Here’s my post after editing it:
GTD AT 50,000FT: HOW TO FIND AND FULFILL YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE
Have you ever felt lost & thinking “Why am I doing what I’m doing?”. “Why am I in this Job?”, “What does all this mean?”, “Who am I, and what is my purpose?”.
In spite of all your achievements you feel empty. This feeling comes when your actions are not aligned with your Life’s purpose.
Using the Horizons of Focus model, GTD helped align my day to day actions to my life’s purpose. I’m going to share how you can do the same.
What is GTD at 50,000 ft?
The Horizons of Focus Model clarifies the agreements one has with himself at different Horizons. Each Horizon represents a different time-level & impact. It’s a tool to help you define your priorities .
In David’s book he defines 50,000 ft as “This is the ‘big picture’ view. Why does your company exist? Why do you exist? The primary purpose for anything provides the core definition of what its ‘word’ really is. It is the ultimate job description.”
In other words, your agreements at 50,000 ft. describe your life’s purpose.
How to Find Your Life’s Purpose?
I wish we were born with an instruction manual outlining our purpose.
Life would be so much easier!
But then again life wouldn’t be so interesting if we had all the answers!
I define Life’s purpose in a two-folds. The first is one’s Inner Purpose, and the second is one’s Outer-Purpose.
The Inner-Purpose is the same for all human beings on the planet, and that is know one oneself. Not in the sense of who your personality is, but to know yourself as the silent witness of your thoughts.
But what is more challenging to find is our Outer-Purpose. Ask this question to yourself:
“what can you do in this world to align yourself and your actions with your Inner-Purpose?”
No one can tell you what your Outer-purpose is. It’s something you have to find out for yourself.
But there are ways to find out by asking ourselves a series of questions:
– What are my unique Talents?
– How can I use my unique talents to serve others (such as family and community)
– What gives me peak experiences and Joy?
– What would I be doing if I had just 6 months to live?
– What would I be doing, if I had all the time and money in the world?
– What do I love to do?
– What are the top values I believe in and uphold the most?
Recommended Reading: The Passion Test.
If you own an organization there are some questions you can ask to help you identify the purpose of your organization:
– What business are we in?
– When does my business get done?
– What are the values of this Organization?
– What value are we trying to give our customers?
Recommended Reading: The E-Myth Manager
If you’re working for an organization, then ask both sets of questions above.
And then ask “Are my talents & values in alignment with the purpose and values of the organization?”
You may get some of the answers, whereas some questions will take you a lifetime to answer. The sooner you start asking these questions, the sooner you’ll begin to get answers.
Remember these answers can change during later years of your life. It all depends on your needs, interests & circumstances.
How to fulfill your life’s Purpose?
Once your 50,000 ft agreements are clear, you then start determining your agreements at the lower Horizons of Focus:
40,000 ft: Vision. What it will look, sound, feel like with successful implementation of your long term visions. This is a picture of where you’ll be 3 to 5 years from now.
30,000 ft: Goals and Objectives.
What do you need to do within the next 1 to 2 years to make your vision happen?
20,000 ft: Areas of focus and responsibility.
Maintain Important spheres of work and life at standards to “keep engine running”. Ex: What is the standard Health you’d like to maintain? How about your standard for your education, family life and spirituality ?
10,000 ft: 1 year Projects you want to achieve that need more than one action.
Runway Actions: Next physical, visible actions to take on any project or other outcome.
You get such a sense of power once all your agreements at each of the different Horizons are aligned.
You’ll reach a stage where you know with every phone call, every meeting and every step you take at the Runway level, you’re fulfilling your life’s purpose.
And that feels just Wonderful! Trust me.
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Here’s my score:
Sentences per Para: 1.4
Words per sentence: 10.9
Characters per word: 4.4
Passive sentences: 4%
Flesch Reading Ease: 71.3
Grade Level: 6.0
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In the beginning I had trouble looking for passive sentences. But after reading it a few times & going through the doc I was able to bring the passive sentences score down. Are there any more passive sentences in the post that you think I should edit?
Short & direct sentences definitely have more impact.
in other words
Short Sentences Rock.
That was fun! 🙂