There's a lot of conversation around the topic of purpose. Some people feel like they haven't found their purpose. Other people feel dissatisfied with their lives because they feel like they're not engaged with their purpose. So we're going to unpack that today and talk a little bit about how to live your purpose and find daily fulfillment on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me in my private Facebook group, go to MarissaShadrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello. So excited to be here today to talk about something that I find really fascinating. And in my own life, it's been a journey to discover what exactly is purpose. And so I am excited to share some thoughts for you. And I think you're going to walk away with more fulfillment, just knowing that you are on a journey to live your purpose. Let's first start by just saying that your purpose isn't lost. This isn't a hide and seek, lost and found situation. By simply saying, I need to find my purpose, it makes it sound like your purpose is lost and it's not. I think really, if we begin to look at this topic, it's really about finding fulfillment. Marion Webster says, it's the reason why something is done or used, the aim or intention of something. So why is it important to connect with our purpose? Well, there are a lot of benefits to knowing that we are living our purpose. There have been many studies done, and one from psychosomatic medicine says that a sense of purpose in life has been linked with better behavioral and physical health outcomes. Interesting, right? Oxford Academy also did a study, and they said across all ages, having a stronger sense of purpose in life was associated with lower loneliness. So here's the problem: people still feel a disconnect to purpose. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that things are constantly changing. And what is the one thing that's so hard for most of us? And that is change. Nothing stays the same. The world is constantly changing, we change, we get older, our environment changes, our careers even change. Everything constantly changes. So why wouldn't purpose change as well? And why limit it to one purpose? As a woman, I have a purpose when it comes to my kids, what my purpose is, my role is in their lives. I have a purpose when it comes to my husband and my role as a wife. I have a purpose with my work and what I do. So it's not just one purpose. And I think oftentimes we think it's that one thing that is going to be so significant and it will define us. But I don't think that anything that we do really defines us. I think our character, who we are, how we love people, how we interact with people is what really defines us. So how do we find fulfillment in an ongoing and changing world? And I know that deep down everyone wants to discover how to spend their time in a way that brings fulfillment. Now we can find fulfillment in every small and large thing that we do. Now I know some of you are saying, oh yeah, that's all well and good. I can find fulfillment in everything, washing dishes, driving to my job. But really, we can find fulfillment. It's really that posture of gratitude, having gratitude every day. But I know some of you are thinking, wait, Marissa, I want to do something significant. I want to do something special. And I know we all have this desire to be special. I think God puts that in us. But let me say this: you are special. You are unique. There's no one else like you. So that is kind of a mindset issue that we are already special. Everything that we do, no one can do it like the way we do it. How we execute something is special and unique to us. So one of the things that I wanted to propose to you is to consider or ask yourself when you're beginning to look at purpose and priorities, what should be your priority today is consider what would end up being a regret if you don't pursue it. I know for me that helped a lot to look at my options and consider what I would regret if I didn't pursue it? Something that would feel like a loss at the end of my life. When I did that, it was easy to see some of the things that sort of surfaced and needed to be a priority in my life because I didn't want that to be a regret. So when you begin to look at everything and you see all the options that you have, what is the one thing that you don't want to have a feeling of regret at the end of your life because you didn't pursue it because of fear or because you had all these false limiting beliefs, whatever it might be? But what is that thing that you really would regret if you did not pursue? And that's a good place to start. So how do you begin to live out your purpose? Now I love Rick Warren's quote, and it's from The Purpose-Driven Life, and his entire book starts with one short sentence. It's not about you. I think when we're thinking about what we want to do and what would be a regret if we didn't pursue it, we need to remember that whatever that thing is, it's really not about us. I think if we want to have purpose and fulfillment, fulfillment comes when we serve others, when we don't make it about us and we make it about others. And I think we'll experience daily fulfillment in whatever it is we choose to do. As entrepreneurs, much of what we do, whether people believe it or not, a lot of entrepreneurs that I know, they do it because they really want to serve other people. That is their motivation. And yes, it is a business. They want to make money. Yes, absolutely. They want to take care of their family, but it needs to be something that aligns with their values. And oftentimes they find great fulfillment in helping others. Great fulfillment. So let's break this down a little further. So we talked about how to begin to live your purpose, and we started with it's not about you. Thank you, Rick Warren, for that. Now, the first point I want to make is create your purpose so others can live their purpose. There's a chain reaction. When you do what you need to do, you begin to impact those around you. That's the beautiful thing about living out your potential or whatever it is that you feel you need to do next. Stop looking for the purpose. Instead, you begin to create it. That means changing again your priorities and making whatever it is that you would regret. If you don't do it, you would regret it at the end of your life. Make that a priority. So, really, all we need to do is do the next right thing and maximize whatever it is that we have because we only have today. So we focus on today to do what it is we need to do today related to that purpose or that priority that we have. So here's a simple acronym to live out your purpose. It's S-W-E-A-T, SWET, because it will, it will, you will have some sweat equity in whatever it is, uh, whether your purpose is to write books or to start an online business or whatever it might be your purpose. Uh, there's going to be some work involved. So the S stands for strengths. You want to look at your existing strengths. What are some of the strengths you have? Physical strengths, mental strengths, spiritual strengths. What are those things that you can bring to the table for this purpose that you're trying to live out? The W in the acronym SWAT is weaknesses. We have to realize that every strength has its counter. So what are some of the weaknesses that you need to stay top of mind and figure out how you're going to offset that, right? So we look at S for strength, W for weaknesses. E in the acronym S W E A T is enemy. Enemy is what is in your way. An easy way to look at this is consider what are the excuses or the reasons why you haven't done it yet. And you need to be very honest with yourself. Think about the enemy. What has been in your way that has prevented you from doing this in the past? The A and the acronym S W E A T is awareness. So be aware of your accomplishments, be aware of understanding that you have, maybe life experience, knowledge, or maybe you need additional knowledge. Maybe you need to learn something new. So be very aware. Check and see what is it that I know I've experienced my knowledge or something that I need to attain. And the last in the acronym SWEAT is time. What is the best time to develop the habits that are needed to be able to live my purpose? Because really it's all about habits. We build these habits in daily so we can live out our purpose. So let me repeat those again. It's S-W-E-A-T because everything worthwhile takes a little bit of sweat. So I use that acronym so you can remember. S is to take uh inventory of your strengths. W is weaknesses, take inventory of those weaknesses because every strength has a counter. E is enemy, right? You got to slay your enemies. What is in your way or what has been in your way that has not allowed you to pursue this purpose that you have? Awareness is take inventory of accomplishments and life experience, understanding, knowledge, and tea is for time, the best time to develop these habits, to be able to live out your purpose. And again, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Journaling is a great way to do this, to really get in touch with what's really going on in your head and be able to move forward with your goals. Now, the next point I wanted to make was protect your purpose. Whenever you're going to begin something new, there's that reality of execution where fear tries to come in. So all I'm going to say about fear is that it's a very real thing, right? But we need to realize that we can conquer it. And this comes from someone who was very fearful all her life. We can conquer it, and the fear loses its voice as we begin to pursue our purpose. It'll still try to creep up, but it won't be as loud and it won't be as intimidating as in the past. Let me give you a few reminders that fear needs permission to exist. So you have to give it permission to exist, otherwise, it can't exist. Fear erodes our potential, and we don't want to erode our potential. We want to live our potential. Fear undermines our purpose, and we don't want to undermine our purpose. So you have to silence fear. So you really are giving up your free will. And fear wants us to conform and belittles our existence. You know, for point number two, I just want you to realize that you need to protect your purpose because there will be a reality of execution, and fear is a common enemy among all of us. And so we need to be ready to realize that and not let fear get in the way. And then my last point is to make room for your purpose. We will experience intentional change because we are setting this purpose, this thing that we want to do, that we don't want to end up at the end of our life with regrets. We want to do this, but we're going to be very intentional and we're going to create change. We're going to create change in our lives. And that doesn't come easily for us. That's counterintuitive. So we want to begin to tear down any false beliefs that come up and let go of any unrealistic expectations. So again, to make room for purpose, we need to tear down some things. So here are some examples of things to tear down. And this comes from experience. These are some things that I've had to tear down. Self-reliance, you got to tear that down. Pride, we got to tear that down. Control is another one, but here I'm talking about unhealthy control because there is an amount of control that happens when we're working on something. And it is the relationship between action and results. So I'm not talking about healthy control. I'm talking about unhealthy control. The same thing with perfectionism. There's unhealthy perfectionism where we are trying to control, right? It comes stems from control, everything, and we need to let go. We need to let go of that. Now that doesn't mean that we don't do things with excellence, but perfectionism is destructive. Excellence is good. And then also we need to tear down any limiting beliefs. Again, journaling really helps with these. So what were the five that I just mentioned? Tearing down self-reliance, tearing down pride, tearing down unhealthy control, tearing down unhealthy perfectionism, and tearing down any limiting beliefs. And then you need to embrace humility and patience and innovation. You embrace these things and you begin to build your character. This is so important because there will be setbacks. And if you build your character, you will be able to recover quickly and you'll be able to practice that daily resilience. So you don't stop dreaming and you don't stop serving and you don't stop creating and you don't stop believing and you don't stop doing the next right thing. You do the next right thing by setting it as a priority. And then you begin to live your purpose. And as you live your purpose, you find fulfillment, my friend. You find fulfillment. And remember that purpose, there are many purposes. I have a purpose when it comes to my relationship with my husband. I have a purpose when it comes to relationship with my kids, relationship with my granddaughter, relationship at work, relationship with peers, relationship with customers. Different purpose. So it's not just one. All of it put together makes that beautiful you. Because I'll tell you, whatever it is that you do, it doesn't define you. You define you. Who you are defines you. How you love, how you serve, how you show up, that defines you. So I hope that was helpful today. I know this was a little different, but I felt like I needed to just share this. We are always experiencing constant change. And I think change is what throws us off sometimes. And when change is uncomfortable, we begin to think about purpose. Am I living my purpose? We get dissatisfied. But know that you can live your purpose and find fulfillment no matter what changes are going on. So I hope that was helpful today. And until next time, take care and I'll talk to you soon. Wait, before you go, if you found this podcast helpful, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. Remember, cultivate resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.