Business Etiquette Author, Dallas Teague Snider on Life Purpose and Goal Setting

Make Your Best Impression Blog   ·   December 26, 2009

When you are born, you possess some natural instincts. Because you are little, you don’t recognize the value of these instincts in your live at the time. But, as you grow older, you recognize that there is more to life than eating and sleeping. You develop a life purpose.

What is your life purpose? You instinctively know how to live. Breathing and blood circulation is involuntary. As a child, you go to school and learn what you need to know to get ready for adult life. This is all a preparation period.

As you learn and grow, you also yearn. Thoughts begin to fill your mind of a world beyond the four walls of your home and your school. Where do these thoughts come from? Every sphere of influence in your life feeds into those yearnings: parental care, friends, church, school and life in general. It is as much about self-preservation as it is about the other influences.

Each person develops a life purpose. Beyond what is expected of you in the early years, what you make of your life is up to you. All of these influences feed into your ideals. That’s your belief system.

You are taught right from wrong, but there are other traits like intuition, logic, perseverance and bravery that are learned through experience. That experience comes through goals, failures and achievements.

From your life purpose or belief system, you’ll begin to turn those yearnings in your life into tangible goals. Maybe you want to help people heal. That desire can change into a goal to become a psychiatrist or a surgeon. It could even lead you to do mission work in a foreign land. The possibilities are endless.

The goals that you choose to pursue are in direct relationship to your life purpose. Goals can be shaped by good and bad experiences in life. An abuse victim may set a goal to help other abuse victims by starting a program for recovery or sponsoring a bill in Congress. Positive experiences at college can lead to becoming a recruiter of the college and encouraging others to come for the same great experiences.

If you are looking to take your life in a new direction, consider your life’s purpose. What experiences and knowledge has shaped your life thus far? What do you believe in strongly? Use the answers to these questions to begin the quest for how you can enhance your life.