“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.” – Steve Maraboli
Did you know statistics show that over 90% of people have a job they don’t like? Think about that. Why do so many of us end up falling into a career we don’t love?
I believe it’s because most people don’t know how to find, believe and achieve their greatest purpose.
And that’s what my mission is – to teach every single child of God how to be their best self so they can live the life of their dreams.
On top of the 8 steps I’m about to tell you, to achieve your greatest purpose you need to constantly remember these three things:
(1) dream every day,
(2) believe in the dream every day, and
(3) work on the dream every day.
8 Steps to Achieving Your Greatest Purpose
Step 1 – Write the specific, measurable goal down with a deadline.
This is how you dream every day. It’s by focusing your dream into a clear, measurable SMART goal that gives you the direction you need to succeed.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and have a timetable. For example, instead of writing “I want to be a filmmaker someday,” my S.M.A.R.T. goal says “I want to produce one feature film as measured by that film being released on Amazon.com and available for the public to purchase by
For example, instead of writing “I want to be a filmmaker someday,” my S.M.A.R.T. goal says “I want to produce one feature film as measured by that film being released on Amazon.com and available for the public to purchase by December, 2017.
Step 2 – Create your mission statement.
This is your WHY. Having a clear reason WHY you need to achieve your greatest purpose will give you the motivation you need to get things done. Why do you have to achieve this dream? What will go wrong if you don’t? What are the stakes?
Step 3 – Paint the Vision.
Step into your success, step into your future and write down what your life will look like when you’ve achieved your goal. How will you feel? What will you see? How many people’s lives are better because you succeeded? What’s in your bank account? What does your house look like? What does your daily schedule look like? Write that down.
Step 4 – Figure out the resources you have right now to get started.
What in your life right now can you use to get started on your goal? Most people don’t realize they already have everything they need RIGHT NOW to get started pursuing their goals. What are the resources you have access to that you haven’t tapped into yet? School? Work? Counselor? Church pastor? Family members?
Step 5 – Do the Research.
Find out the successful strategies that worked for other people, and then evaluate those strategies to see which ones you can try with the resources you have now. For example, if my goal is to start my own business and earn 7 figures within the next 5 years, I can hop on Google.com and research strategies to earn a million dollars in 5 years.
After looking through the options, I decide the potential strategies that interest me are through the real estate market, by opening my own bookstore, or by starting my own online business.
To go into real estate, there are a bunch of licenses and education required that I don’t currently have. So that strategy doesn’t work for me. For a physical bookstore, I would need financial capital that I don’t currently have. So that strategy doesn’t work for me. But for an online business, I need less than $1000 and a validated idea to start. With my current resources, option 3 is the strategy I can actually try right now.
Do the research to figure out what strategy you can take using the resources you have RIGHT NOW.
Step 6 – Create a to-do list (or “an action plan”).
Break down your strategy into a 30-step action plan. Then pull two to three items from it each day and use your success planner to slowly make progress.
Break down your strategy into a 30-step action plan. Then pull two to three items from it each day and use your success planner to slowly make progress.
Step 7 – Start walking.
You will fail. Everybody fails. That is a statistical certainty. Everybody fails before they succeed. The point is that new opportunities come from the failure.
God prepares you for your success in the failure. So embrace it. Learn from it. That’s what the success planner is for. For you to reflect on it and think about what you will do better. Then forgive yourself and move on. Don’t wallow in it for 2 years like I’ve done in my own life. Keep moving forward.
Step 8 – Rinse and repeat.
Failure will happen. Understand that it happens to everyone. The faster you accept this, the easier it’ll be to keep living your purpose. The point is to FAIL FORWARD. Pick a lesson up from what went wrong, then apply that lesson to the next action step.
Remember, this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. The way you make your purpose happen is one step at a time. That’s it. Just one more step.
If you do not quit, you will hit the finish line.
