Mistakes of The Passionate Seeker

You know, one of the worst thing I ever did was my purpose quest was to do nothing until I had it all figured out. Each waking day, I would passionately seek God asking Him to tell me why I was created. I would say things like:

• “I am tired of a mundane life that doesn’t matter”
• “If only I could know what my destiny is, I would ‘put my hands on the plough’ and never look back
• “Give me a heart that is consumed for something, like some “pregnancy” that I could carry full term”
• “I refuse to live a life of working, eating, paying bills and passing the baton to my kids to repeat the process, I don’t want that kind of life”

So each day I looked forward for a clear statement from God indicating what exactly it is I was created for. I wanted to find my purpose and then move on from there. While I was seeking, I practically brought my life to a standstill as I waited for the revelation of the purpose. It never came.

The Revelation

Then one day as I sat down to pen a poem, I stumbled across a mighty revelation. I wish I can have my scrapbooks of those days because they are very instructive. I remember writing something about the revelation in a poem that went something like this:

Given to you is this day,

Live it fully in a selfless way,

And tomorrow’s sorrows let rest

What I was telling myself is that I might not come to the realization of my purpose in an acute way. It would have to take time. My responsibility then was to live each day fully as I have talked about it here and here already. In other words, seldom do you define your purpose in one sitting or in one asking. Purpose is like the gold or precious stones that form over time. The truth though is that we are not manufacturing the purpose, we are only discovering what has already been decided.

The Verdict

Clearly, your purpose and mine will first of all be realized after a period of seeking. I believe that purpose is not something you put on or off like a garment. I however believe that purpose is to our lives what our hearts are to our bodies. Without it, our lives malfunction. Herein then lies the verdict:

Yes, your purpose will evolve…

However, this evolution will not necessarily be too different from what is already known. Let me explain. When I was a seeker of purpose and I still am, the general call that I felt was around “people”. There are other people whose general call is on things like the environment, gadgets and technology, art, music, the animal kingdom, spirituality, sports, leadership and so on.

The evolution of your purpose then is the evolution of it’s clarity. IN other words, my purpose has never changed from people to animals or technology or whatever. Now, that does not mean that my life is lead isolated from these other fields. For example, I use technology so much because I was trained in there. I love entrepreneurship because I believe it is important for everyone.

As much as my purpose does evolve in getting clearer by the day, my call is to remain focused and urgent on the call.

What To Learn

The following therefore are things that we need to learn from this:

1. Be in Motion While Seeking

Do not wait to see the whole purpose before you get started. Martin Luther King Jr said the following:

“Faith is taking the first step even if you don’t see the whole staircase.

All you need to know is the general direction or calling. Believe me, we all do know. I have written about passion and anger previously. We all know something that matters to us, something that we care about. It could be people or animals, or leadership or kids. Look within your heart, it’s there.

2. Be Patient but Stay Focused

The worst mistake like I said that I did with my passion and purpose was waiting. It will get clearer as you engage it, much like gold is created over time through pressure. You will also face disappointments and times where you question if you are on the correct path. Stay focused. Believe me, you would rather ‘be lost’ on this path than not take any path at all. So stay patient and do not jump from one thing to another. Know that purpose is a lifetime thing, but each day is important in opening up the clarity of your purpose.

3. Embrace Learning

When I started zeroing in on “Life Coaching”, a term that I had never heard in my entire life, I realized that I was so green to it. Much as it was part and parcel of my purpose, it did not mean that I knew everything about it. Therefore, knowing your purpose does not mean that you are instantaneously the guru of it. It actually means that you are a lifetime student of it. Therefore, your goal is to learn as much as possible. Research is now your paramount goal, until you are refined

4. Don’t Wait for Perfection to Deploy

There will always be the first time to do something. On my first coaching session, I never had any experience, any certification. I just had passion. My passion connected me to those who needed and even at that time, they were massively impacted that they, by word of mouth told as many of their friends as possible. I think one of my greatest achievements in life is to start a coaching practice that gained referrals. So don’t wait to be perfect. Get started. I learnt that perfection is a mirage, but growth in always in the next try.

5. Understand the Path of Uniqueness.

My mentor Myles Munroe puts it best:

• You have to be a person of Value
• Value is a result of being unique (pursuing your purpose)
• Uniqueness is a result of being significant (deploying your potential)
• Significance is a result of being rare (focusing on excellence and uniqueness)
• Rarity is a result of being refined (this is where the researching and the doing comes in)
• Refining is a result of investing (this is where focus of resources and time comes in)
• Investment is a result of specialization (this is where the identification of your calling comes in)

So there you have it. It takes time. Do not microwave your purpose.