The Importance of Having a Purpose

The Importance of Having a Purpose*

• What’s your purpose?
• If you can answer this question, there’s a growing body of research showing that you will likely:
  • Live longer.
  • Sleep better and feel more relaxed when you’re awake.
  • Reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by more than 50%.
  • Enjoy better overall health.
  • Have more friends.
  • Feel happier and more content.
  • Feel more engaged in life.
• These benefits come with living a purpose that goes beyond self-interest. Some examples:
  • To be a caring parent and partner, and treat everyone with kindness and respect.
  • To make people smile and help them have fun.
  • To share information that helps people live healthier and more satisfying lives.
  • To end homelessness in my community.
  • To provide fresh, organic food for my customers.
  • To help survivors of abuse thrive.
  • To bring more health, sanity, and justice into the world.
• We can identify our purpose by asking ourselves questions such as:
  • What are my most important values?
  • What life goals matter most to me?
  • How would I like to be remembered when I’m gone? What would I like people to say about me when they describe what I meant to them?
• Purposeful living requires energy & focus. These are fueled by healthy living habits:
  • Getting enough rest.
  • Staying in the present moment.
  • Activity (exercise/movement).
  • Eating well.
• It can help us stay on track by regularly stating our purpose out loud to ourselves and/or writing it down and posting it (some people write their purpose on a post-it note and stick it on their bathroom mirror).
• It also helps to let other people know our purpose. This provides a gentle kind of accountability.
• We can expect our purpose to change over time.
• For parents, sharing our purpose with our child and helping them identify their own can be among the most important gifts that we give them.

*Much of this information comes from Life On Purpose: How Living for What Matters Most Changes Everything by Victor Strecher.