If you’ve been trying to live that more meaningful life that many folks have started to realize is way more useful than living just for money….

… well, you might be finding that somewhat difficult.

There are so many reasons that expressing your unique purpose is challenging, especially now.

One of those reasons is that:

You probably don’t have clarity about who you really are.

You know, that nuanced one-of-a-kind (actually 1 in 400 quadrillion) version of you that’s distinct from every other person on the planet.

People tell me all the time that they know their purpose.

I ask them to tell me what they know.
They say things like:

• I make the world a better place.
• I’m a truth teller.
• I bring joy (or play or happiness)
• I’m a change agent (or midwife or facilitator or transformational agent).
• I create conscious business.

Or a handful of other generic statements that a few hundred (or thousand) other people could also claim.

Or they tell me what their job is, or business. All good. Not purpose.

For sure, these are all good people. All with compelling reasons to be living their own purposeful life.

Thank god there are more of us than ever. Phew. It’s nice to be around so many people who are wanting to make a difference

And these statements people make about their purpose all represent good things, and…

…. they’re not clear enough or specific enough to create a specific nuanced expression.

So more likely than not, these people won’t be able to fully create their next embodied expression.

Why A Generic Purpose Isn’t Enough

Knowing your generic purpose helps you to feel good about yourself.

It can help to remove the shame or self-doubt or judgment that you may have about making a contribution to humanity and the planet right now. When we all need to be pitching in.

However, knowing your generic purpose won’t necessarily guide you to create a product or service or role or career that stems from the unique version of you.

A generic purpose won’t distinguish who YOU are from the growing number of people who want to make a difference on the planet, which will keep you confused and circling back to old ways of being that aren’t really you.

A generic purpose also won’t let you take advantage of the synchronicities that happen when you have critical alignment with who you really are.

How Clarity about Purpose Supports You

When you discover the distinct nuanced specific (1 in 400 quadrillion) version of you, and from that determine what the next version of you should be doing, it’s like a lightning bolt runs through you and propels you forward.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know what your product or service should be, or how to refine an existing one.

If you’re in transition, you gain direction for the next career or role.

If you’re in between relationships (of any sort,) you know who will be your next best partner.

Etc.

Having a clear and nuanced understanding of your purpose — the “thing you can’t not do” — creates a sense of unstoppability

That’s where the magic starts to happen.

You need to get to the roots of your purpose.

How to Do the Deep Digging to Get to Purpose

I shared in The Golden Thread why purpose (the nuanced unique version) is so hard to find.

• Purpose hides behind the shadow and wounding of our early trauma and repressed Individuation
• Purpose looks different at each stage of life depending on the developmental tasks of that stage
• We’re not looking for the Golden Thread, and indeed don’t even know we should, to help us find our unique most authentic expression of ourselves
• Most of us give up being ourselves after childhood because the forces of conformity are too great.

To get to the roots of purpose you ought to grock these patterns in your own life, so you can separate “who you are” from “who you are not.”

Otherwise, you just keep hanging on to that identity formed during childhood and adolescence that will probably be useful but may not provide your greatest contribution.

Your next innovation.

Your specific product or offer.

Your next career move or role.

Your next partnership.

And THAT- we need now more than ever.

Find out your Roots of Purpose.

You’ll have more impact than you ever could have envisioned.

About the Author

Dr. Holly Woods is the Author of the #1 Bestseller, The Golden Thread: Where to Find Purpose in the Stages of Your Life. Read it, you’ll never again think your life doesn’t matter.

Holly is a purpose activator. She believes that touching the spark of your soul lights you up so much that you alter the world just by being in it.

Learn about Holly’s work at Emergence Institute. You can schedule a 30 minute Strategy session with Holly.

Better yet, join the Purpose Creators Collective, a home for you to grow your purposeful life, work and business with mentoring, courses and the company of aligned peers. It will be a laboratory, incubator, sacred container and support network for those of us emerging into our next expression.

Holly’s spent nearly 4 decades helping visionaries build products and businesses that change the world, as a coach, mentor, consultant and entrepreneur. She’s younger than she’s ever been because her purpose inspires her to keep making a difference. That’s what she wants for you, too. Holly helps her clients uncover their nuanced purpose, gain capacities and mindset to attain their unreasonable goals, and align decisions, products, strategies and systems around what matters most.

Get a free copy of the tried-and-true Purpose to Impact Roadmap she uses to create that alignment and amplification in the world.

Holly earned a PhD in Human & Organizational Development, is certified as an Integral Master Coach®, Purpose Guide®, Professional Mediator and Facilitator, Master Energy Practitioner, and is a Stages of Consciousness developmental practitioner.