“Now is the Time!” “Don’t be Busy, Be Productive!” “Be who you want to be!”
These were the messages I started to see coming from the entrepreneur community shortly after the dust settled on the current state of our economies.
Millions of jobs lost, clients needing to cancel contracts (mine included), and thousands of people now posed to either wait it out or begin again. For many of us, following our purpose-driven passion is the ultimate carrot in life.
Passion illuminates the first sparks of our consciousness when we wake in the morning. That fireball in our belly and obsessive planning in our minds. We are entrepreneurs, and purpose is our lifeblood. Like a kid who dreams of becoming a firefighter or astronaut, we’ve always dreamed of running our own successful business.
And then life happens. Dad says “Get a Job.” Mom says, “Honey, just do something to pay the bills.” And so a path is forged. Many stay this course and find reasonable volumes of joy. They build families and careers working within someone else’s company. Sure, they still wake with fire in the belly and new ideas, but the experience has dimmed over the years.
Until now. Now, in a terrifying and uncertain sort of way, many of us are free from our jobs. Free to step into an idea that might just fly. Free to live with a deeper purpose than just show up, do the job and go home.
So if you’re reading this and feeling that charge in yourself, that this is YOUR time, but also feeling like your purpose is unknown.
Here are a 3 tried and tested actions to find the way:
1.Write your JOY list.
Whether you’re a ‘pen and paper’ analog type or a digital ‘fire up the keyboard’ sort. Get to it. Start writing a list of what brings you joy. Let the list be rambling and random, there is no right or wrong way here. Allow your thoughts to fall out of you and jumble the page if necessary. On a first draft, the messier the better. On a second draft start to prioritize. Highlight the top 10, then narrow it down to 5 and spend some time considering what those top 5 would look like if lived fully every day.
2. Meditate.
No really, there is science behind this one. Mediation is not just the fluff of the fabulous hippy world, it’s actually a proven route to discovering YOUR personal path.
When the mind is quiet, our center truth can be heard. Start meditating daily. There are apps you can use to help in the training and, honestly, just start with 5 minutes per day. Much like a new gym routine, meditation will take a good push of motivation to make it a habit. And much like that gym routine, if you don’t follow through, you won’t see results be it tighter glutes, stronger abs or a more powerful mind.
3. Take Action.
The above 2 steps can drive quick results so be ready to take action!
An idea is going to show itself. And for those ready to take responsibility, it will show itself repeatedly until you make it a reality. No joke, good ideas are persistent!
I saw an interview with Liz Gilbert where she told a story of a woman who has been a lifelong published author. The woman spoke of her creative process as a time-sensitive experience. The ideas come in like a wave and, over the years, she has identified that the times she paddled out and was consciously and physically ready to ride that wave, she experienced the most epic of downloads and was able to deliver an outstanding end product.
However, the times she didn’t act on those ideas, the times she sat in doubt, talked herself out of it, or just chose to freeze rather than pounce, the idea left and never came back.
As a result, her confidence took a gut punch and, as many powerful achievers can attest, confidence coupled with courage, are the keys needed to drive your own life bus and live with purpose. Protect your confidence like you would your loved ones. Take action on your ideas because what you seek is actually possible.