PURPOSE is POWER#AtoZChallenge

P is for PURPOSE

Life is all about living to grow, evolve and achieve and for this to happen, life needs to be in forward movement always. We need to be constantly striving to reach our destination, all excited and enthused. This driving force which pulls us towards our goal/ destination is PURPOSE, the thing that gives meaning to our life.  We can’t live our life like a rudderless boat, going where the wind takes us. We need to be sure about the direction we want to take. To make our existence worthwhile we need on earth, we need to be aware of what we live for, what we seek, what impact we want to make on others through our existence. For making it happen, we need to harness the POWER of PURPOSE and turn it (Purpose) into a catalyst of our progress in life. PURPOSE is also like our underlying philosophy to live our life.

Why PURPOSE is important ?

• It brings clarity in our life as we get to know our expectations
• It provides direction to our life. We get to understand the path we need to tread finish point we need an
• It establishes the philosophy to live our life. This philosophy guides all our actions and moves us closer to our goal
• It gives meaning to our life as we develop intrinsic motivation to keep giving it our best
• It makes us more productive and efficient as all our energies are focused on our identified  purpose
• It makes us an achiever as we keep accomplishing things aligned with our life’s PURPOSE
• It helps us get focused and in control of our life
• It challenges us, push us to our limits and enable us reach our full potential

How to identify PURPOSE ?

• Identify what we are most passionate about and what gives us feeling of satisfaction. The answer to this would be our PURPOSE in life
• Identify our fundamental values in life and the reason/ logic for these would be our PURPOSE
• Define goals that align with our fundamental values. Detailing the goals further in terms of objectives and outcomes will help us arrive at our PURPOSE
• Deep reflection of our interest and passion will unmask our PURPOSE to us
• Identify doing what gives the maximum satisfaction and a sense of achievement
• The act of critically questioning ourself will help boil down to our PURPOSE
•  Be creative and try out new things. This may reveal us our missing PURPOSE
• Engage in activities/ exercise that help connect us with our subconscious. Meditation, Yoga and Visualisation are few such activities

So, Live with PURPOSE and make a real DIFFERENCE ! 

FOCUS to move FORWARD#AtoZChallenge

F is for FOCUS

We live in an age where we are surrounded by irresistible distractions (internet, technology) resulting in reduced attention span. It’s a case of plenty resulting in empty ( in terms of achievement). The need of the hour is to develop FOCUS in us which in turn builds up the requisite qualities like concentration and attention span that helps us to survive in this dynamic world laden with information overload. FOCUS is all about paying attention to right things i.e. things that matter most in terms of importance in our  life. Daniel Goleman has very nicely established the importance of Focus in our lives and defined 3 types of Focus – 1. Inner (Self Awareness) , 2. Other (Empathy) and 3. Outer (Awareness of our environment). Let’s explore the other facets of FOCUS - http://tinyurl.com/lsay2hw

Why FOCUS is important ?

·         It defines purpose of our life and gives us a direction to move in

·         Establishes traction on our goals as focused approach ensures forward movement

·         Builds an eye for detail as when we focus on something we absorb it wholly

·         Gives us better control over our life in terms of time and attention

·         Makes us an achiever as focus keeps us sufficiently motivated to cross the finish line

·         Makes us more productive as we start accomplishing more

·         Saves us energy and effort as we do away with unfinished tasks

·         Builds up Positivity in us

How to build FOCUS ?

·         Limit the information we consume so that we have as many tasks as we can handle

·         Have a clearly defined agenda for the day/ week/ month so that energies could be directed on those

·         Practice doing one thing at a time. Interpret this statement to signify that finish what you start before you move to the next  task

·         Magnify what you want to focus on so that other irrelevancies are out of the frame

·         Chunk down goals/ tasks into smaller manageable pieces

·         Maintain a checklist/tracker/ journal to keep track of your progress

·         Track how you spend your time, whether on Important or Urgent tasks  

·         Don’t get overwhelmed with the tasks/ goals

·         Develop Listening skills as this will develop patience in us

·         Practice Minimalist living as this will teach us how to be satisfied with less 

Always remember that we give power to what we focus on so focus on the right things !