Much is said about living a purpose driven life. In my exploration of living my life on purpose over the last 3 years, I have gotten very clear on what I want to create and experience in five key areas of my life. I’ve detailed a clear picture of success in my profession, physical wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, relationships and finances. I consistently course correct over time based on relevant information and feedback. With my background in personal productivity, I am highly effective at managing my actions and calendar to ensure how I spend my time supports each of these focus areas. I consistently create habits to support my desired outcomes. And to a large degree, I am being successful across all five areas.

What continues to surprise me is the role my ego plays in this game and the stories I can make up.

I love working hard, accomplishing things, challenging myself, knocking out my to-do list and seeing things to completion. It’s fun! And I am consistently shifting my thinking away from the thought/belief that “being somebody” and “being successful” was associated with achieving greatness in my profession. The old thinking and beliefs had tactical expressions. “I am so busy.” “My calendar is packed.” “I don’t have time.” “I’m overwhelmed.” “I get more e-mail than I know what to do with.” “My travel schedule is crazy.” I know that in the past I have had a tendency to overstate these things because they seemed to align with being successful. I created habits, consciously or unconsciously, that would support an image of success. I fell in to comparing myself to others and how they are playing the game and used that judgement to determine if I was successful or not. Shifting this thinking/belief system is a journey for me.

What is somewhat comical is the value my ego wants to place on how I spend my time. I notice that I get a great sense of ego satisfaction when I am doing business development, business strategy, coaching, facilitating strategic meetings and in general moving my career forward. I’m not making that wrong. I’m great at those things and love doing them. It’s when I spend time in the other key areas of my life that I can get goofed up. I notice that during the traditional work week and during “normal business hours” when I am spending time and being present with my wife, my son, my daughter and friends (relationships), I can slip in to the mindset of “I’m not doing the right things, I should be working on my business” (I ‘should’ all over myself). I notice that during the week and during “normal business hours” when I am riding my bike, walking or hiking (physical wellbeing), I can slip in to the mindset of “I’m not doing the right things, I should be working on my business” (Again, ‘shoulding’ all over myself). The same is true for time spent in extending my spiritual wellbeing. Those things don’t feed my ego yet honestly, they are the most important to me.

Too often, I compare myself to others. I look at how busy they are, how overwhelmed their job is and how much time they spend ‘working’.

And my ego keeps wanting to have its way. And I continually choose not to listen, taking those thoughts captive and realigning them to what I’ve said I want. It’s a wonderful journey. I continue to be committed to living my whole life on purpose. I continue to be committed to work/life fit. I continue to define the game the way I want it played and not being in comparison to how others have chosen to live it. And it is a journey.

Are you living your WHOLE life on purpose? Where are your existing habits being driven by ego as opposed to being in alignment with what you want out of life and how you want to play the game? Where are you unconscious about the actions you are taking and how you are spending your time. I encourage you to be clear on what you want in each area of your life and align your thoughts, beliefs and actions and create habits to play the game according to your rules and your desired outcomes. Be well.