Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will get you to the life you want faster than knowing your purpose. Goals are important, but not nearly as important as having a clear understanding of who you are and what your core values are. Once you know these things, and create a purpose that is aligned with them, it will open-up a way of being that allows you to live them in a meaningful way.
For example, effective trainers and performance coaches tend to be empathy driven – that is, they would sooner help people achieve potential than make a bunch of money. They value money as a means to an end – to buy food, shelter, clothing, and save for retirement – but what gives them the biggest boost in life satisfaction is making a positive impact in someones life or helping to facilitate meaningful change in the life of someone else. Money driven trainers tend not to last in the industry because to get to a level where the money is meaningful can take a very long time. It is possible, but there are not that many of them. For them to bridge the gap between the “not enough pay” period and the “enough pay” period there will need to be something tangible and very often being a partner in someones life transformation is not sufficient to make this happen.
What does this mean to you? It’s very simple, if you align your actions with your purpose, you will be more inclined to put in the hard work needed to achieve them. You may be open enough to free your mind of the thoughts that hold you back, that slow your progress and may instead embrace the unfamiliar way, the road traveled only by the successful and the road that lead you to everything you have ever wanted.
At a moment to think about it. Goals are not easy to achieve. They require you to do unfamiliar actions, step outside of the box and become something you are not already doing. This is both unnatural and counter to our genetic code which runs a program that is aimed at having us continue to do the same things we done before because they require the least amount of energy and have proven to be effective at keeping us alive. The life we know is less risky than the life we haven’t lived so there is a lot of inertia holding us in place. Having and knowing your purpose will go a long way in getting life moving forward. And it will keep the fire going when you are presented with challenges, breakdowns or when your progress seems to be blocked by circumstances.
Of most importance from a success point of view is that purpose-aligned goals will make you righteous and unstoppable. Take dieting for example. If there isn’t aspect of your purpose that has you living a life of modeling integrity and sustainable behaviors, a diet is something that you will only be on for a short period of time. At best, it’ll be a means to an end and it will be an inconvenient endeavor. You will only NOT be eating certain foods because you want to lose weight. The changes of anything getting in your way is fairly high – the pizza at work, the company birthday cake, the drinks with friends, etc…. But if your purpose does include being integrity and an element of role-modeling, a diet isn’t something you will ever be on because you will just eat right and look the way a human being should. You’ll have cake occasionally, celebrate with the occasional treat meal and maybe have a drink every now and then, but these behaviors will not be the norm because they are not the norm for those whose purpose is established being a fully functioning and model human being.
If you do not know your purpose on the planet, consider taking some time to uncover it. It could be the missing link in creating a sustainable lifestyle of effective behaviors that move your towards ALL of your goals. The fact remains though, if you are sitting across from a performance or strength coach, something isn’t playing out spontaneously. Something is misaligned and it is preventing your from achieving your goals and success