An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finding Your Purpose

Updated on 30 May 2019

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An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finding Your Purpose | SME South Africa

This is part of a three-part series on how to find your purpose.

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, says Simon Sinek, a British-American author, motivational speaker, and organizational consultant. Having purpose is answering the question of why you’re doing something; for example, it’s the reason you are running your business and want it to succeed.

There are also other benefits for entrepreneurs to knowing your purpose, which includes:

  • Helping you to stay focused
  • Making you passionate about your goal
  • Encouraging excellence and gratitude
  • Attracting and keeping customers

Sinek also wrote in his book “Start with Why” that when a company clearly communicates their WHY, what they believe, and we believe what they believe, then we will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to include those products or brands in our lives.

A purposeful life is firm on intentions in the business

entrepreneur purpose tshidi wa phila Tshidi Wa Phila is a Life Coach. (Image supplied)

Tshidi Wa Pila, Life Coach and founder of Imperative Transformation Journey, explains that when we wake up to a meaning, we do not live a shallow life that is filled with chaos and disruptions of the ego.

“A purposeful life is firm on intentions be it at home, in the business or friendship circle, it has no instant gratifications, it is conscious and it yields inner peace.

“It creates a sense of pride because we start to fully comprehend the authentic power of a human being.”

How to find purpose

Pila says she embarked on the journey to find her purpose by stepping away from questions like ‘why me?’ and ‘when will it be my time?’

Instead, she started asking herself these empowering questions – and those who are seeking purpose can do the same:

  • What will I do if I had everything I ever wanted?
  • What will I do if I had 2 weeks to live?
  • What will I do if I could not fail?

Phila says each question was a step closer to an alignment with her new path. “I discovered my mental diet, and no longer had to prepare two bowls to serve the soul and the ego. I was thrilled!

“I had more time on my hands; time to get to know why I am in the universe. I now know that my purpose was entrenched in my path before the formation of my organs. I aim to live by an intention and I reset when I feel out of balance with my intentions. Purpose is not a destination we drive to, it is an alignment of the personality and the soul.”

The tools you’ll need

According to Phila, we all need tools in life, for example, food is a tool of a sustainable body. Here are the tools you’ll need on the journey of discovering your purpose:

  • Mentors, leaders, and coaches serve the role of guiding us through the passage of wisdom. They give tools to peel off the layers of habits that are no longer serving the journey.
  • No one knows enough, books and documentaries on purpose and mind transformation are great tools.

Purpose is not a destination we drive to, it is an alignment of the personality and the soul

More advice on seeking purpose

  1. Be mindful of opinions because an opinion is an accumulation of memory, perception, and ideas, mostly informed by limited data – don’t let an opinion be your truth.
  2. Have a resourceful mindset because an automatic mindset is not creative, it only recycles the information.
  3. Value every conversation as if it was your last conversation on this universe – you will realize how you have little time for meaningless topics, activities, and people.
  4. Challenge who you believe you are and that which you believe identifies you – align and serve the universe. Identities have an ability to limit a universal idea into a box of beliefs, cultures, and habits.

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