How to Discover Your Outer Purpose Sweet Spot
Have you ever wondered if you’re aligned with your purpose here on earth? If you’re doing the work you were born to do? Below you’ll find our tried-and-true method to discover your outer purpose. FYI, if you haven’t yet read this article, be sure to read it before diving into the below.
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Here’s what you’ll learn from this article:
How to move from inner to outer purpose.
How to find your “outer purpose sweet spot”.
4 indications that you’re aligned with your outer purpose.
Let’s get to it!
MOVING FROM INNER TO OUTER
We’ve written a lot about inner purpose—see here, here, and here.
This is because the actions we take toward our outer purpose have the most power when we’ve first taken the time to connect to our inner purpose.
But now that we’ve gone deep on inner purpose, let’s talk outer.
THE OUTER PURPOSE SWEET SPOT
(The conclusions we’re drawing from here on down assume that we’re already fully tapped into our inner purpose. Because again, that’s the foundation for all the outer work we do.)
As we mentioned earlier this month, outer purpose varies greatly from person-to-person and can even vary within a person depending on the time in their life.
No matter what the specifics of your outer purpose are, if you have felt or do feel connected to yours, then you know this statement to be true:
There are few things more satisfying than taking action that’s in joyful alignment with your outer purpose.
Having said this, we know how hard it can be to wade through the mounting external (and internal) “should’s” to know identify the type of work that truly lights you up.
With a seemingly endless pool of options for what you can do with your life, how in the world do you know when you’re fulfilling your outer purpose?
Brace yourselves. 🤚
We’re about to merge two seemingly disparate ideas—spiritual + psychological—into one unified spiritological (our term 🤓) method to determine whether or not you’re currently aligned with your outer purpose.
In last week’s email, we learned about Tolle’s indicators that suggest we’re in touch with our outer purpose—acceptance, enjoyment, enthusiasm.
Most notable is enthusiasm, because it means we’re taking ‘right action’ that’s joyful and part of a greater goal or mission.
Now, in James Clear’s book Atomic Habits*, he talks about how habits (actions)—even the challenging ones—are easier to perform when they’re in alignment with our natural inclinations, talents, and gifts.
Expanding upon this idea, Clear suggests that we direct our actions toward work that both excites us and matches our natural skills.
He notes that while our natural skills make this work easier for us than it may be for others, it’s still challenging enough to keep us excited and enthused.
While Clear’s approach is practical (as opposed to spiritual), as we read this, we realized that what he’s referring to is what we’ve come to call the outer purpose sweet spot.
The outer purpose sweet spot is essentially ‘the good space’ in your career.
When you align your natural gifts with the things that excite you, you become a spiritual match for your outer purpose.
In other words, outer purpose isn’t about just doing what you’re good at, and it’s not about just doing what excites you.
It’s about finding the work that overlaps with both.
Once you pinpoint that sweet spot, you’re not only motivated by the work you do, you also have an edge in your field because your actions are powered by your natural abilities.
FUN, FLOW, RECEPTIVITY, ALIVENESS
In Atomic Habits*, Clear identifies a series of four questions that can be used to pinpoint habits and areas of work that will be most satisfying given our unique gifts (pp. 224–225).
What feels like fun to me, but work to others?
What makes me lose track of time?
Where do I get greater returns than the average person?
What comes naturally to me?
Below, we've merged Clear’s line of practical questioning with Tolle’s spiritual concept of ‘awakened doing’ to create an easy-to-remember series of indicators to know when you’ve hit your outer purpose sweet spot.
Fun. The actions you take toward your outer purpose will feel fun. Make no mistake though—fun doesn’t mean easy. And this doesn’t mean that the work will always feel fun. Rather that, overall, you’ll find enjoyment in the actions you take.
Flow. If you’re in your outer purpose sweet spot, you’ll often find yourself slipping into states of cognitive flow. Flow is when you become so at one with the task at hand that time slips away. Flow is achieved when the actions you’re taking are challenging enough to keep you pushing your edge but not so challenging as to discourage.
Receptivity. Is the work you’re doing well-received by others? Do people seem to connect with what you’re putting out into the world? This doesn’t mean you’re an overnight success. Rather that there’s a community of individuals who resonate with what you’re doing.
Aliveness. Do you feel tapped in, turned on, lit up, and alive while taking action? We all have ‘off’ days—days when we feel bored, apathetic, or overwhelmed. So this isn’t to say that you’re a glowing ball of inspired energy 24/7. Rather that, overall, what you do makes you feel connected, expansive, and like you’re living life on purpose.
We’d like to make one thing super clear: You don’t have to know exactly where you’re going or where you’ll end up to be fulfilling your outer purpose.
You don’t have to know your exact title (although the ego will push you for it). You don’t have to know your end game. And you don’t have to know why you’re called to do the work you do.
Oftentimes, the path we’ve taken to where we are can’t be predetermined—it’s only visible once all of our blind faith efforts and steps have been linked in hindsight.
We promise you, if you focus on aligning your actions with the above four indicators, you’ll most certainly find yourself on the ‘right’ path.
INTENTION
The actions I take elicit fun, flow, receptivity, and aliveness.
2 RESOURCES
Book: Atomic Habits* by James Clear
Book: The Power of Intention* by Wayne Dyer
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund us at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
