The Life Purpose Matrix: How to Find Your Higher Calling

The Life Purpose Matrix is a simple tool that will help you find your soul’s higher calling. Here’s the background story on its origin.

Even though I was stir ‘awoke‘ in April 2017, it wasn’t until September 2018 that I really began to question if I wanted to live the life that I had been.

My job, though well-paying and respectable, was draining me. I was working tirelessly, but the sense of purpose was missing. It felt like I needed to do something more, something that helped other people on a more direct and compassionate level. But what? I couldn’t understand.

What was my soul craving to do, what would make me feel more satisfied, which I was too scared to admit?

Day after day, I spend hours talking to people that I look upto, seeking their advice.

Should I take up a job at some NGO? But what cause would I associate myself to, I wasn’t that passionate about anything yet…
Should I become an artist? I knew my paintings weren’t good, but I enjoyed the skill, so what if….
Should I take up writing as a career? But I would need to walk the path more professionally and seriously, such as journalism..

On and on, the ideas and questions, and doubts went on. It felt that beyond my education in Computer Science, I had failed myself. I knew nothing else.

It had been weeks thinking about all this, non-stop. I was beginning to feel that same air of helplessness I did before my first wake-up call.

This time, meditation and burning essential oils wasn’t working either.

Until one day, an idea came to my mind.

The Life Purpose Matrix.

Broadly speaking, the idea is, to lay out all your talents, interests and hobbies, and analyse them critically, to see what is the best fit for you. Here’s what you can do, to make your own.

Sidenote : Before you dive into the steps, here’s a quick video to motivate you to follow your heart’s desire. 🙂

And now – onto the steps to create a blueprint for finding your life purpose!

STEP #1 – CREATE THE BLUEPRINT

Make a table on a piece of paper, or pull out an Excel sheet. You should have 10 rows, and 5 columns.

STEP #2 – LAY DOWN THE INTERESTS

Your first column lists down everything you like to do. Trust me, write down everything. You should atleast have ten interests, no matter how vague.

I even wrote down going to the gym, and long-drives, and allowed myself to believe just for a few moments in the possibility that I could perhaps become a personal trainer or driver (neither of which I am remotely talented at, but I wrote it anyway).

STEP #3 – HOW TO MAKE PASSION A PROFESSION

Your second column should list WHAT you can do about this area of interest. For example, if you write down ‘working out’, you can consider training other people, creating YouTube videos of workouts or writing about working out. You can further consider becoming a dietitian.

NOTE : The key is to be as creative as possible, and NOT restrict yourself right away in any of the possibilities. The upcoming steps will help you refine this matrix anyway.

STEP #4 – EARN FROM YOUR LIFE PURPOSE

Being able to earn from your passion and area of interest can be a mental barrier. But in today’s day and age, the message is clear – spiritual people can both be humble and live with affluence. So why live a deprived life? This column is a self-assessment of how well you can earn from each interest. Don’t be overly critical here, just practical.

For instance, you may earn better if you work for an agency, than as a freelancer. Rank your professions accordingly.

STEP #5 – THINK IT THROUGH

Time to evaluate the struggles and efforts you’ll be putting in as you pursue your path. This can take a while, so don’t rush the process. Sit with each profession and write down as thoroughly as you can.

STEP #6 – REACH A CONSENSUS

The last, and my favourite column is the one where you finally reach consensus with your heart and brain. The YES/NO/MAYBE column. Or in other words – do you want to pursue this professionally?

For the clear YES’, you know that it’s worth the effort. DO IT!

For the maybe’s, I would say, TRY. You never know where you get your breakthrough.

And for the NO’s, well, let’s just say that somethings are good for you, even though YOU are not good at them. Continue enjoying them in your own company. 🙂

My life purpose matrix had a lot of maybe’s and no’s, but there were only two clear YES’s. Hypnotherapy, and Writing.

Refine & Combine

A sweet subscriber, Kristen, wrote to me a few days ago, telling me how the Purpose Matrix helped her narrow down some interesting options for her future.

But also how the various ideas began to dovetail into each other! She called this stage the “refine and combine”, and I couldn’t help adding this to the steps.

There’s a possibility that you’re able to merge a few of your interests and create a multi-faceted profession out of them.

Interestingly, I see how that played a role in my trajectory too. Today, I am a spiritual writer and a spiritual coach (self-hypnosis is only one of the many modalities I work with).

I would encourage that you revisit this matrix a couple of times, let yourself brainstorm through each step, and allow yourself to think outside the ‘society-says’ box.

Additional Step (Optional)

I think it’s beneficial to add this step, although you may already have some level of clarity through the above exercise.

Take the Myers & Briggs Personality test, to get a deeper sense of your archetype, and see if it fits into the results from above, or teaches you something new about yourself.

I personally found my results to reflect “teacher” and “counselor” which are in alignment with my actual profession today as a spiritual writer and coach. 🙂

Does The Life Purpose Matrix Work?

I recently saw this awesome chart about the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai, and how we’re meant to use our time here, to do what we are passionate about. Of course, keeping in mind that those things are also what fuel other people’s lives. It felt aligned to the matrix and adds a layer of affirmation on the process of this tool.

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A post shared by Alf | The Present Psychologist (@thepresentpsychologist)

The fact is that there’s no need to confine yourself in the 9-6, 5 days a week cycle, unless you really want to. Either way – more power to you! Which brings me to one more important thought.

Your Current Profession Isn’t the Enemy Either

I also want to mention that simply changing a job won’t solve all our problems. We want to be able to start living our purpose where we are right now.

It’s natural to feel frustrated or limited in a job that isn’t aligned, however I want to encourage you to also reflect on the spiritual lessons that are at play underneath all the drama.

I love what spiritual teacher, Jeffrey Allen says about “group benefits” of healing in a way that when we clear up our wounds, we also change the reality for everyone around us. This has happened to me too, in so many ways.

When I was working in a corporate job, this happened a couple of times that I would see 11:11 on the clock after a heated discussion in the project, and then the next day something miraculous would happen. Either my project manager would be moved to a different team altogether, or I would be moved. Once, our manager actually went on a hiatus and we were left to do our work peacefully!

But don’t take my word for it, try it out for yourself too. As you think about living a more purposeful life, identify whatever is not aligned and work towards healing it and elevating it.

Ready to live more purposefully? Let’s do this!

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