Can I ask you a question? Do you know what your purpose in life is? Are you clear, without any shadow of doubt about the reason why you are alive?
I have discovered that there are eight key questions we need to ask ourselves to ensure our effectiveness in life. The first of those key questions is ‘what on earth am I doing’? According to a famous quote that is attributed to the late Dr. Myles Munroe which says “when the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable”.
When the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable
Which means if you do not know the reason why something exists including your life, it is likely that you will be abusing yourself. Maybe the relationships you are in is an indication of you abusing yourself. Maybe the kind of work you are doing and the values you have at the moment are an indication of you abusing yourself. However, the main question is, what is the reason why you are alive. Can I encourage you to ask yourself the reason why you are alive? Remember that you are on purpose for a purpose; there is a reason why you are alive. Statistics show that approximately two people die every second in our world, which means about 6 people have died while reading this sentence.
You are still alive for a reason; ‘What’ is the purpose of your being alive?
I did a research a couple of years ago to study people who did significant things in their lifetime before age 40 because they died before 40 years old. Please do not get me wrong, I am not advocating dying young but just communicating a particular concept. This list includes people like Bob Marley, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and my favourite of all time; Jesus Christ. The findings of that particular research is in my book titled ‘Systems for Living’
One thing that all these people have in common is a strong sense of purpose and direction. So, question to you again, what is your purpose of being alive?
Your life is ultimately a business transaction
At the end of your life, you want to look back and know you have spent your resources of time, talent, thoughts, treasure (assets) and trust (relationship) on the purpose of your life. Remember that your life is simply in combination of how you use those resources in the ultimate business transaction that we call our lifetime. The only way you can look back at the end of your life and know your life has been profitable is to be clear about the ‘What’ (purpose question of your life). Can I ask you again? What on earth are you doing? Don't just answer the question in your mind, I encourage you to write it down. Men and women that did significant things did so because they had a strong sense of purpose; not only that, they also had it written down.
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ~ Jesus Christ
I want to encourage you to ask yourself the ‘Purpose Question’ – What. Have it written and make it a point of reference towards everything that you do. Be as specific as possible, ensure that your purpose is visible, audible, tangible or a combination of the three.
What on earth are you doing?
This article is an extract from the book. Locating and fulfilling your assignment. Click here for more details about the book.