Creating your Life Purpose Statement
An important part of coaching is helping clients get clarity around What they want to change in their lives and Why they want those changes. It is only after you figure out What you want and Why you want it that it makes any sense to work on How you are going to do it.
One of the most powerful tools for figuring out the Why’s and What’s of transformation is a Life Purpose Statement (LPS) that reflects your core values, your life experiences, your skills and talents, your passions, and the impact that you would like to have on those you care about and on the larger world.
Picture a placid pond on a beautiful spring day. You drop a stone in the center of the pond and the waves ripple out. As the waves move out from the center, the amplitude (height, energy of the wave) dissipates as the circumference of the wave increases. The family and friends ripples closest to the center bathe directly in the light and energy of your focused life purpose. As the ripples spread out to the world around you, colleagues, strangers, your local community, and the greater world also receive the benefits of your focused purpose. You have the opportunity to have a positive impact on many.
An effective LPS declares for yourself and the rest of the world who you are (your beingness) and the impact that you would like to have. It helps to focus your efforts and it gives you clarity when you need to make important life decisions. Another way to think of your LPS is as your North Star. When you need to make a an important life decision you can look up at your North Star and ask yourself the question… “will this choice move me closer or in the direction of my Life Purpose or further away from it?” It’s your lighthouse in the dark.
Of course, you can have more than one LPS and your LPS can change over time as you have new experiences and insights, reach milestones, and achieve your life goals.
As an example, my current Life Purpose Statement (which is very different from my LPS from several years ago) is as follows:
“To be of service to those in my life by freely offering my unique gifts so each person I come into contact with feels seen, heard, loved, valued and supported. To live my values into the world helping to make it a more loving, accepting, and peaceful place one person at a time.”
There are a number of different processes that can be used to create a resonant Life Purpose Statement. As your coach, I can help guide you through this process.