START: What is my purpose??? Ch 03, pgs 45-52

START: Punch Fear In The Face; Escape Average; 
Do Work That Matters; by Jon Acuff

What is my purpose?
How did I get here?

Lies about "the purpose":
1- Everyone but you knows exactly what it is.
2- You'll only have one.  There is no "soulmate" concept of finding your purpose.
3- You should have figured it out by the time you're 22 years old.  Wrong answer!
4- It changes everything instantly. 
5- You have to know the finish line before you cross the starting line.

Purpose is not a final destination.  Nothing cripples you like trying to "find your purpose," or "figure out your dream," or "name your passion."  This is nonsense.

Why are the "lies about the purpose", nonsense?
1- They put tremendous pressure on you.
2- They become an idol.
3- They stop you in your tracks.

LIVE WITH PURPOSE!
Start today.  There is no waiting period.  Waiting to find your purpose tomorrow is a great way (procrastination) to ensure you don't live with purpose today.

START WHERE YOU ARE!
You can live with purpose today, regardless of your history or your place today.

START on what matters to you!
Do not get locked into single purpose statements that suffocate you.

Your passions and dreams NEVER stop developing.  Forget looking for a purpose.  Live with purpose!  Take a moment to say "thank you!"  Interact with your kids with purpose!  Don't wait for moments to reconnect to happen on their own, encourage them with intention.  Dream with purpose.  Whatever your doing, do it with purpose.

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The Great Wall

How will you know you're living with purpose?
When you stop worrying about the great wall of purpose. 
It may seem impossible at first.  You don't need a special key to open the door to awesome.  You only need to open the door, to start.

The purpose usually finds you.  Purpose is attracted to motion, momentum, and loves to surprise us.  It rarely greets you on your doorstep.  You meet/find purpose when you least expect it.

The moment you decide that you're going to live with purpose today instead of trying to find your purpose someday, the temptation to look for shortcuts will come.

Now that you are free to start down the path of Learning, you may want to turn that freedom into a license to jump ahead.  Don't!  It never works out.

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"The Present"

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Personal Notes:

Good grief!  I have been talking about "finding my purpose".  A couple weeks ago I was talking about how I had finally found my purpose for a career.  I called it "my passion".  This book is entirely right, it snuck up on me.

I did set out, right after high school, looking for a purpose in a career.  Everyone told me I needed to find my purpose, to make up my mind right then and there.  It didn't "happen" by the time I hit 22 years old, and I didn't have a clue where the finish line was.

It snuck up on me!  I found my purpose for my career in my mid 40's, not by age 22.  I found it by trial and error, meaning that I was wandering around exploring different career paths, and half-way toward my associates degree....I figure it out.  I sure did not have any idea where the finish line was going to be, when I started out on this particular journey.

As for my personal life, I still have no clue where the future lies.  I've achieved being a mother, something I have always wanted to be, but there are still many aspects of my life that I want to create and achieve.  My life is still an open book with pages left to write.

There is a mountain that still remains in front of me and that "door to awesome" is tantalizingly in front of me.  I feel like I am swimming upstream against the current, just in front of the mountain I need to conquer.  I still have a distance to go, before I can open the door to awesome.  It seems like every time I make it past a difficult point, another difficult point looms in the immediate future.

I AM making progress, however.  I am determined and I'm not giving up.