16 Signs that you are living purposefully

Living purposefully is one of the most effortless but enjoyable experiences which you can enjoy in life. When you are living purposefully life just flows. Like flowing water, you effortlessly adapt to any obstacle which is placed in your path. You carve out your own path for life as you pass peacefully through. There are times when things can become turbulent and you can fall off purpose but with a small amount of conscious effort, you can usually guide yourself back until you are living purposefully once again. It may take a little time and effort to find your purpose but once you do so, and you choose to live your purpose, the benefits are beyond measure.

16 Signs that you are living purposefully
The following tips will enable you to identify whether you are living purposefully or not.

1. You build supportive relationships
Traditionally, we build friendships based on proximity. Social psychology shows us that we tend to have a greater fondness for those whom we spend more time with. We often build these friendships at a young age but as we change and our lives change, these relationships fail to change with us. As a result, we can end up spending a great deal of time with people who no longer support our growth as human beings.

When you are living purposefully, you understand the need to evaluate relationships to ensure that they are mutually supportive. It is not just about what others can do for you, it is also important that you be able to help others. The objective is not to kick old friends out of your life (unless it is absolutely necessary); the objective is to organise your priorities.

2. You take responsibility
When you are living purposefully, you do not run away from your problems. You do not blame others for what has gone wrong in your life. You accept full responsibility for the results which you achieve. When you don’t get the results you desire, you identify the changes that you can make and put a plan in place to make those changes.

3. You are authentic
You know who you are – your purpose, your values, your principles and your goals. You dedicate your life to pursuing these. When conflict arises or difficult decisions need to be made, you do not bow to the pressures of others. You consult your own conscience and you take what you believe to be the best course of action. One of the mottos by which I live my life is: ‘Do what you believe to be right and accept the consequences’.

4. You put your own needs first
If you want to be in the best position to help others; you must first ensure that you are the best ‘You’ that you can be. Living in a constant state of sacrifice, where you always put the needs of others first, is both unhealthy and unviable.

If you focus on continuously growing as a person, you will constantly be developing new knowledge and skills which you can use to serve others, while also achieving your own goals and objectives.

5. You keep moving forward
Living purposefully focuses on growth and improvement. To do this, you must keep moving in a forwards direction. Everybody has unpleasant things in their past but as Tony Robbins said ‘The past does not equal the future, unless you choose to live there’. So, rather than dwell on the past, you must focus on building your future. If you find yourself dwelling on a past incident, ask yourself these questions:

What is the lesson here? Then implement the lesson and move on.
Who do I need to forgive here? It may be you or it may be somebody else that you need to forgive but if you are harbouring any bad feelings, you need to let it go and move on.
6. You don’t let fear of failure put you off
When you are trying new things, you are always taking a chance. Naturally, you may experience a little fear of failure but when you are living purposefully, you understand that as long as you achieve a result you can learn from it. If it is not the desired result, you can make the necessary changes and try again. Failure only arises when you have no result to learn from i.e. you didn’t even try.

7. You understand that you cannot buy happiness
You no longer chase money because you understand that money cannot buy happiness. To live purposefully is to live with happiness. Of course you will still want to be paid appropriately for your work but it is the work itself which takes priority, not the pay check.

8. You are more decisive
It is easy to waste time over analysing things but you no longer do that. You are crystal clear on what you want and what you are trying to achieve which makes decision-making a much easier process. Something either serves your purpose or it does not.

9. You don’t wait for perfection
Perfectionism kills confidence, productivity and performance. If you wait for the perfect moment before doing something; you will never do it. There is no such thing as perfection. Things can always be improved. Rather than wait for perfection, you know that it is best to get to work, do the best you can and if necessary, make adjustments later.

10. You don’t compete
You pursue supportive, collaborative relationships which are aimed at achieving mutual benefits. You do not feel the need to compete with others. Success in life is not about doing better than other people, it is about being the best that you can be. When you understand this, you realise that each person is unique and there is sufficient opportunity for us all too live happy, healthy and successful lives. Therefore there is no need for competition, comparison or jealousy.

11. You set the standards for yourself
You set the standard at which you wish to live and work. Others may choose to adopt different standards; that is their prerogative. As an authentic person, living purposefully, you will not allow anybody to lower your standards.

12. You live by your values
Values are one of your conscience’s ways of communicating with you. They set guidelines for how you might like to behave. When you act in accordance with your values, you will be much happier for it. When you act in conflict with your values, you will experience inner turmoil.

13. You don’t feel the need to explain yourself
You understand that each person is unique and they must live their own purpose. You do not require others to explain their choices and you feel no need to explain yourself to those who do not understand you.

14. You appreciate
When you live purposefully, you see the beauty in life. Not just the big moments; you see the beauty in the small moments too. You take the time to appreciate each of these moments. This is the true wealth in life.

15.You banish worry and guilt
In his book ‘Your Erroneous Zones: Step-by-Step Advice for Escaping the Trap of Negative Thinking and Taking Control of Your Life’, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer correctly describes worry and guilt as useless emotions. Guilt is living in the past. It is wasting time thinking about things which you cannot change. Worry is equally useless. It requires you to spend time getting upset about things which might never happen.

Rather than be bogged down by either of these emotions, you know that it is better to focus on the best course of action that you can take. You trust that you can handle anything that comes your way and because you have built supportive relationships, you know will be able to find people to help you, should you need it.

16. You are more focused
You know that you cannot please everyone so, you don’t even try. You know what your purpose is and you focus on pursuing it. If people require help that lies outside of your area of expertise, you will confidently point them in the right direction rather than make a botched job of trying to help them.

Living purposefully is effortless living. You become so certain of who you are and what you are trying to achieve; you can make difficult decisions with consumate ease. You feel a great deal of certainty about your life and you trust in yourself, even during the most difficult times. Living purposefully brings meaning and joy to everything that you do and a greater sense of fulfilment upon the completion of each task. The 16 points, listed above, will help you to determine whether you are living purposefully or not. If you find that you are not living purposefully, you may want to ask yourself – ‘what is the purpose of my life?’