8 Mistakes You Need To Avoid In Your Pursuit For Purpose 

One of the greatest mistakes I ever did with purpose was to think that it had to be spelt out to me in full multimedia and with absolute clarity. I used to think that I needed to know everything there was about what, when, how, if and all the questions answered about my purpose before I could venture. That was out-rightly wrong and I learnt it the hard way.

Purpose is Not Static

I came to realize that purpose pursuit is a process. Even when your feet have been firmly planted on the path of purpose, chances are that you might not know all there is to know about it. It keeps unfolding with each new waking day. When Oprah Winfrey happened to one day mention to Maya Angelou that her (Oprah’s) school in South Africa would be her legacy, Maya sort of rebuked her. IN essence, Maya said, “You have no idea how your legacy is going to turn out to be, and so do not get stressed out about it for now”.

The Purpose Pursuit Mistakes

That was profound advice from Maya. Someone said that if you would have written and closed Maya Angelou’s story decades ago, you would have ended her book with the chapter that called her a prostitute and single mother! That would be a terrible mistake. We have been looking through the purpose mistakes that people make on a daily basis.

4. Taking Today Lightly

Purpose pursuit will always be a process. Even when we have narrowed down to one “major” pursuit, that pursuit will still unfold right before our eyes to something spectacular that we never dreamt of. Mark Zuckerberg in 2017 during a commencement speech at Harvard said the following words:

“Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves…that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness”

The Nature of Purpose

The very nature of purpose if not well understood will lead you to make this terrible mistakes that I made. When Zuckerberg mentions “something bigger” than ourselves, it tends to spell that our hairs are alert, we are in a heightened state, or smack in the middle of our calling daily. The truth though is that chances are that you will not “feel” purpose every day. You will not be in the zone every day. You will not feel the flow every day…and yet,

Each Waking Day is a Seed of Purpose

I have learnt never to judge my day by my feelings. In fact, if I allowed my feelings to take over, I might not be able to do much productive work in the day. Each waking day is a critical contributor to purpose pursuit. There is need to understand the blessing of being alive in a day. There is need to understand how crucial each 24 hours we have been given are important. In the Book, A Million Dollar Habits”, Robert Ringer says the following quite profoundly:

“Remember, life is nothing more than the sum total of many successful years; a successful year is nothing more than the sum total of many successful months; a successful month is nothing more than the sum total of many successful weeks; a successful week is nothing more than the sum total of many successful days. That’s why practicing successful habits day in and day out is the most certain way to win over the long term”

Today’s Purpose Pursuit Mistakes

The following are some of the mistakes that people make on a daily basis concerning their purpose:

1. Procrastination Over The Day’s Agenda

I have learnt that planning is easy, even when many people say that it is laborious. People plan all the time. The real deal is to put that plan into action. For the most part, a decision is always inspired by something. During the time that then inspiration lingers, your brain does not see any hindrance to the decision being carried out.

Visualization and Brainwork

The very nature of the visualization takes the dream or the decision to have already been delivered. And then comes the adjustment–where the real work is needed. The need for comfort suddenly becomes higher than the decision for growth and purpose pursuit. All of a sudden you want the conditions to be perfect to carry out your plan. You and I know that there is nothing such as a perfect world–it doesn’t exist. And so people procrastinate, not wanting to break their cycle of comfort. Purpose pursuit gets derailed daily whenever you do not take action, direct action that will result in the fruition of your dreams.

2. Ineptitude With Today’s Duty

Just because you cannot connect your purpose to today’s assignment does not mean that you become inept with it. I have always said that you give today your absolute best, otherwise leave the job for someone else to do it. The greatest secret I have found in purpose pursuit is to be faithfully excellent at the current level. The next level will open itself up faster to the degree that I have poured myself out to the task at hand today. The greatest mistake you could make with purpose then is the nonchalant approach to life as if what you are up to today doesn’t matter.

3. Doing Nothing Directly Connected To Purpose

Like I have kept saying, today is an important day for your purpose pursuit. The question is: What exactly are you doing to directly connect you to your purpose? What input is there? Even if there is no direct input, what are you engaged in that has in indirect connection or contribution to matters related to your purpose pursuit? Today matters most for your purpose discovery. Do not let it go to waste. If you cannot do anything about your purpose, at the very least think. At the very least strategize. At very least visualize. The least of all mental work that you can do about your purpose daily could coalesce into a behemoth of momentum when time is all you have on your hands.

In a nutshell, take your day, take each waking day absolutely seriously. There is no other day like this. Milk it dry!

This is a Guest post. It originally appeared on LifeSignatures.life