Creating A Purpose-Led Vision

 
 

When COVID hit and began to disrupt our lives, many of us fearfully tried to understand how our individual desires and life goals would fit into this new reality. I personally felt a mix between the urgency of trying to launch Huma Rising to the world so that our practices could help people in need, and a feeling of being completely lost and unsure of myself, wondering if I should give up completely.

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up, and that our app is beginning to grow and truly making an impact in people’s lives. And what I understand so much better now is the power of a clear vision to get us through fear and hard times.

We know we can’t control what happens in our lives — from a global pandemic to relationship issues, surprises will always come. What we can control is our vision for our lives. We can hold a clear, purpose-led vision that aligns with what we truly care about. By being “future focused” and holding this clear vision for ourselves, we are less likely to get stuck in our worries or day-to-day problems. We can have deeper self-trust and worry less about the details because the clarity of our vision drives us forward. 

With this future mindset, it becomes easier to feel and behave as if our dreams are really coming true. We start expecting things to go right for us, and we attract the people and circumstances to make it so. This is partially because our cognitive bias actually starts to work in our favor. When we imagine our vision coming to life and experience the emotional state that creates, our subconscious perspective of the world shifts in alignment with those feelings. We start to experience more and more of what we’ve practiced feeling and envisioning — and so we build momentum in our desired direction.

What’s more, when our vision is deeply aligned with our heart’s desires, we are less likely to fear our capability to pursue it. We are less likely to wonder if it will come true. We are more likely to trust life to align our circumstances accordingly, because a heart’s true desire is almost always service-oriented. Being of service feels incredibly rewarding and often like it is supported by the Universe/God/Whatever It Is For You. This supercharges our actions and turns them into a mission. When we combine a heart-aligned mission with a clear vision, it can carry us through the depths.

FINDING YOUR PURPOSE

What if you don’t have a clear vision? What if you feel purposeless, or incapable of going for what you want? Peter Diamandis, founder of XPRIZE and one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders according to Fortune Magazine, shares a powerful exercise for finding your purpose and vision for your life. It begins by asking yourself, “What problems distress me?” What problem areas or opportunities fill you with emotional energy? For me, it was the way we harm the planet, animals, and each other because of the ways we feel unworthy, dissatisfied, and disconnected.

By pinpointing the problems that fill you with energy, it becomes easier to work your way to a clear purpose statement, or what Diamandis calls a “Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP).” I’ll share the full list of journaling prompts below so you can do this exercise for yourself.

  1. What problem areas or opportunities fill you with emotional energy? (e.g. climate change, poverty)

  2. Who do you want to be a hero to? (e.g. younger generations, animals, starving children)

  3. Brainstorm inspiring language (e.g. I will transform the world, I am inspiring others, I am helping people thrive, I am thriving)

  4. Write down 3 potential MTPs. (e.g. The purpose of my life is to inspire and guide entrepreneurs to create a hopeful, compelling, and abundant future for humanity.) Think of your childhood dreams, if you had $1 billion to change the world, your greatest excitement/wonder, the greatest injustice you’ve experienced.

    Fill in the blanks:
    The purpose of my life is to (action verb) and (action verb) to (who you want to be a hero to) (your aspirational purpose/challenge you want solved).

My MTP is: “The purpose of my life is to heal and raise the consciousness of humanity to create an abundant, compassionate, and utopian society.” It incorporates my dreams for a better world and planet, my love of healing others, and my soul’s desire to raise collective consciousness. It feels so empowering to have a clear purpose statement that my life goals can fit within.

CREATING YOUR VISION

Once you have your own massively transformative purpose, the next step is to create your vision, which Diamandis calls your “Moonshot.” 

Your moonshot should be a goal within your MTP that fully inspires you and resonates with your heart and soul. It should thrill you and scare you at the same time. It should be big and bold and exciting to you on every level. It should be something that your soul deeply wants and that would dramatically change your life. I’ll include the full list of journaling prompts from Diamandis, as well as some additional prompts from Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. These questions are designed to take you from the height of your vision down to the immediate, tactical steps you can take to start achieving it.

  1. What do you want? Start with a beginner’s mind. There’s every possibility. (In the expert’s mind, there are no possibilities!) Clear your mind; let go of the past. Forget everything that exists. What is it you really want? What is your outcome? Whatever you focus on, you’re going to get.

  2. Write down a few potential Moonshots (within your MTP) that fully inspire you, that resonate with your heart and soul. That would THRILL you if achieved.
    Remember the criteria:

    • It’s related to your MTP (it’s painted on the canvas of your MTP)

    • It’s BIG, BOLD, and exciting (perhaps even scary)

    • You don’t know how to pull it off (yet)

    • It’s clearly definable/measurable

  3. Clearly describe what you will achieve as your Moonshot within 10 years’ time. Use specific numbers and dates to make it clear, objective, and measurable.

  4. What concrete, measurable objective can you achieve at the end of THIS YEAR (2021) that will put your Moonshot on schedule?

  5. What can you do in the next 30 days to test and de-risk your 1-year and 10-year objectives?

  6. What evidence can you provide to demonstrate (to yourself and your team) that this Moonshot is achievable? (e.g. similar Moonshots achieved by others)

  7. What is the one action you can take right now to make immediate progress? (Do it in the next hour.)

  8. What are your/your company’s values? (e.g. trust, service, quality)

  9. What are three things you’re going to do to support each of your values?

  10. What risks might prevent you from being successful in upholding your values?

  11. What is your measurement + target for each of your values?

My sincerest hope is that these prompts help you clarify your purpose, your vision, and the actionable steps you can take to bring your vision to life. Once you have clarity, make it practice every single day to VISUALIZE and FEEL what it would be like if your vision has already come true. What would it look like if your dream came true? How would it feel in your body? How would you operate in the world? The more you feel into this future reality, the more you’ll become the person who can bring your vision to life. You’ll attract the ideas, capabilities, and circumstances to create the reality of your dreams.

by Marina Harmon

Marina Harmon