Will You Follow Your Purpose?

Will You Follow Your Purpose? Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash
I wrote recently about finding your purpose. Many people are searching for their purpose but if they let it, their purpose will find them. If you believe this is true, it raises an even bigger question, will you follow your purpose? We celebrate the people who put everything on the line and succeed against all the odds. But what about the rest of us? What are we prepared to put on the line?
 
I explored these questions with Francoise, a great friend and an extremely thoughtful fellow coach. We considered the following factors that influence our willingness to follow our purpose.
 

Motivation

 
Our motivation comes from what we care about. Being honest is very important here. For example, if we care most about financial security, it will influence the amount of risk we are willing to take.
 

Moving towards or away?

 
Our motivations are often oriented towards finding a positive future or moving away from a negative past. Recognizing if we are moving away from or towards something is important to understand. Living in fear depletes our energy and it is better to address the fear and then seek a positive future.
 

Risk tolerance

 
What are the consequences of failing or missing out if we don’t try? Let’s say your dream is to start your own business. How much are you willing to risk and how much risk is truly involved?
 

Scarcity vs abundance

 
How many opportunities will we have to follow our purpose? This shifts over our life. As time goes by, it becomes a scarcer commodity often increasing the importance of taking action now, before it is too late.
 
I suspect, most of our decisions about following our purpose take place in our gut. They are based on our emotions and gut feel. I wonder if our answers would be different if we seriously considered the factors above?
 
What will it take to follow your purpose and what is getting in your way?