I work in educational administration management. I believe my role is to help empower students in freeing themselves from social traps; poverty and crippling social conditioning. Whenever I feel the day has been in any way a failure (which is rare) I focus on this overall mission and it lifts me. I relate everything I do to this mission and I feel good about what I do. I’ve got lots of personal philosophies about my purpose: bridge builder; problem solver; ability catalyser.
I deliberately think about this kind of stuff on a regular basis because I’ve learned that life knocks you off course pretty much all the time and you need to be sure of where you’re heading if you don’t want to end up with the self-esteem of a chunk of driftwood.
The truth is that just because you want to do something of value with your life doesn’t mean life’s going to help you. Other people have a knack of doing the opposite of what you thought they’d do; your weaknesses don’t become apparent until you enter a new life arena and you’ll find obstacles are put in the way to test your resolve even, and paradoxically most often by, the very people you’re trying to support. But if you live deliberately and with purpose you’ll find the way to become all you can be despite all the interference and discomfort it entails. Michael Neill tells you more in this article:
Living Deliberately by Michael Neill
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. – Henry David Thoreau
Why are you reading this tip?
If you assume the question is not rhetorical (and if you do continue reading the tip after you come up with an answer! 
, you will probably wind up with some variation on the following themes:
* To learn something new
* To improve myself, my relationship, my work, or my life
* To look for insight into a challenge I’m facing
* To look for inspiration or motivation
* To put off working for a few more minutes (!)
Whatever your answer, bringing that purpose in to your awareness is the first step in making reading this tip a deliberate act. If you decide your purpose is a worthy one, it will assist you in not only achieving it but also in having a wonderful experience along the way.
There are essentially three paths to living deliberately:
1. Living Intentionally
In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s extensive study of optimal experience, one factor that came out as absolutely critical to the experience of “flow” is having a clear goal, purpose, or intention. The goal, purpose, or intention acts as a sort of an organizing principle for our attention, filtering our experience down from a world of infinite possibilities to a selective collection of experiences which allow us to focus, feel in control, “make sense” of what is happening to us, and respond deliberately.
Therefore the simplest way to transform any task into a potential flow experience is to set ourselves and intention, purpose, or goal in relation to that task.
In cases where the task is mundane, repetetive, or simply not interesting to us, our intention need not be directly related to the actual task. For instance, living the intention of ‘being fully present’ can make a ‘boring’ drive into a zen meditation; living the intention of performing with energy, enthusiasm, and as if it’s the most important thing in the world can make washing the dishes into the high point of your day!
Here’s a mini-experiment in living intentionally:
1. Choose a relatively mundane activity for which you would like to create an intention or purpose.
Example: going to the shops
2. Now choose an intention, context, or purpose to focus on while participating in that activity.
Examples:
To stay present
To send love to everyone I see
To notice beauty
3. When it comes time to do the activity, remind yourself of your intention. You can do this by repeating it silently to yourself, by writing yourself little notes, or even by asking a friend to come with you and help you stay on track.
Note:
Dr. Steve Levinson, author of the book Following Through, has invented a fun little device called ‘The MotivAider’ which is designed to remind you of your intention throughout the day. You can order one with free shipping anywhere in the world via this link!
2. Living by a Creed or Code of Conduct
Main Entry: creed
Pronunciation: ‘krEd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English crede, from Old English crEda, from Latin credo (first word of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds), from credere to believe, trust, entrust; akin to Old Irish cretid he believes, Sanskrit s´rad-dadhAti
Date: before 12th century
1 : a brief authoritative formula of religious belief
2 : a set of fundamental beliefs; also : a guiding principle
- creed·al or cre.dal adjective
One of my favorite creeds comes from John Wooden, the most successful basketball coach in college history. He credits his daily effort to live up to this creed, given to him by his father at an early age, with much of his success in basketball and in life:
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter agains a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
Ask yourself the following questions as you explore what elements might make up your own creed or code of conduct:
* What’s the best of what you know?
* How different would your life be if you actually lived each day to the best of your ability in accordance with the highest and best that you know?
* If you already do try and live your life in by a creed or code of conduct, what can you do today to make it more likely that you will succeed?
* What reminders, applications, and interruptions can you set up in your day to make it inevitable that at least some of your attention today will be spent on the highest and best within you?
3. Living Purpose-fully
One of the most frequently repeated pieces of uncommon wisdom to appear in personal development and business success manuals is the value of having a higher purpose, vision, or ‘mission’ in life.
For me, this is a natural extension of living intentionally. If having a clear intention, goal, or purpose in any moment enhances and heightens our experience of that moment, then setting ourselves (or seizing upon) a vision, purpose, or mission gives us the opportunity to heighten our experience of every moment.
If that vision, purpose, or mission is one that truly inspires us, then we put ourselves on track for a satisfying, fulfilling life.
As you contemplate what kind of a vision, purpose, or mission would get you jumping out of bed in the morning and forcing yourself to get back in at night, enjoy these final thoughts by playwrite and social activist George Bernard Shaw:
“This is the true joy in life – to be used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community
and as long as I can live it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.
Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
Have fun, learn heaps, and live deliberately!
This is one of Michael’s free daily tips – to sign up to the tips and see much more of his great stuff click on the ‘Genius Catalyst’ banner below.
Regards – Carl
