Begin Each Day As If It Were On Purpose

I come from a family of movie quoters.  I’m not sure when it started – I don’t remember doing this as a kid.  Hmmm. With my wife and “kids,” the quotes are prolific and there are a few movies we’ve shared that make up most of the quotes.  Father of the Bride, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights, and of course Hitch. 

The Hitch quote that I’m wrestling (pronounced Raaastling) with is when Hitch, a motivational dating coach, throws out, “Like I always tell my clients, begin each day as if it were on purpose.”  Bolding is mine.

Before I go much farther, I will share my current mental/emotional state of mind.  In a men’s group I’m attending, we individually share our current state, using SASHET – Sad, Angry, Scared, Happy, Excited, Tender.  Today, and usually, these words do NOT capture my thoughts and emotions.  I would say LOW, despondent, introspective, adrift, with tremendous nervous undirected energy.

Being adrift with no direction and with Hitch’s advice ringing in my ear, I know I need to direct my energy toward something but WHAT!  What is the PURPOSE I am to being each day with?  Richard Leider, in The Power of Purpose, would ask “what get’s you out of bed in the morning?”  He would add that finding your purpose is the key to having more energy, living longer, and being happy and healthy.

Ok, ok, but when I’m adrift and feeling purposeless, how do I find purpose?  Richard suggests finding your WHAT.  WHAT, when you are being AUTHENTICALLY YOU, causes you to lose yourself.  Something you do where time flies!  Hmmm.

Richard suggests looking at your gifts. Write down a list of your gifts, narrow down to ~5, and then pick 1, YOUR top 1, YOUR Golden Thread.  The one thing you love to do.  Again – hmmm.

I admit I have a real problem here.  I know many people that can easily answer this question.  Woodworking, fishing, traveling, accounting…  I have never had one thing that I am passion about.   I have a wide range of “things” I am curious about.  I have, in general, come to grips with that feeling but people like Hitch and Richard make me question my orientation.   At times like this, I am thankful for Emilie Wapnick’s Ted Talk On Being a Multipotentialite.  For the first time, someone captured and defined my “lack of passion” and gave a name for it.  I am a Multipotentialite.  “Not all of us are born with one main interest – and we should see that as our biggest strength, not our weakness.”

Ok Richard, my answer to the what gets you out of bed in the morning question, my Golden Thread, as a multipotentialite man, is to learn and teach.  I am a broad, lifelong learner who is gifted at understanding complex material and distilling the material into understandable content. 

How about you?  What get’s you up in the morning?  What is YOUR golden thread?