About My Purpose

What is Purpose?

I knew what my purpose was and how I could contribute to the world a few years ago.

I am a very practical person so for me, I need to see that my actions contribute to a process that creates a result.

I went out and volunteered during the first years of our homebased business in the 1990s because I found working in a homebased business to be an isolating environment. Anyway, I went out and volunteered at various groups including a Home Business Society, local Art Club and Art Gallery. Everywhere I volunteered,  people would sa

y “Jane,  you are so good at organizing” and “how did you know that” and I brushed off the compliments.

 

But several years of organizing and helping to run different groups, I realized that I got more out of volunteering than the volunteer work I actually contributed. I made new friends. I received feedback and praise for my volunteer work. I worked in a team to create events and people appreciated that I was able to help.
After the tsunami of 2004, a friend said there was a group fundraising to help people in Sri Lanka and they needed my organizational skills. So,  my friend and I  volunteered together at Village Assist Ridge Meadows Society.   I was able to do the paperwork for the group quickly so the group became a society and charity within two years. With our charitable status, we were able to ask for larger donations such that we were able to build 5 houses in Sri Lanka during a war!

Now, of course, the whole community and executive had their own skills to contribute for the fundraising events we did.  We had people who knew how to do musical and fashion show events; my friend was well-known organizer and Toastmaster speaker in her own right; we had a lot of “Six Degrees of Separation” working for us to get well-known celebrities to assist in our fundraising. It was a great synergistic group with lots of support from the community.  We were able to have our local Sri Lankan representative give five families a new home in 2008, only 3 years after we started. I help with the group, to help families over 2400 miles away which is something I will always be proud of.

Now, how do I know my purpose from this experience?  Believe it or not, it wasn’t from listing what my passions are or what I love to do.  I love to paint, l love music, l love animals and I love learning to play the piano.

It was from the simple question, What do people say about you?

Now of course, like most people, people say nice things about me, I’m kind or I’m a quiet person or ….  However, it isn’t so much what people say about your personality, it is how you contribute to their life.  Very important, how you have touched their lives. 

In the end when they are thinking about you, what would people say about you and how you contributed to your life and their lives.  It is a simple expression like Jane, you are so good at organizing that, how did you do that?  Well, I bite my tongue and don’t say, I read the instructions.  I do tend to read the documentation that most people don’t like to read.

I am not a perfectionist, I do not have a organized, tidy home, I just like to help.  So, when I read and put the paperwork together to apply for a charity application, I get great satisfaction from completing that job and knowing that I helped.  It gives me great satisfaction to be able to help someone to move forward in their business or life.

 

 

So, when you think about your purpose and how you can get the greatest satisfaction out of your life then take an hour of quiet and review your life.

Believe it when I say, the question “What do people say about you” can help define your purpose and why you are here on the planet.  If you want to see if you can find out what your purpose for being on this planet is,  go to ALIGN WITH MY PURPOSE