There Is a Structure to A Meaningful Life
Not too long ago, I discovered the Values System, I have written about this in a previous post. And this Values System is about how your brain is designed uniquely according to you, to generalize reality relative to what it considers meaningful FOR YOU.
We all have our own unique values system — we are all generalizing reality in a very unique way, according to this structure of values that is unique and individual to each and every one of us.
This has absolutely changed the way that I understand Vocation, Purpose, Calling, and Mission. And this is what I would like to describe here.
I’m not here to convince you that this is the ultimate model of understanding of these notions. A while ago, I didn’t understand reality this way, and I don’t expect everyone to be on the same page with me and resonate with this information.
However, if you’re curious… follow me further.
Here is briefly, how I define each one of these:
Who you are built to be
VOCATION answers the “How I Operate” (“what’s important to me”— the intrinsic value within each and every one of us created as a gift to the world.) — what you are gifted and created for; the framework of your Values Systems, in essence.
This is about who you really are authentically, what you really love, what you’re passionate about, what you care about, and what inspires you — what’s meaningful for you, and WHY.
Why your vocation exists
PURPOSE is the Direction of Impact— the orientation to serve, the structural value of your gifts (your order of your values, the hierarchy, and how they are all connected to serve a bigger reason for YOU); when you live in alignment with your values systems you are automatically guided to live on purpose, and the nature of your purpose is revealed through your living your values.
Purpose is about the role you can serve by being authentically who you are created to exist to impact others with your presence and existence. YOU are the purpose, YOU are the GIFT. Knowing yourself, then becomes a priority, to fulfilling your purpose.
- CALLING is when purpose meets a moment in time, a specific context, a real need — a lived experience that actives you, perhaps. And it is this calling that then formulates the form of the Mission.
How your purpose becomes real
MISSION is How Purpose Expresses itself into Form — you can have multiple missions over a lifetime but they all connect to the same purpose, the same overarching direction of purpose. Your mission is what drives you to make a contribution, in a particular form, that serves in solidarity to your purpose to be who you are here to be — authentically you.
What you aspire to impact through your Mission
VISION is about how you define and build your mission to actualize in your world to fulfill yourself as well as become who you are here to truly be — the impact you’re meant to make.
Why is this all important?
For a large part of my life I felt confused about these things, and I was constantly reaching for some kind of understanding on these that would structurally make sense.
It is only when I understood very clearly what the function of the Values System is that I also understood the importance of this structure.
This structure provides an anchor from which to address our own life in alignment with who we really are DEEP DOWN internally and structurally — not by the expectations of others, the demands of society, or the pressures of who we should be, have to be, or need to be.
I have been down that road of changing careers, feeling lost, feeling unfulfilled, not knowing what the heck my purpose really was, knowing I have something great to give to the world but not understanding what that meant, comparing myself to others, and doing a lot of copy/pasting in erroneous ways that always brought me back again to try to understand who I really am and what I should be doing with my life.
This structure of understanding has given me an anchor point.
Now all my goals, my decisions, my beliefs, my behaviors, my time, my focus, my energy, is directed onto the framework I have personally built on this structure in alignment with my values system.
And it’s not just me…
Many people spend their lives searching for their purpose, trying to figure out what they are supposed to do, what job they should have, what their mission is, or what they are meant to become. But most people are asking these questions in the wrong order.
There is actually a structure to a meaningful life.
Values Systems FIRST.
Then….
Vocation, purpose, calling, mission, vision, and inspiration — they are different parts of the same structure.
When you understand how these pieces fit together, life stops feeling random and starts feeling directed.
With this structure, I believe, you can:
- understand yourself through your own unique intrinsic values, what matters to you and more importantly to your brain.
- understand how YOU are purpose of your living
- understand how you can begin to contribute NOW
- understand what you want to build
- understand when to act
- understand where you are going
And life begins to be meaningful — directed in alignment, with purpose, and a mission that’s YOURS.
This structure turns life from something that happens to you into something YOU consciously build.
Vocation is who you are. Know yourself.
Purpose is why you exist. Understand why.
Calling is when you are needed. Recognize when you can fulfill a need.
Mission is what you build. Build something uniquely YOU.
Vision is where you are going. Move towards an inspired future.
Inspiration is what fuels the whole process. Stay inspired.
You don’t start with a mission. You start with knowing who you are.
Mission is not the beginning of a life — it is the expression of a life that already knows who it is and why it exists.
Leave a Reply