6 Ways to Discover Your Soul’s Purpose

Do you feel like a leaf blowing in the wind? Direction-less. Purpose-less. Numb.

Have you lost sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing? Are you on auto-pilot, just going through the motions in your business and feel disconnected with the heart of what your business does? Consider you may need a ‘tune-up’ like tires out of alignment on your car.

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Nietzsche

If you’re like me, you’ve quietly struggled with feelings of being out of alignment with yourself and what you’ve been brought here to do. Getting a level of joy and satisfaction from the work you do but feeling like there is something more. Something elusive. Something you can’t quite put your finger on. I felt I was on this relentless search for my soul’s purpose and wondered if I was living in alignment with it. Is there any question more important and worthy of our attention?

For me, I had achieved a level of corporate and business success but continually felt there was something missing. I was never able to fully connect into what I was doing as I failed to see a linkage to a higher purpose or reason for doing the things I was doing. My activities just seemed to be a myriad of independent tasks, all worthwhile but seemingly disconnected from one another or to any greater purpose.

I’ve always admired those people who knew from a young age what they wanted to be. A teacher, a doctor, a writer. But, this was not my story. I’ve ‘trialled’ a few careers along my journey and have experienced a great deal of frustration in not knowing what my purpose was to be or do. It’s been a subject that plagued me for many years.

Socrates once said, “An unexamined life is not worth living”. But, if all you’re doing is examining, you’re not actually living.

I’d spent months and years pondering my purpose. I was totally caught up in over-examining my life and it’s purpose that I derived little joy and satisfaction from activities I once loved. I decided to ask myself a different question… “What if I already knew what my purpose is?” And that’s when everything changed for me. It was an a-ha moment.

Finding our life purpose is one of the most popular topics ever written about with over 700 million google searches referring to this subject. Simon Sinek is leading the charge with his wildly popular TED talk and book, ‘Start With Why’.

And now more than ever before, discovering your purpose and weaving your ‘why’ into the way you promote your business is seen as critical to successfully connecting and building trust with your prospects.

I don’t believe there is any profession where having clarity of your ‘why’ and aligning with it is more business critical than for coaches. The provision of coaching by its very nature is fuelled by a coach’s desire to make a bigger difference by helping others. And by rights, a significant part of every coach’s why is to be of service. To make a difference. To feel that their life matters.

You know in your heart you have an important purpose to give to the world. You might not know yet, what that purpose is. But you know it’s important enough for you to take the time to explore it.

It may take you just a few seconds or it may take you a lifetime to discover your purpose. Whichever path you choose, I believe at your deepest core, you already know what your soul’s purpose is. In this fast paced world of busy-ness and distraction, it may be difficult to get quiet long enough to hear the voice of your inner wisdom whispering to you. Give yourself the greatest gift of some quiet time and listen to what that voice is telling you.

If you’re someone who prefers a more practical way to explore your soul’s purpose, here are six super-cool ways to take a deeper look at who you are and what you love which will give you some important clues.

5 Ways To Discover Your Soul’s Purpose

1 What’s your inner wisdom telling you?
Get quiet within yourself and connect with your inner wisdom. Try a meditation, go for a walk in nature or take a long bath to create your quiet space to listen. There’s a good chance you already know what your soul’s purpose is. Perhaps you’re over-thinking it and making it more complicated than it is. Listen, listen, listen. And trust what comes up for you.

2 Which compliments do you often ignore?
What are the compliments you consistently get from others? Chances are you’ve received a stack of compliments but disregard them as insignificant or false.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book titled ‘Flow’, describes our ‘flow’ state or ‘being in the zone’ is when a person is so completely absorbed in what they’re doing that they lose all sense of space and time.

If we have good self-awareness, we will have a sense of when we’re in our ‘flow’ state and the activities that get us there. When we feel good at something, we’re passionate and most alive. And if we can’t get a handle on when we’re in our flow, people around us sense it sub-consciously and often compliment us for it or seek out our support in that area as they have confidence in us. It is most likely the feedback you have consistently received and may have shrugged off. Take note of this feedback. Be mindful and listen to what others are saying to you. Digest it. Appreciate it. Thank them.

3 What’s your favourite section at the bookstore?
What is your favourite section in the bookstore? If you are at the bookstore for no other reason, which is your favourite section to peruse? Which are the books you are most drawn to, most readily purchase and which adorn your bookshelves? For me, this has always been the personal development section. Followed closely by marketing. So in other words, what are your areas of interest? The topics you yearn to know more about and are looking to read just for the fun of it? This may just be your inner voice guiding you to explore your purpose further.

4 When do you feel most alive?
What are you doing when you feel strongest, most passionate, most alive? When do you feel most confident, certain within yourself, most grounded and safe? Chances are these qualities are the very ones that have helped you to survive and thrive. Take note of them.

5 What do you do differently to others?
Last week I treated myself to a spray tan with my favourite beautician. As I stood there chilled with the cool air from the spray gun, I noticed the absolute pleasure she derived from providing this service. I asked if she loved doing this work to which she replied “I love it and I could do this all day.” Bee took an every day task and added her uniqueness to the way she delivered her service. It was beauty in action to watch this woman in her flow. She was present in the moment, happy and fulfilled.

Where do you apply your own brand of uniqueness? When do you find yourself in moments such as these?

6 If you had a magic wand, what is one thing you’d like to change about the world today?
I love this one as it looks at our purpose in reverse. What worldly cause gets you fired up or even angry that you would love to see changed in the world? What is one great injustice or group of people who you would love to help out of their current situation?

Situations that evoke a great deal of our emotion/anger show us where our values are being trampled on. These are the issues which matter most to us. And may just be our soul’s purpose to eradicate them.

So let’s switch off the auto-pilot and land this plane. You are in control of your destiny. Connect with your soul’s purpose to give meaning and focus to what you do. Love what you do each and every day as it delivers on your soul’s purpose. You have a special purpose for being here. Something unique to you. May you put it to full use.

A bit about me…

Hi, I’m Cindy Turner, Master Coach and founder of coachcentral.com. I help heart-centred coaches build successful, soulful businesses so they can make the difference they were born to make.
I love to work with coaches who demand the best of themselves and are ready to create real change in the world. I have passionately created the Power Circle program to help go-getter coaches fast-track their success.

The hardest part of building a business is not coming up with your big dream or mastering the art of coaching. You’ve got that covered. The hardest part of building a business is continuing to grow and move past the daily challenges that get in your way and stop you from achieving success.

Power Circles are intimate, facilitated mastermind groups of 6–7 coaches dedicated to growing their business capability and reach so they can make the difference they were born to make. Running a coaching business is a team sport, not a solo one… so surround yourself with like-minded coaches committed to your success, and fast-track your business confidence and growth.

Join a Power Circle and get connected.

With love,
Cindy xx