My Smart Friend , I won’t reveal who but someone asked this question last week about how to discover my true purpose. Permit me to call her ‘Mammy Arrey’ and I want to share with you my secret unpopular perspective (and this will probably get you on track fast)
‘Arrey, how did you discover your true purpose?’
You see my friend, there is PURPOSE and there is a CAREER and although both are closely intertwined, they shouldn’t be mistaken to mean the same thing. 5 years ago when I was in my second year of university, I started asking myself the same question. I remember feeling so overwhelmed that I was going to finish university and still not figure out what my true purpose was and what I wanted to do next with my life.The thought of living a ‘purposeless’ life was cracking me inside and I started searching for what my real purpose was. I listened to some speakers, searched deep within me. Not that I didn’t have some skills, but each time I kept feeling something wasn’t feeling right.That year I started working for a magazine as a content producer and we published once every month. So that gave me the opportunity to take some of the daily news articles I wrote and post online. That’s how I started writing short stories and forwarding to WhatsApp and Facebook groups and called it ‘News Arrey’. I remember missing one day and someone wrote to ask ‘no ‘News Arrey’ today?’.That triggered me to start thinking ‘what if I created a website where I’d publish all these stories and not just post to WhatsApp and Facebook groups like I did?’ That way I can reach many more people. That’s how I gradually transitioned to building a blogging platform and every day I wrote political stories (I talked about this in my ‘1000 Rule’ article. Google ‘Arrey Bate 1,000 rule’ to read more…)
Long story short, when business owners saw me blogging consistently, they called and asked if I could come and train their inhouse teams on managing their own websites. That’s how I started TRAINING teams. When the training went well, they’d say to me ‘Arrey we have this event coming up on social media and we think you’d be the best speaker for us’. That’s how I started SPEAKING at small events and privately training myself to speak and consult clients. When we started working with entrepreneurs and business owners to advertise on our website, that led me to learning more about MARKETING and today I focus on running a marketing agency that has generated 20 million+ for our clients. And now that I’m building a real business alongside my journalism, I’m gathering some real time experience, being opportune to speak at some world stages, and I figured out I’ve always been passionate about inspiring through my stories, building people and helping them on their journeys. You see my friend, you may have an idea but a lot of times you’d never fully uncover your true purpose from the start. . True purpose starts with getting your hands dirty with some work and finding yourself in the process. As I grow, continue to have some little influence, I could easily link all of it to my purpose of SERVING and INSPIRING PEOPLE in different capacities and using all that influence as a tool of bringing many people back to my Christian source. That’s why you’d see me running my career and as part of it, actively using the influence I’m gathering to share my journey, help others, building a community and gradually pointing back to my christian values because it is my believe that ‘the fame is for a purpose’. Imagine I sat down 5 years ago waiting to discover my true purpose before starting anything? Can you imagine where I would be by now? Would you even be reading this right now?. A lot of people loiter for so long and wait to discover purpose that they ignore what truly prepares you to fully grow into, and maximize the purpose you’re looking for.The thing I’ve experienced about purpose is that, for me, it widens up as you grow, get to a more secured space mentally, financially and most importantly in defining your core values. I don’t know your situation right now and I still don’t think I have a one-off answer for you but purpose may not open up to you in one week. Don’t wait to figure it all, take the first step by building a career, start serving diligently at your organization. Start to build a skill and as you grow in it, you’ll start to find your voice, get to a more secured place financially, mentally and you’d figure out millions of ways to link back to your purpose. Maybe you’re passionate about helping children, you can’t help others without first figuring out your own stuff. So go follow a career path, develop a skill or work a job, start to build the financial capacity that helps you give back to the children you want and I promise you in the process you’d naturally find millions of ways to fully express your true purpose.True purpose starts with getting your hands dirty with the work and finding yourself in the process
DON’T WAIT TO FIGURE OUT PURPOSE BEFORE YOU START. BEGIN BY DOING WHATEVER YOU CAN NOW TO GROW AND BUILD YOURSELF
(COPY & SHARE THIS MESSAGE ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA)
Have a great week ahead my friend (and don’t forget to share)
Arrey Bate
Internet Entrepreneur / Author / Journalist