How Not Knowing Your Purpose Affects Your Time Management

Picture Credit: iStockphoto

If you’re like most women, you probably struggle with time management challenges. Does any of these struggles sound familiar?

  • you get distracted by a ton of different things throughout your day and you don’t get done what you want to get done
  • you feel like you’re just spinning your wheels – – working your butt off, but getting nowhere
  • or you’re not sure what you even need to be doing and you have a hard time knowing where to start

All these things are so common. What’s not so common is the understanding that there are seven underlying reasons for these challenges that you need to diskover and work on before you can truly eliminate your struggles with time. The underlying reasons are:

  • not knowing who you are
  • having low self-esteem
  • not knowing your vision, or being unclear about it
  • not knowing your why (why you’re doing what you’re doing)
  • not having effective goals
  • not knowing your purpose, or being unclear about it
  • fear

These seven underlying reasons fit together to form a map that helps you overcome them. The map shows you:

1.      Where you are.

You have to know where you are in order to figure out where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.

It’s like those “you are here” maps in the mall.

In this case, it’s not where you are physically, but who you are.

You need to know who you are by diskovering your values, personality, beliefs, talents, skills and gifts. And you need to come to love who you are (self-worth).

 2.      Where you’re going.

Once you know where you are, you can figure out where you’re going.

You can’t get there if you’re not clear on what your destination is – you’d be wandering aimlessly.

So, get clear on your vision.

3.      How you’re going to get there.

This is your route to your vision.

It’s made up of your purpose, your goals and your why (the reason you do what you do).

 4.      Information you need to help you along the way.

This info is like road signs. It’s tools and strategies that prevent you from being sidetracked by fear, doubt and “shiny objects” along the way.

Let’s focus on the underlying reason of not knowing your purpose and how it causes challenges with time.

First of all, what’s purpose?

Your purpose is why you’re here on earth. It’s who you’re to be and what you’re to do (in a much broader sense than your job or career). It’s what you’re to achieve or accomplish, what you’re to learn and experience, how you’re to make the world a better place. It’s your “calling.” Your gift. The thing you’re here to share with the world.

So, how does your purpose affect your time management?

Your purpose is like a compass. It sets the course toward your vision in your life or your business. It helps you navigate. It steers you in the right direction. It helps you move toward your vision. If you don’t know your purpose, you might be traveling on a path that seems to wind in circles rather than lead you to your destination. You might be working really hard, but getting nowhere. You might be easily distracted by lots of other things that look good . . . but really don’t lead you to where you want to go. Or you  might not be sure where the path even is. When you’re clear on your purpose, you know where you’re going and you work to get there. You know your path and you follow it without being distracted so easily. You have focus and you stay on course toward the place you want to go.

But how do you diskover your purpose?

Well, remember the map? First, you need to know who you are. Next you need to know your vision. Then  you can determine how you’re going to get there. Part of that is your purpose. And the most powerful way that I’ve found to diskover your purpose is to consider your life lessons. “What I’m here to master, I’m also here to teach. This is my life purpose.” ~ Heather Dominick So . . .

  1. Set aside some time to consider your life lessons. Go through your life in your mind or your heart or your gut. What patterns stand out? What experiences seemed to repeat themselves? What have you learned?
  2. Write down your life lessons. Does any of them fit together in one theme? Do you see patterns here? Is there one main lesson?

For me, my hugest life lesson was in the area of self-worth. When I looked at my life, every single thing that I went through was related to this main theme. I’ve spent many years working through this lesson. It’s now my purpose to help other women learn who they are, love who they are and live who they are. It’s about self-awareness, self-worth and self-expression. One way I do this is through helping women diskover and eliminate the underlying reasons for their time, balance and productivity challenges.

How about you?

What are your thoughts about how your purpose impacts your time? Do you know your purpose? If not, how does it show up for you in your time management and will you use this exercise to clarify your purpose? Leanne ChesserBio: Leanne Chesser works with women online entrepreneurs to diskover and eliminate the real reasons for their time, balance and productivity challenges. She then helps them create a plan and a system that actually works for them because it’s based on their own personal style. And she provides lots of tips and strategies for creating more time, achieving more balance and getting more done. She is the creator of Juggle It All and the author of, “How to Improve Your Self Esteem” and “How Your Self-Talk Can Change Your Life.” You can find her at http://www.juggleitall.com.

A coloring page aweek

Start bringing your creativity back to health in an easy and relaxing way. Get a colouring page every week for a 12 weeks.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This