The foundation of my own career coaching philosophy is that every person has a life purpose that, if fulfilled through one’s work, will generate optimum work fulfillment. My coaching business mission statement, “Creating meaningful careers by design,” is based on helping my clients to discover and fulfill their own Life Purpose.
Not fulfilling one’s life purpose through work is a major reason why 70% of people surveyed in a Gallup poll either hate their jobs or are completely disengaged. A Harris survey revealed that only 14 percent of U.S. workers believe they have the perfect job and more than half want to change careers. According to the Labor Department, “the average person born in the later years of the baby boom held 10.5 jobs from age 18 to 40” and 54 million Americans (40% of of the work force) have left their jobs looking for something better. We are living in a time when Americans and, in fact, everyone of working age, are career hopscotching, looking to make sense of their lives and careers in search of fulfillment without knowing their Life Purpose.
We know when we are living and working in alignment with our Life Purpose. Time flies by when we are engaged with our work. We have a clear sense of what jobs to apply for and accept. We are engaged, motivated and productive. To not use our gifts and talents in the work we do leads to what I hear so many clients come to me saying, “I’ve got a great job. But, something’s missing.” And, even more seriously, the reason surveyed college students gave who had attempted suicide was, “life seemed meaningless.”
Finding one’s Life Purpose can be the most difficult yet most necessary job search prerequisite to achieving career fulfillment. Otherwise, job seekers change jobs like skipping stones across the great career pond hoping the grass will be greener on the other side (which it rarely, if ever, is). My role as a Career Coach is to help clients create a meaningful career by design by helping them to reconnect with their life purpose so they can do what they naturally do well; so they can actualize what they daydream about but don’t pursue; so they can identify where their greatest successes so far have come from and replicate them in new ways; and, so they can know what they would do if they knew they couldn’t fail and money was no object.
Writing a Life Purpose Statement with which to navigate and make decisions about one’s career is where the road to success in life begins. And, it can begin anytime from right after graduation to mid-career to early retirement. Setting your sights on career and life fulfillment by drafting your Life Purpose Statement has two parts: (1.) Sight Alignment, and (2.) Sight Picture.
Using pistol target shooting as an analogy, the major keys to aiming successfully to hit the target are Sight Alignment and Sight Picture. Sight Alignment is the relationship of the front and rear sights. Proper sight alignment of the two sights means that the top of the front sight is vertically centered in the notch of the rear sight so that there is an equal amount of white space on either side of the front sight post. It also means that the top of the front sight is level horizontally with the top of the rear sight. 
Your Life Purpose is your Target. In order to “hit your Target,” your “front sight” must be fixated on it. Your front sight never changes position with the Target. Your “rear sight” is made up of all the changes, actions, adjustments and decisions you make in order to bring your life and work circumstances into alignment with your front sight and ultimately your Target.
Errors can occur in Sight Alignment that can make you miss your Target:
Front Sight is TOO LOW – so LOW hit on Target
Front Sight is TOO HIGH – so HIGH hit on Target
Front Sight is SKEWED To RIGHT – so RIGHT hit on Target
Front Sight is SKEWED to LEFT – so LEFT hit on Target
The Sight Picture is the optimum placement of the front and read sights on the Target. The front sight should be permanently fixated on the middle of the Target, the “bullseye.: The rear sight should be all the adjustments and decisions you make about your career to create a straight line from the rear sight to the front sight to the Target.
Here is an example of a Life Purpose Statement:
“My Life Purpose (Target) is to increase health and wellness throughout the world working as a Family Physician (front sight) to diagnose and treat illness, provide education on preventive care and promote doctor-patient communication (rear sight).“
To be in synch with your Life Purpose (Target), make sure that all of your work and life decisions are fixed in your Site Picture. Think of your Life Purpose as your Target to fix on with your front sight and adjust as needed with your rear sight to achieve fulfillment.
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“CREATING MEANINGFUL CAREERS BY DESIGN”
Schedule a FREE 15-minute career consultation with Certified Professional Career Coach Garrison Leykam to discuss discovering your life purpose and formulating a life purpose statement: https://calendly.com/garrison-1
