clear your head.
• Insights and understanding come with time. Set up a habit to reflect often. Just like any other skill or habit, it will take time to get into your reflection flow. The great news is those who take the time to reflect are better learners, happier people and more productive. Join me at the next Alyceum Live online gathering for reflection, inspiration and connection on the 28 January using the coupon bemyguest (First time user only).
• Move your body. The insights can come when we move, that’s what our bodies were made to do! It gets the blood pumping and gives you inspiration. Exercise is not only crucial to physical health, but it’s good for your head too.

Purpose Activity 1: Identify and Utilise your Signature Strengths

Living your strengths each and every day can be one of the most powerful strategies you have to creating a life of meaning, happiness and personal success.

Martin Seligman, Professor and founder of the University of Penn’s Positive Psychology Centre, has invested in a huge amount of research into the benefits of identifying and living your strengths as a way of living a flourishing life. They have developed an online (free) survey to identify your top 5 character strengths. (Head to Questionnaires and check out the VIA Character Strengths Survey).

These researchers found 6 universal virtues, which can be broken down into 24 core strengths. Here’s a look at the 24:

  • Courage: Bravery, Perseverance, Honesty and Zest
  • Wisdom: Creativity, Curiosity, Critical thinking, love of learning and perspective
  • Humanity: Love, Kindness and Social intelligence
  • Justice: Teamwork, Fairness and Leadership
  • Temperance: Appreciation of Beauty, Gratitude, Hope, Humour and Spirituality

Personally, I’ve gained much over the years by reflecting on my key strengths and incorporating them more and more into my life. It makes me happy when I get to use my strengths and it brings me a sense of purpose. Understanding my key strengths has given me an awareness of my leadership superpowers too. My strengths (and my unique mix of strengths) as my leadership brand and people get to know me for my strengths.

Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath, authors of the bok, The Power of Character Strengths shared that there are telltale signs to know what is a signature strength of yours. There are three tell tale signs: Essential (It’s a core part of who you are as a person), Effortless (It feels natural and evokes a sense of flow when you’re using it) and Energising (It lifts you up and makes you feel happy).

For those playing along at home, my top strengths are hope, zest, gratitude, leadership and creativity. What’s yours?

A note to beware– after mentoring many people to focus on their strengths, the catch is that people see their strengths as so easy or commonplace that they dismiss their power. You might think – how is this my superpower? Isn’t everyone good at this? This is nothing special. The simple answer is NO! Not everyone has this strength. How can you deepen your mastery of this strength, practice it deliberately and enhance its use in your life?

Purpose Activity 2: Understand your Hedgehog

This concept was highlighted in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, and is based on the ancient Greek parable about the hedgehog and the fox. The story goes, despite all the tactics of the fox, the hedgehog always wins because it knows how to do one thing really well and that’s defend itself (think roll in a ball of spikes!).

So this model asks you to think about the intersection of three questions:

1. What are you great at? These are your strength areas! Focus on them, practice them, improve them and know them! What can you be best in the world at?
2. What does the world need? What will people pay for? Or what does the world need and are willing to pay for?
3. What are you deeply passionate about? What makes you curious? What do you love or brings you joy? What’s important to you?

Now spend a bit of time to consider these questions individually – think of them as three circles in a venn diagram. Then the interesting part is finding something that intersects all three of these. According to Jim Collins’s book, organisations that have focused on one thing (the intersection of these three questions) and done it really well, outperform all their competitors and stand the test of time.

What’s in the intersection for you?

Purpose Activity 3: Focus on the Intrinsic Motivators

In life, you can easily get caught up with, as author Brian Johnson would call it, ‘society’s candy’. Which is when there is an over-emphasis on our extrinsic motivators – namely fame, fortune and how you look. It’s okay to focus a little on these things but an over-emphasis can actually, at worst, make you depressed. Yes, that’s right. If you are living the rat race where you are continually focused on material wealth, chasing fame and focusing on what you look for appearance sake – you are in danger of having poorer mental health because of it.

Instead, it’s best to reorient yourself to focus on areas that intrinsically motivate us – fostering strong relationships,

learning and growth, and contributing to a community. It’s been found that people who are motivated by these intrinsic motivators are more likely to be healthy and have higher self esteem.

When you look at your goals this year and in life, what is driving them? Is it about status, power, money or comparison?

Or is it about how you can learn and grow as a person, or the people who mean the most to you, or how you can give back to a greater purpose in life? It is so interesting to use this filter when you come across advertising. You start to see the extrinsic motivators that advertisers use to try and get you to buy their product. Where does your focus truly lie?

Last word

My last word is this – no one is going to do this important work for you. It’s up to you to take responsibility for clarifying your purpose in life and living a more meaningful existence.

We live in a really lucky time (and place) in the world where we can focus on meaning and purpose in our life. Don’t underestimate the power of these simple reflection activities. Join me on social media and share your purpose!

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