Why You Cannot Find Your Purpose In Life, And What You Can Do About It

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To do well in life, you must first find your purpose in life. If you don’t know why you are here, if you don’t know what you want from life, if you don’t know how to get what you want from life, you will find it hard to succeed in life.

Why is that? Because life is all about knowing where you are going and how to get to there.

Let me ask you a simple but difficult question. Do you know what you want from life?

Napoleon Hill said, “Everyone wants the better things in life- money, fame, respect- but most people never go beyond just wishing for them.” If you want to find your “Why,” don’t just talk about what you want from life, but take a determined action to make it a reality.

Wishing is fruitless. Action is fruitful. Wishing is meaningless. Action is meaningful.

“Successful people move on their own initiative, but they know where they are going before they start.”- Napoleon Hill

Do you have your own initiative?

Are you ready and willing to move on your own initiative?

Do you know where you are going? Do you know how to get there? Once you are there, do you have what it takes to stay there?

Here is why it is so hard for you to find your OWN purpose in life:

  1. You allow people to make your decisions for you. If you want to find your purpose in life, take care of your decisions. No matter what, don’t allow anyone to make your decisions for you.
  2. You don’t trust yourself. Please, if you don’t trust yourself, no one will trust you. Trust is what you need to succeed in life. People like to work with someone they trust. If you want people to trust you, you must first trust yourself.
  3. You still live in the past. Don’t live in the past if you are to explore today for future opportunities. Yesterday cannot change your life. Only today can change your life. So, focus on today.
  4. You dwell on your past and present mistakes. It is okay to make mistakes, but it is not okay to make making mistakes a habit.
  5. You want to be perfect. If you want to be perfect at what you do, you will never master it. No one is perfect. Accept what you have, and work really hard to be better next time.
  6. You imitate other people. You can’t find your purpose in life if all you do is imitating others. It is not good. The more you focus on what other people are doing, the more you are ignoring your own needs and wants.
  7. You don’t value your time. If you really value your time on earth, you will not waste it on what you are not passionate about. According to late Steve Jobs, “Our time on earth is limited.” Use your time wisely!
  8. You are stuck in the job you don’t like. You cannot find your purpose in life if you continue to do what is not making you happy. If you don’t like what you are doing right now, make it better or leave.
  9. You quit when the going gets really tough. You quit when the pain becomes unbearable. No, don’t quit. You are not a quitter. No matter how hard, stay in it to finish it.
  10. You don’t like to take risks. If you don’t try something new, how would you know what you are good at? If you really want to find your purpose in life, according to Mark Cuban, “Do everything.”
  11. You don’t want to fail. If you try and fail, celebrate it. It is better to try and fail than to not try anything and still fail. You cannot succeed without failing at something. If you don’t want to fail, you don’t want to succeed.
  12. You are looking for the person the world wants you to be. Don’t look for the person the world wants you to be. Just be yourself. Don’t find yourself, create the person you really want to become.
  13. You don’t like change. If you don’t like to change, how do you expect to grow? There is no growth without change. If you want to find your purpose in life, you must embrace change.
  14. You think it is too late to start again. If you don’t like what you are doing now, change it. Start again. Do it again. It is never to late to start again.
  15. Your aim is too low. If you aim too low in life, you will not achieve much in life. If you want to achieve success in life, aim higher. The higher you aim, the better it is for you.
  16. You focus on security. If you want to grow, don’t focus on security, focus on opportunity. There is no security in life. Look for opportunities.
  17. You try to please everybody. Help people, but don’t ignore your needs and wants.

4 Things Successful People Do That Unsuccessful People Don’t Do

Successful people know something that unsuccessful people don’t know

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In the words of Colin Powell, “There are no secrets to success. It is a result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Success is not about material possessions. Success is about you and how you conduct yourself. How you do your daily business. What is success to you is not success to the next guy.

Success comes to those who attract it. If you attract success, if you do the right things, if you work hard, success will visit you, too.

The question here is: “Why are some people successful?”

“Why are others not so successful?” What are the secrets?

Is there any secret to success? If there is, how can we find it?

What is it that the successful people know that the rest of us are missing? What did they do that made them super successful?

Are they doing what the rest of us are doing? Or,

Are they doing something differently that the rest of us are not paying attention to?

Let us look at some of the things that successful people are doing right that the rest of us are missing.

Successful people are courageous.

Successful people are courageous people. They are scared of the unknown, but they never stop pursuing their dreams. They don’t allow fear to stop them from achieving their dreams. They know that without courage, nothing will happen. They look fear in the eye and keep going. They never stop moving.

“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.”- Baltasar Gracian

Successful people embrace mistakes.

Successful people know that without mistakes they are not going anywhere. When you make mistakes, it shows you are learning. It shows you are progressing. It shows you are doing the right thing. Don’t be scared to make mistakes. It is part of your journey to success. Embrace it. Learn from it. Move on.

“To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.”– Plutarch, Greek Roman biographer

Successful people know what they want.

Successful people know what they want and how to get it. It is easier to succeed if you know what you want. If you know what you want to achieve in life, it is easier for you to go about achieving it. But if you don’t know, you won’t know how to get it. Know what you want, assess the situation, plan, take action, and measure your progress. If you don’t like your results, change what you are doing.

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.”- Seneca The Younger

Successful people trust themselves.

Successful people trust themselves, even when they don’t know what they are doing. They believe in themselves. They believe in what they are doing. Success starts with self-belief. If you want to be successful, YOU MUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. Self-belief gives you courage, confidence, hope, and determination to pursue your dream. You must believe in yourself if you are to succeed. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will believe in you. No matter what you are going through, don’t make excuses, just believe in yourself, and you will be a victor.

“Trust in what you do, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.”- Natalie Goldberg, Zen practitioner

To be successful, you must do the right thing. You must work hard and smart. You must look fear in the eye and say, “I am a winner.”

So shall it be!

This article first appeared on http://Worknovation.com