Following is my response to the Day Two task.

Purpose… I don’t know what my purpose is. I don’t believe in religion as we know it. There may be an afterlife, there may not be. If an afterlife exists – I personally don’t believe that simply believing in a deity will be what secures one a place in the afterlife. In fact, I don’t believe there is any kind of test. If there is a test, it should be whether or not one shows goodwill throughout their life, not whether or not one has the faith in one of the many supposed deities. However, goodwill is subjective.

For me, whether or not an afterlife exists is irrelevant. I believe it is in human nature to improve the lives of others. This is how the human race has prospered, helped along with the ability to communicate complex ideas. Humans have evolved to collaborate. If we hoarded everything for ourselves, we would be stuck in the stone age. Any decent human without an addiction to drugs, money or power or an ego to maintain will help somebody, given the opportunity. Although today’s society encourages looking after yourself first and particularly in bigger cities where people try to avoid confrontations with strangers, most people will think “That’s not my problem” when for example an old lady is having trouble with something – I believe that if the person is confronted – if the old lady actually asked somebody to help her – almost anybody would accept and help, and feel good about it.

So I believe it is in human nature to help one another. However, as for my own purpose, yes, I do want to help people. But I’m not going to answer the typical altruistic response – “Stop world hunger”, simply because I don’t believe I could ever have the knowledge to achieve such a thing. I would like to change the world in some way, even if it is minor and I am not recognised for it. Recognition would of course be nice, but I would be just as happy knowing that I have improved the life of somebody. I suppose my purpose, like most people, is to lead a full and happy life.

I think my purpose changed somewhat after I spent one year in Japan. That year woke me up to the realisation that we really are the environment in which we grow up. While everything in Australia seemed ‘normal’ to me, once I had spent some time in supposedly ‘weird’ Japan, things that had made sense to me in Australia suddenly seemed wrong. People standing in queues and swearing about how long it was taking. In Japan, people politely waited in queues no matter how many hours it took. Drinking was allowed on the streets of Japan, and you could buy alcohol at a 7/11. If such a thing was allowed in Australia, everybody would be dead.

I once saw a documentary which made the observation that around the world – some of the poorest people they met were also the happiest. They had very little to live on, yet had such a close knit community where everybody helped each other to survive. You would naturally think that communities with very little would hoard their goods and become defensive – yet it is the complete opposite. The people in such communities have learned that only through working together and sharing can they achieve more. I realised that a lot of us in so called ‘developed’ nations are at risk. We have been spoiled for so long that when faced with a situation where we suddenly had little food or shelter, we likely would become defensive and ultimately – die out first. We are too comfortable, and not adaptable. We are too selfish, and not sharing.

It seems this has gone a bit off track from my ‘purpose’.. I suppose I don’t really have a purpose laid out yet. I would ultimately like to help people in some way, and improve some part of this world. I suppose I’m too young to know exactly how I will do that, but I hope that throughout a career I can open some doors that will allow me the opportunity.

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Thanks for this book Scott, really an insightful read. Now to test if my day is going to be filled with purpose

Amazing, amazing response. Thank you so much for the feedback and for sharing your experiences. Much appreciated.

“I need to revert to my old way of being. I was the most honest, hardworking, creative and positive person everyone around me knew. I used those qualities to help solve other peoples problems and ended up making a really good living from it. I did that on a daily basis and did not have the fear many have of their life ending suddenly, because I knew I had worked as hard as I could, significantly helped others and left material for a nice eulogy.”

Interesting. I went through the same type of period. There was a time about four years ago where I’d get up earlier than everyone else, I’d read, challenge my mind, set goals, pour through books, define how I’d reach success, and I thought for sure I’d reach my goals; yet, something happened. Distraction entered my life, and one decision soon drove many. Before I knew it, I was spending hours staring at the Television, listening to talk radio, playing videogames, surfing the iPhone and a bit irritable.

This book tells my journey to turn this around. Thus far, I have. Been getting up and getting back into my old groove, and it’s been about 6 weeks.

If you have any specific struggles you’re going through to get back in the focus rhythm, let me know, and I’ll consider a chapter on it.

Thanks again. Really appreciate it.

-s

There is a lake near me with a 14 mile trail that circles it. I had never run that much but wanted to attempt to run as much as I could. I would begin running and end up at about the 3 mile mark then come back, figuring that since my max was 6 miles I would be within my capacity. Deep inside I knew I was using it as an excuse to not run to my ultimate limit. The next Saturday I decided I was going to set myself up to win.

I began my run in the normal spot, but this time I was going to run my max of 6 miles but in only one direction. I passed my usual point of return and kept running, 4, 5 miles. At the 6 mile mark I slowed down to get my breath and could see across the lake, the general vicinity where I had parked, I then scanned the area around the lake which I had never entered. I thought to my self, why not just run to the half way point or the 7 mile mark then I have no option but to complete the second half? Whats the worse that could happen, I’d have to walk the second half? So I kept running and passed the mid point, now I had no choice, I was going to have to complete the next 7 miles to get back to my vehicle. As I continued pushing myself to run just a little bit longer, I ended up sitting on the curb in front of my truck having run about 80% of the last 7 miles and completing the entire 14 miles.

I don’t know why but it seems like I had to get that out before I tackled the main question. Deep inside I realize I have not been working to my potential, I have been riding on my past wins. As I refine what my purpose is, if I don’t work at it as hard as I can it will just be an excuse for my purpose, just like those everyday 6 mile runs.

Most of the time I don’t think about what my ultimate purpose is anymore. I only think of the short term goal, not what I will end up with when I piece all my mini achievements together. I do believe in an after life, but I know I am not doing everything that needs to be done to benefit from that belief.

I need to revert to my old way of being. I was the most honest, hardworking, creative and positive person everyone around me knew. I used those qualities to help solve other peoples problems and ended up making a really good living from it. I did that on a daily basis and did not have the fear many have of their life ending suddenly, because I knew I had worked as hard as I could, significantly helped others and left material for a nice eulogy.

My purpose is to help people overcome obstacles that prevent them from achieving their purpose in life, keeping it all concurrent with my core values and working at it with all my energies.

That means I have to submit this exercise and lace up life’s running shoes, because it is time to get back to work!

Thanks Scott for this site, I can already see and feel that it is going to help me tremendously, and those that want to help themselves.

I’ll be sure to cover the notecard technique in more detail, and will post pictures of my process and technique. In the meantime, there’s three types of notecards that I separate:

(i) Vocabulary
(ii) Life quotes (famous people, religion, etc.)
(iii) Career lessons and strategic models (i.e. Porter’s 5 forces, etc.)