There is nothing quite like coaching someone into clarity of their purpose. I have experienced this joy so many times over the past two decades!
Purpose clarification is so key for people. It’s as key to those who have no idea what it is they are meant to do, as it is for those who have lived two, three or four decades, and have some idea. Most people tend to feel unsure what their specific purpose on earth is, unless they have specifically done some exploration on it.
Coaching people into clarity of purpose, watching tears of joy, watching the passion arise as they realise, wide eyed how special their purpose is, is such a joy!
It’s especially meaningful to me as at the age of 36, I cried out to God myself to ask Him what my purpose was. It wasn’t that from the outside view my life looked purposeless. I had a successful career. I was financially secure. I was even working using many of my strengths, but something wasn’t quite right. I didn’t have a sense of fulfilment. When I looked at what the future would look like if I carried on, it felt purposeless. The cry of my heart was, ‘surely this isn’t it for the rest of my life!’
God faithfully guided me into my purpose. What that taught me about God is that He wants to guide everyone into their purpose, not just a selected few. If He wanted to do it for me then He wants to do it for everyone! He is keen to show us what He planned for us, what He created us for.
Discovering our purpose is something that God invites us to pursue. If I had listened to all those around me and stopped complaining and feeling dissatisfied, I would still have been in my previous career 20 years later. Fortunately, from an early age I made a habit of not necessarily listening to the consensus, as it’s not always the truth.
Reassuringly finding your purpose, is not about getting one particular Bible verse about it and having to guess what this is, and how to translate it into today’s world to walk in your purpose. God guides us into finding a very specific area, relevant to today’s culture and society. Knowing fully how you fit into this area and what impact you are made to have there is all part of purpose clarification.
Since God guided me into my purpose, guess what? …A big part of it has been leading others to do the same.
Here are four pillars I have used, which help countless people to understand and know what we their purpose is:
PILLAR ONE – MESSAGE
We all have ‘life messages’ which we carry. They are similar to our intrinsic values and beliefs. They are formed partially from our beliefs, what we perceive to be true, and partially from our experiences and what we have gone through.
These messages are strong and weighty. They carry authority. When we live them out, and express them, they bring hope, life and wisdom. Some people will teach, preach and write to express their ‘life’ messages. Others will express them in the way they live their life and their relationships. Your life messages carry incredible gravitas to impact people for the good. Knowing what they are is essential so you can understand and focus on where and whom you are called. In my previous career which I was not fulfilled in, I was using so many of my strengths and talents, but I was not expressing my life messages. Now I am. The difference is enormous.
PILLAR TWO – AUDIENCES
Throughout your life you will have particular types of people you are called to serve and impact. Contrary to what you believe you will have more than one of these ‘audiences’. Your audiences may not be connected to each other in anyway. I love this as God is a God of diversity and we were created in His image, so, so are we!
Knowing your audiences is key to knowing what you want to do, where and to whom. You can be operating in many of your strengths but if you are not connected to the people who you were created to impact, you won’t feel like you are living your purpose. And you’re not.
PILLAR THREE – ROLE OR FUNCTION (OR STRENGTHS)
This is the area that most coaching and personal development tends to focus on solely. Personality tests, strengths tests, looking at what subjects you excel in, looking at your skills and what you are best at doing is all super helpful. Because of the focus on this area for many decades this is possibly the area that is most easily identifiable.
Unfortunately, sometimes people can get caught up with one particular model to find their role or strengths. Whether this is Myers Briggs or Strengths Finder or another one, if it becomes a sole perspective to view your strengths and who you are it becomes limiting.
Jesus demonstrated a model to us of being able to walk in any role effortlessly. He was in a family business, and then in more of a ‘ministry’ type of role from age thirty. When He ministered, He dealt with anything that came His way, not just one narrow area which he was called to. He never said, ‘that’s not my calling’. We can be the same and are in fact called to be, like Jesus.
It is helpful though to explore what our heart desires are and what we are most passionate about, as this tends to be what God is guiding us to focus on. This could be for our lifetime or just a season.
PILLAR FOUR – IMPACT
This is such a key area and, in my experience, not one that many people have explored in depth. If we don’t understand our impact and our impact potential, how we can be motivated?
Of course there is motivation in working in your area of talent, as we know that this itself brings happiness and contentment. (This is scientifically proven!).
But there is so much more! We have huge impact that we are unaware of, even by just being ourselves, authentically, around our original design. When we operate from our strengths, we can see our impact in many practical ways, but also spiritually, relationally and in terms of what we shift in the atmosphere and the culture.
Exploring what you as a spiritual being draw on from heaven, is so exciting! Coaching people to see and understand this, is a key part of them really understanding their purpose. We are also able to discover this from our past, present and looking into the future to see what is possible, our impact potential. A very key element in understanding your full impact potential is building a vision for your lifetime. And this is relevant for whatever age you are, as we can all look at the future and our legacy and what impact we want to leave.
Understanding these four pillars doesn’t mean you find one thing and that’s it for life. Most probably you will have many different jobs and roles, which all serve your purpose. That’s ok. Change is inevitable, it doesn’t mean you got it wrong. God moves us on and stretches us, that’s normal. You will also encounter many obstacles along the way – check out the next article on how to know what to expect and overcome in terms of obstacles in pursuing your purpose!
Want to learn to coach these four pillars and lead others into their purpose? Check out our online coach training school
Want to be coached through these four pillars to gain clarity of your own personal purpose? Check out Destiny Activator or 1 to 1 coaching