- Life Purpose Reflects the Impact You Want to Have: Your life purpose is deeply tied to the kind of impact you want to have on the world, and what you feel most passionate about. This purpose should drive your behavior and actions, providing a ground for your existence. Without a purpose, you may feel lost and unfulfilled.
- Life Purpose Is Dynamic and Evolves Over Time: The purpose of life isn't a static goal or definition; it's more like an onion, with layers you peel back to uncovers your deeper purpose. It starts with a basic intuition, which you explore and refine over time, eventually diving deeper into your passions and desires.
- Career Aligns with Life Purpose: Because a large portion of your life is dedicated to work, it's important to find a career that aligns with your life purpose and gives you deep fulfillment. If your job doesn't align with your deeper purpose, it may be beneficial to consider a career shift or role change within your field that better aligns with your values.
- Starting Your Own Venture Might Allow More Freedom to Express Purpose: If your current workspace doesn't allow full expression of your potential and purpose, you might consider starting your own venture in order to better align your work life with your deeper purpose.
- Dig Deeper to Find Purpose and Values: Ultimately, the journey of life purpose is about delving deeper into oneself and identifying core values and how you want to authentically express them. The goal is to explore and experiment until you find a career or path that resonates deeply with you.
- Purpose Is About Creating Value for Others While Expressing Yourself: Achieving your purpose in life might mean shifting your focus from self-centered goals to creating value and impact for others. The key is to find a path that allows for personal fulfillment while also making a positive contribution to the world.
- Life Purpose Requires Regular Self-Reflection: Continually peeling back the layers of your purpose requires regular introspection and self-assessment. Whether you're content with your current career or you're seeking something new, these insights can help guide your exploration and fuel your growth.
- Importance of alignment with life purpose: Leo Gura emphasizes that figuring out one's life purpose can take years and aligning your life with that purpose requires courage and action. He shares his personal experience of working as a video game designer, a job he initially believed was his purpose. However, realizing some aspects of himself weren't expressed in this role, he quit and started a business to fund his own game design venture.
- Personal journey of finding purpose: Gura recounts his transition from video game design to starting an internet marketing business to accumulate capital for his game business. Despite the comfortable position his job offered, he had the courage to leave as it wasn't aligned with his authentic self.
- Challenges of aligning with purpose: Alignment with one's purpose is not a straightforward journey. Gura discovered that his internet marketing business, started to fuel his true purpose, drew him further away from it as he didn't enjoy the work. This led him back to reassess and reconnect with his purpose, a process requiring consideration of how to add value to others, support oneself financially, and find expressive freedom.
- Life designed around purpose: Designing your life around your purpose is a demanding process that may span over several years. Without a concrete objective or purpose, driving your life and particularly your work, there is a danger of aimlessness and trivial motivations.
- Purposeful life versus mediocrity: Many people don't plan their life purpose and engage in necessary introspection, leading them into mediocre lives. Expressing who you truly are and being passionate about your work is a luxury not many enjoy. To have a profound impact, it's essential to be intentional and dedicated to your purpose.
- Purpose is dynamic: Gura articulates the dynamic nature of life purpose. For him, coaching people on personal development matters is his current purpose. Yet, how to manifest this purpose - whether through coaching, public speaking, seminars, or writing - is continuously evolving.
- Peeling back layers of purpose: Pursuing your life purpose is likened to peeling back layers of an onion. Over time and introspection, you can reach your core values and desires. Beyond innate drives, life offers the freedom to consciously create what you want, leaving room for exploration and trial-and-error to discover what truly resonates.
- Starting Your Journey to Finding Your Purpose: The journey to finding one's purpose is dynamic, shifting, and evolving over time. Leo advises starting by asking oneself introspective questions such as what one would be doing if money was not a motivating factor, what impact one desires to make in the world, and what one feels most proud of already. The answers to these questions can give strong indications of potential life purposes.
- The Importance of Creating Value and Contribution: Leo highlights the need for moving from a self-centered mindset to one centered on creating value for others. He stresses that a life built around acquiring wealth or materialistic objectives will result in limitations in feelings of fulfillment. Instead, he encourages the desire to contribute and influence others in ways that have been enjoyable and fulfilling in the past.
- Role of a Life Coach in Discovering Purpose: Working with a life coach can be beneficial in discovering one's purpose or reaching one's full potential. Leo shares his personal journey of struggling with discovering his life purpose and how he studied various techniques to develop it, eventually leading him to become a life coach. He postulates that if you currently have no purpose, make finding your purpose your immediate goal.
- Life Purpose Is Not Inborn but Built Over Time: Leo dismisses the common notion that people are born with a purpose. Instead, he stresses that purpose is developed over time. He illustrates this with his own career trajectory, moving from a range of fields before becoming a life coach. He advises those without a clear purpose to explore different areas of interest and, if necessary, shift their course.
- Aligning Purpose with Fulfilling Work: For those without a clear purpose, Leo suggests establishing their immediate purpose as finding a fulfilling career. He advises experimenting with different fields and absorbing as much knowledge as possible through reading, researching, and testing. This iterative process will eventually lead to the discovery of a fulfilling career, which in turn aligns with one's deeper purpose.