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Reneee 11-29-2011 07:45 PM

Life purpose and talents
 
What is the best way to find out your life purpose?

BillyTheAdult 11-29-2011 09:29 PM

People are good at things because of time, effort, and persistence. I believe talent is cultivated and not an innate natural ability. The idea of being magically good at something is a fantasy. You may start out at a slightly higher level at some things than others but when viewed against the backdrop of someone who is expert level at that activity the difference is very slight. You have a barely noticeable advantage that encourages you to take the further steps of becoming even better and on to eventually expert or master.

I think the real problem here is indecisiveness. Commit to something, and stay with it.

Reneee 11-30-2011 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult (Post 1030592)
People are good at things because of time, effort, and persistence. I believe talent is cultivated and not an innate natural ability. The idea of being magically good at something is a fantasy. You may start out at a slightly higher level at some things than others but when viewed against the backdrop of someone who is expert level at that activity the difference is very slight. You have a barely noticeable advantage that encourages you to take the further steps of becoming even better and on to eventually expert or master.

I think the real problem here is indecisiveness. Commit to something, and stay with it.

Thanks Billy. I think that is the problem, maybe I am too indecisive. I guess the first step in finding my life purpose would first be to find myself.

Nick Connor 11-30-2011 04:43 AM

Hey Reneee,

Indecision can be a beast to overcome. View decisions as temporary experiences that may lead to something more concrete. Indecision stems from our innate fear of permanence and failure.

We all fail and nothing is permanent. Learn from your mistakes and experience as many things as you can. Life purpose is something that flows, changes and shifts, is in constant motion. Enjoy the ride!

Prinie 11-30-2011 05:01 AM

By following your heart and not being afraid of failure.

BillyTheAdult 11-30-2011 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reneee (Post 1030798)
Thanks Billy. I think that is the problem, maybe I am too indecisive. I guess the first step in finding my life purpose would first be to find myself.

I didn't say that your problem is that you are indecisive. The "problem" in general, with this issue, for anyone, is indecisiveness. It is the nature of the issue. I would recommend not working on yourself some more first, but to do something. Working on yourself is really just an excuse to keep putting off committing to something. The self will automatically be worked on through the mastery of your chosen field. If you choose the wrong thing you change when you discover the right thing you can switch. It is better to be doing anything, even if it's not the perfect choice, than doing nothing. The change you are looking for will come only after you have made a commitment to change, and demonstrated that commitment by a willingness to move forward, not before or you will be waiting forever.

I have had a problem with this in the past myself. I think part of it is the term life purpose, like it something you have to decide now and correctly or it ♥♥♥♥s up your life and it's not really true. The purpose of life is living with purpose and the activity is really arbitrary. As long as you are doing it with purpose you will learn and grow, that is what's important.

So many do personal development, and so few actually make any real growth or change. To make any real and lasting change you have to be willing to give up everything you know. You must be willing to be uncomfortable and endure transitory anguish, and if you think about it anguish happens anyway so you may as well be getting the potential payoff from it.

Dandy 11-30-2011 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reneee (Post 1030507)
What is the best way to find out your life purpose?

The best way is to try few things and to see what you are doing reasonably better than anyone around you. That is your strength.

After that you can find out the exact goals and they will be related with your purpose.

Reneee 11-30-2011 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Connor (Post 1030843)
Hey Reneee,

Indecision can be a beast to overcome. View decisions as temporary experiences that may lead to something more concrete. Indecision stems from our innate fear of permanence and failure.

We all fail and nothing is permanent. Learn from your mistakes and experience as many things as you can. Life purpose is something that flows, changes and shifts, is in constant motion. Enjoy the ride!

Thanks Nick Connor!

Reneee 11-30-2011 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prinie (Post 1030858)
By following your heart and not being afraid of failure.

Thanks Prinie. I think that may also be another problem, I am not sure how to follow my heart. Are what my heart is saying for that matter. Or maybe I do...

Reneee 11-30-2011 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dandy (Post 1031087)
The best way is to try few things and to see what you are doing reasonably better than anyone around you. That is your strength.

After that you can find out the exact goals and they will be related with your purpose.

Thanks Dandy. I will have to start paying attention to what I am good at. Still have not found that out yet, but may be I am not looking hard enough.

Reneee 11-30-2011 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult (Post 1031051)
I didn't say that your problem is that you are indecisive. The "problem" in general, with this issue, for anyone, is indecisiveness. It is the nature of the issue. I would recommend not working on yourself some more first, but to do something. Working on yourself is really just an excuse to keep putting off committing to something. The self will automatically be worked on through the mastery of your chosen field. If you choose the wrong thing you change when you discover the right thing you can switch. It is better to be doing anything, even if it's not the perfect choice, than doing nothing. The change you are looking for will come only after you have made a commitment to change, and demonstrated that commitment by a willingness to move forward, not before or you will be waiting forever.

I have had a problem with this in the past myself. I think part of it is the term life purpose, like it something you have to decide now and correctly or it ♥♥♥♥s up your life and it's not really true. The purpose of life is living with purpose and the activity is really arbitrary. As long as you are doing it with purpose you will learn and grow, that is what's important.

So many do personal development, and so few actually make any real growth or change. To make any real and lasting change you have to be willing to give up everything you know. You must be willing to be uncomfortable and endure transitory anguish, and if you think about it anguish happens anyway so you may as well be getting the potential payoff from it.

You're exactly right, Billy. Time to take action.

Prinie 11-30-2011 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reneee (Post 1031164)
Thanks Prinie. I think that may also be another problem, I am not sure how to follow my heart. Are what my heart is saying for that matter. Or maybe I do...

What makes you feel the most enthusiasm and joy? What makes you feel inspired? And that's where not being afraid to fail comes in. Test, test, test til you find it. And even if you feel indecisive, try it anyway. You can always go back and start over. :)

<3

Rimuel 12-05-2011 02:37 AM

I would like to expand on the "try things out" approach.

Do you know of the book "1001 Places to go before you die"? The following method is similar. Take a sufficient large piece of paper and make a numbered list of 1001 thing you would really love to try before you die. You may not reach that number, but the point is that you have plotted some starting points.

Now take several of the items from the top of the list and try them out. You may use the "Backward Planning Flowchart" by Barbara Sher to arrive at the action steps.


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