4 COMMON MISTAKES FINDING YOUR MISSION AND PURPOSE IN LIFE

life coaching Dec 21, 2022
4 Common Mistakes When Discovering Your Purpose / Mission

What is your life about?.....

What’s your purpose?.....

What kind of impact, mission, and legacy are you here to leave?.....

These can be very challenging questions to answer for many people.

Understanding your life mission and purpose is absolutely vital

When you are aligned with your life mission and purpose… 

There is deeper satisfaction, fulfillment, and passion each day.

Not to mention the fact that you will have unwavering personal power, self esteem, self worth, self confidence, and more…

It won’t fluctuate based on “how the areas of your life are going at the moment” 

So let’s discuss some common mistakes or traps that people make when searching for their life mission and purpose.

These are mistakes that I've seen many of my clients make who really struggle with finding their mission and purpose in life, which causes them to always feel a sense of emptiness…..

Feeling like something else is missing, not feeling whole, not feeling satisfied or fulfilled.

NOTE:

While having goals such as a good paying job, a career, a great physique, that new car, a house, a family etc are all fantastic goals to strive for…

These are not your true mission and purpose. 

Let’s put it this way…  when you are on your deathbed, how likely are you going to be saying 

 “if only I had gotten to 12% body fat and not just 15%”

You won’t. 

At the end of your life you are going to be more concerned about what kind of an impact you made, what legacy you left behind, how you will be remembered, if you lived life the way you wanted

 

MISTAKE #1: SUCCESS (OR MORE SUCCESS) IS YOUR MISSION

Over the years I've had the wonderful privilege of working with clients ranging from young teens all the way to multi 7 figure net worth entrepreneurs, CEOs and C suite staff of fortune 500 companies, private companies, busy professionals, doctors, lawyers, IT, and college students.

No matter what age, background, gender, or how successful they have become…..

Every one of them has suffered from feeling empty, unfulfilled, and without mission or purpose. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with VERY successful individuals who have told me “I’ve accomplished everything I've ever set out to do, and yet I still don’t feel happy or fulfilled” 

While success can be defined in many different ways, we are going to use the definition of success as “hitting your target goals” or “achieving your goals” 

Having goals and achieving them are completely fine and in fact it is VITAL to have new and larger goals that you are aspiring for.

However, we must understand that goals that are being pursued without a deeper meaning , mission, or purpose behind it will lead to achievement without fulfillment, which is the ultimate failure.

Look at it this way, if achieving more actually brought a greater sense of purpose, mission, and fulfillment, then by that very notion, you should be feeling better than you did 5, 10, 15+ years ago (assuming you are doing any bit better now than then).

My guess is that is not the case. 

The other problem with this theory of "i'll be more fulfilled / happy once I get X" is that as long as you are hitting your targets you will feel good....

But what happens when you don’t hit your goals?

You will feel without purpose or empty.

Your mission, purpose, and fulfillment should be unwavering and not determined by external results or outcomes. Something you can control at ALL TIMES.

MISTAKE #2 ATTACHING MISSION TO A CAREER OR A JOB 

A common mistake that most people make is thinking that their mission in life is attached to a job title or a career.

If they find that “perfect” career or job, then they will be living their mission and purpose and life will be incredible.

This is far from the facts.

In fact, I’ve worked with countless clients who have had incredible jobs and careers that are very aligned with their skills and passions and are the perfect careers for them…

And yet they still don’t understand their life mission or purpose or feel like they are living it out. They still feel empty, unfulfilled internally, and asking “what am i missing”

As we grow up we are constantly being asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?”.

Putting a lot of emphasis on “what we are doing” as if that is the end all be all.

Instead we should be asking “who do you want to become” when you grow up. 

This question starts to dig much deeper into “what do you value, what matters most to you, what are the characteristics you want to develop, how are you wanting to impact the world” 

While a job or career can be a great way of combining your skills, passions, and meeting your lifestyle requirements, it is NOT YOUR PURPOSE OR MISSION.

Your purpose and mission can be pursued and achieved through endless career options. Careers are simply vehicles that allow you to express your mission and purpose.

Finding ways to develop your mission and purpose through your work can make the perfect job or career take on greater fulfillment, and can make a job that you dislike have more satisfaction and fulfillment as you look for that next career move.

MISTAKE #3 THINKING YOUR PURPOSE HAS A DESTINATION

One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to figure out their purpose is thinking that there is a specific destination....

As if you could easily get there with google maps if you only had the address of where you needed to go.

Your mission and purpose isn’t at 100 main st. It isn’t at santa monica beach, california or West Palm Beach Florida.

It’s not a career or physique achievement....

It’s not retirement

It isn’t marriage or a family

Those are all goals, achievements, and duties. 

Goals have destination points, mission and purpose do not. 

There is no specific location to your mission or purpose.

You can reach every destination (goal) you set out for and still not arrive to your mission and purpose.

Your mission isn’t “what you are doing” it’s “how you are doing it”.

So instead of trying to figure out “what job to do” focus on “how you are doing that job” 

Our mission is about how we are doing something, it’s not about what we are doing or whether we are arriving at our desired destination.

The good news is that you can live out your mission and purpose regardless of the job you have currently....

Regardless of the physique you have currently

Regardless of your relationship status, etc.

How do you do this?

You must understand your principles. The value systems that you want to live by and learning how to grow in those values in the different areas of your life.

Once you identify your values and principles, the roles we play in life, the tasks we need to do, the goals that we have for ourselves are all just opportunities to grow in our mission and values.

If one of our goals don't work out, it's not a problem because mission and purpose can never be taken away from us.

 

MISTAKE #4 YOU ONLY HAVE ONE PURPOSE OR MISSION

You don’t have just one mission or purpose in life. You have many.

Thinking you only have one mission or purpose is the limited mindset that traps people into putting too much emphasis on one particular area of their life such as their “job” or “family” or “achievements”.

This limited mindset ends up creating unbalance in life, thinking the further one can get in that particular area, the more fulfilled they will become and the closer they are to their “purpose”

What you must understand is that you have multiple missions and purposes in life.

Every area of your life is a different opportunity to deepen growth in your purpose... so long as you know what your purpose is. 

The key is to identify your principle centers.

Like a house, your life must be built upon a strong foundation first (your principles / mission)

From there, you can start building the walls, interior / exterior of the home, which is equivalent to all your goals, dreams, desires.

Now as you pursue those goals you are pursuing them THROUGH your mission and purpose instead of trying to find your mission and purpose from the achievement of your goals

When you pursue the various areas of life through your principles, you not only see how your mission and purpose is contained in EVERY area of life, but you also anchor your personal power to something that doesn’t fluctuate outside of your control.

 

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

No matter how hard you work or try, you can’t control your career, money, possessions, work, family, friends.

All of these things can fluctuate due to circumstances you have no control over.

What you always have control over is your principles.

Learning how to grow in your principles, in the ALL areas of life, is where the magic happens.

This is where you get the greater sense of personal power, self esteem, as well as fulfillment and passion each day. 

CONCLUSION:

Finding your mission and purpose can be confusing.

Especially when society, parents, teachers, friends, and loved ones all seem to point us to external destinations.

We must understand that our mission and purpose is multifaceted and can be lived out and pursued in EVERYTHING that we do.

Everything we do and every role we play is simply an opportunity to grow in our mission and purpose

 

NEXT STEPS

If you enjoyed this content be sure to download my FREE LIFE UNLEASHED GUIDE where I discuss the 4 pillars to a Life Unleashed that will help you identify the controlling forces that guide your decisions so you are able to create the breakthroughs needed to turn ANY goal into reality and 10X your mission, passion, and purpose in the process. 

 

Join my FREE facebook group "SURGE EFFECT WITH SHAUN SURGENER" and learn tips, strategies, and insights into how to create the breakthroughs needed to live life on YOUR TERMS.

 

If you want to get coaching to help you crush your goals you can check out my program offerings here

 

Schedule a free 30 min strategy session here to go over the breakthroughs you are wanting to see in your life and how you can do so

 

Also, be sure to follow me on social media

✓ Youtube (finance channel): www.youtube.com/shaunsurgener

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Let’s build that dream

Shaun 

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