Whilst I am trying to get this blog off the ground, I am discovering there is a huge amount of material I want to publish - a lot of it quite in-depth and time-consuming to write. The main aim for a lot of this content is to share with you all the important fundamental concepts and paradigms that I adhere to, and which underpin many of the strategies I will be writing about in the coming months.

While I am pulling this material together, the most important paradigm that I want to to share is the idea of each of us having a Life Purpose - an all-encompassing, unique reason for our existence.

This is not a new idea, and I’m sure that many readers who have spent time with Personal Development literature will be familiar with this concept; of having a chosen Vision/Mission/Purpose which provides us with a compass to help us live our lives as effectively and successfully as possible.

I will be spending a lot of time expounding the idea of purpose in posts to come - how to discover your purpose, how to live more congruently with your purpose and how it can affect your life. For now though, I’d simply like to share with you my chosen Life Purpose, and a simple story of how it has profoundly affected my life for the better.

My Life Purpose is…

To embrace the Power of Now.
To consciously choose a Life of Greatness.
To experience Joy, fabulousness and abundance in all things.
To fully express my Creative Genius.
To help others discover the best of themselves.
To make manifest the glory of the Universe.

From fear to excitement: How Purpose changed my life…

When I was at school, I was always considered to be bright and resourceful, with a lot of potential. Because of this, I was frequently ear-marked for extra-curricular activities and courses - one of which being a 2-day workshop at an exhibition center on developing presentation skills…

Trauma repression has blocked most of this experience from my memory, but I can clearly and distinctly remember being absolutely terrified to my wits end, for the vast majority of the time. Thus began a deep-seated, gut-wrenching terror of public speaking.

I was forced to (unsuccessfully) face my fears the following year, when my work experience placement required a presentation on a project I had been working on while there. Whilst I throughly enjoyed the project work, and had a fun partner to work with - the presentation elements caused me a lot of emotional upset. I even ran out of the room once, to avoid facing my peers.

The final presentation at the end of the week was ultimately a success - with my partner I playing a comedy double-act and lacing our speech with plenty of humour; yet I still held a deep aversion to public speaking, and expected to for many years.

Fast forward to 2006, and I was doing a lot of personal development work - Trying to find my Purpose in life, and gain some direction. I had read countless books, followed numerous programs and was in a very positive place, but was somehow falling short of finding that singular focus for my life.

I had just finished reading a book that I had enjoyed, and had begun a meditation to contemplate what I had learned (a practise I recommend for this kind of material) - when I was struck by the phrase “helping others to discover the best of themselves”. Bam! I had found my purpose!

It took a few more weeks to finish fleshing out my ideas, but this sentence was at the core of everything I wanted to achieve - I wanted to work with people, to help them discover the best of themselves. I began imagining different ways of expressing this Purpose, and kept coming back to the idea of becoming a public speaker. At first, my fears took over and I tried to deny this was what I wanted… but time after time, I returned to the same dream. Of becoming a paid public speaker, helping others better themselves.

It took another 6 months of confidence building before I could face my fear of public speaking, and I eventually joined Solent Speakers Toastmasters. I started off with Table Topics (impromptu speaking on a given subject), and eventually worked up to my first Icebreaker speech - the topic of which was talking about my Purpose.

By the time I finished my 5-minute speech, I was hooked…

Since then, I have gone on to become the Vice President for Education for my club; was awarded the Immediate Past Presidents Award for outstanding contributions to the club; have participated in speech contests; have won Best Speaker and Best Evaluator awards and have had a genuinely fabulous time.

That’s the power of a Life Purpose - it turned me from a petrified speakaphobe into a full-on public speaking evangelist!

Do you have a Life Purpose? Would you like to find yours? Do you have any Purpose-related stories you’d like to share here? I’d love to hear any feedback in the comments…