Lesson #10 in my “Average Sucks! Learning How To Become Remarkable” series. To begin the series (highly suggested), please click –> Here
Living On-Purpose
Can anyone tell me the difference between your purpose and your mission?
We are all, as human beings, on a mission. Each of our missions are different and noble. And, each of you will have different missions at different stages in your lives. Some missions are simple yet so difficult to achieve… to be the best father, mother or parent. Some are far more complicated… a mission to be a successful entrepreneur. Business leader. Product owner.
Each of your purposes however I believe are the same. Universal. And, that purpose is to fully express the highest version of yourselves from moment to moment to moment. Or, what the Greeks called living with Arete’ – which directly translates as virtue or excellence. All of our purposes is to close that gap between what we are capable of being vs. what we are actually being. In fact, this moment right now gives us the opportunity to Live On Purpose.
So, how do we do this? How do we live On Purpose? Well, this may sound weird but, we PAUSE. We take a deep breath in, and then a deep breath out. We THINK. We then ask ourselves… what would the highest version of myself do in this moment? And then we do it! Easier said than done for sure but, the best way to do this is to at least have a higher self-awareness.
Self Awareness: Who Really Are You?
How well do you really all know yourselves? Socrates said the greatest answers come from Knowing Thyself. Well, most of us really only know the Macro version of ourselves. What we want to do with our lives, where we want to go to college, what we want to do for a living, what idea we want to spread, business we want to build, family we want to create. I would bet many of you reading this have had a similar vision and that which you desire in the next 2, 5 next 10 years. However, most of us have a lesser idea of who we are on the Micro or mundane level… within moment to moment. Knowing really who you are in this moment. What is working for you and what is not working for you. Having the awareness to know when you are ON, what are you doing? Are you exercising, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, paying attention to your thoughts and choosing more empowered ones, spending more quality times with friends and loved ones? What do you do when you are not on… when you are off? So we have a Micro version of self-awareness and a Macro version of self-awareness and we want to pay attention to both.
So, it’s these mundane things we pay little to no attention to and the larger more futuristic things we focus on. Well, as you guessed it… that takes us out of our now. How to be now. Think now. Take action now. And, the best way to really have a great self-awareness of our now is to really know what our signature character strengths are. What do you think your Top 5 Signature Character Strengths are? I am going to have you take a test (if you haven’t yet from Lesson #1) that will effectively reveal what they are; mine are Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Bravery, Fairness, Gratitude, and Perspective. I have literally figured out how to use these signature strengths with more consistency in my life. The point here is to identify YOUR strengths and put them in your life and with consistency; to serve something bigger than yourself (which is what we do as entrepreneurs) then you will be living your life with more meaning. Living with more meaning means not only living happier, but with more confidence and optimism. Science is clear here; happier more confident people use their signatures strengths (consciously or unconsciously) more often in their day-to-day life than those who aren’t happy and confident.
Click –> TEST
“Success Comes From Happiness. Happiness Does NOT Come From Success.”
Does this sound familiar, “I will be happy when… “?
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When my business makes its first million.
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When I find an investor.
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When I find an amazing partner to help me build this.
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When someone builds my website.
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When I find my soul mate.
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When, when, when…
Well, news flash… if you’re not happy now the chances of you succeeding in your life and business is less than 50%. Happiness, learning how to be happy right now, and from moment to moment will very likely help you make better decisions. Better decisions more frequently yield better outcomes. Better outcomes more often yield accomplishment, success and at minimum, satisfaction.
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Want to learn more about yourself and how that can help you accomplish more and be a better you? Read Part III HERE.
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If you desire to be happy now (or at least wish to learn more how to be) I assure you it will be something you will need to work at and practice. Practice regularly in fact. And, mostly likely, with a mentor or accountability partner. What better way to get started practicing than sign up for Andrew’s Hour Of Power. To see what so many others are saying about it go to the “What They Are Saying” tab above.
If you desire to learn more about taking charge of life so that it doesn’t take charge of you, you will definitely want to purchase a copy of my e-book (below). Meanwhile, to continue following our blogs, simply enter your email address where it says “blog feed” on the top right of the blog page.
GROW YOURSELF AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS: Learning How To Live and Lead So That Success Simply Finds You
Get your $9.99 e-copy today in Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Grow-Yourself-Your-Business-ebook/dp/B00NVQR53K
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Real happiness and success starts here! The beautiful truth revealed in this book is simply this… that your business will only ever be as good as you.
While almost everyone is singularly focused on IT (your business, your company, your dream), within these pages you quickly learn about there is a relationship between IT and YOU and that you need to focus on both. So, if you are one of those leaders whose business, company or startup is struggling or seeks to get to the next level, this book will teach you how to grow yourself so that you can grow it. WARNING! What you are about to read may surprise you. Ironically, much of it you likely already know. Some perhaps you may not. Either way, this will challenge you for sure. It does everyone.
Andrew Kolikoff: A 3 time successful entrepreneur (one of those times landing him on the front page of USA Today for a product he invented), Andrew is now a world renowned coach, keynote speaker, author and co-founder of MentorMash… the world’s first and only success building system designed to deliver both happiness and financial freedom through mentoring – mentoring both You and Your Business. Feel free to connect with Andrew on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessbreakthroughmentor. He can also be found at www.mentormash.com and www.kolikoff.com.
