A bit of thought on purpose

 Having a purpose gives you immense strength and courage. I was doing some usual gym reps yesterday, and I was lifting weights in the gym, I realized that when I was lifting the last few reps, for an example, the last 2 reps, I told to myself, "This one is for India", meanwhile there was a surge of energy I got and I lifted those last 2 reps even though they were extremely difficult. I believe that's the way to go in life. Having a purpose. Without a purpose life becomes way too difficult to live. I also believe that happiness is closely tied to your purpose in life. If you have purpose in life, you will eventually be happy. Purpose is something that contributes value to many individuals in life. 

Apart from purpose making you feel good, what are some other things that you need to do. How can we genuinely contribute value into people's lives. I feel that's the most important part of our lives. We should keep asking this question to ourselves, providing value into people's lives? How can we do that? What are some really good ways to do that? In my opinion, one is creativity, the other is resources, and the third is knowledge which also is resources. We can contribute through financial means as well. Because towards the end, it's not about what you gain, but it's about how you give, how you contribute value into people's lives. 

For a man, the purpose is the most important thing. Every company has a mission statement, for example, "Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more." Now that's a statement for Microsoft. Similarly, there would be other mission statements. So what we really want to do is allow people in the world to achieve more. 

Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Tesla: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

Similarly, we want to have a mission in life. That way we can bring in a lot of happiness and prosperity in the world. For example, personally, the mission statement I can have is to bring a lot of happiness and prosperity towards the world. Contribute additively into people's lives. Obviously, it's not easy and there are many facets to this, but it's quite possible. The way to do this is creativity for me. If I add practical tips that are useful. Let's do that. 

Now its one thing to say one has to have a purpose, but how can we cultivate the purpose? What are some practical ways? 

1. Start small: Usually it starts with a small giving act. For example, you can help students learn math. Even if those are school students, you utilize your knowledge and then contribute to students by giving them that that knowledge of math. 

2. Thank people and make them feel good: I think this is very important as a part of your giving nature. It's one thing to give warmth and excellence, it's another thing to thank people for just being them. For example, you might start with thanking many people at once. For example, you can decide and thank 3 people daily. That way you will be able to thank the people and moreover focus on things that really contribute value in your life. 

3. Gift people your time: While I would say be cautious with your timing out here. When I say gift people your time, I don't mean don't spend time developing your valuable skills. Rather spend a lot of time doing that, but after that when you have a Saturday and Sunday, genuinely gift people your time and presence. There's absolutely nothing that people value more than presence.

4. Gift people something that's really useful: People apart from enjoying the basics, they also enjoy something that's really useful. For example, you gift people shoes, that are great looking, everytime someone wears the shoes they will remember you. So, it's important to gift them that as well. 

5. Be a leader: In life, it's very important to lead people. Not through control, but through giving them free space to experiment and live life. It's not about telling your followers what to do, rather allowing them to be and helping as and when required. It's not about telling them, "Do a, then b, then c, but rather telling them that you believe in them and taking from A to C is your job." If the person needs guidance, then, that's when you step in. 

6. Secure leadership: Only a secure leader can give away power because doing so requires confidence, humility, and long-term vision. They understand that leadership is not a zero-sum game, when others grow, the whole system becomes stronger.

7. Remember the why: Let's say you are a software developer, and you are trying to build something. Now if your why is that if I build this project, I will gain traction and promotion. I feel that will be really short lived. But if your why is that if I build this, this system will help developers improve their productivity. It will save their time. It will help reducing the cost of the company. It will be a program that will solve multiple problems. So it's all about solving that problem. 

Now that's one great book that you can read, "21 irrefutable laws of leadership" it's called. So one has to lead people. That's the most important thing. I would still encourage you that you must read 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, because when you understand those laws you will surely be better than what you are right now. You want to contribute value into people's lives. 

Action Step: Every time you think of getting something from someone, ask yourself, "What can I give?" . Don't even give at the moment, but start by thoughts on how and what you can give to someone? If you can give a random tip to someone start from there. Remember it starts from the small things.