For a long time I struggled with the idea of ‘purpose’. The daunting questions of “Why am I here?” and “What’s my ultimate mission?” just seemed to overwhelm me. And the more I thought about it the more anxious I became. So of course I just avoided it altogether.

When I did manage to think about my purpose, I would think of it in relation to the roles that I played in my life at that time. For example, I wanted to be a great mother. Of course, who doesn’t? Or I wanted to excel as a wife or I wanted to be an inspiring leader etc. But none of these ever seemed to really resonate with me at my core.

This led me to view my mission based on the organisation I work for, luckily for me it was in alignment around caring for and helping others.

But that didn’t encompass the whole of my life… and THAT was holding me back.

I used to believe the reason I wasn’t as successful as I could be was because I hadn’t ‘cracked’ the question of “Why am I here?”

And then I went to Date with Destiny, a course led and facilitated by Tony Robbins. That experience definitely helped me to shape a better response to those questions and one that I absolutely felt more comfortable with.

But the ultimate shift for me came in a discussion with one of my coaches, Jayne Johnson when she helped me see that we have multiple purposes (or missions) and it is the conglomeration of these that answer the overall “Why am I here?”. Simple really, but like the overachieving A grade student, I was striving for that one and only right answer. So Jayne’s insight really resonated for me and certainly reduced my level of anxiety!

So throughout my high performance* journey, the question I’ve often asked myself is “Am I clear about my life purposes?” with the emphasis on the plural. And it’s these answers I’ve then ensured I have enough clarity, energy, courage, productivity and influence behind in order to enable my success.

But just like the Apollo 11 mission which was continually veering off course on it’s way to the moon and required a group of engineers to keep tracking it’s progress and putting in the course corrections necessary to get the astronauts to the right place at the right time, I have engaged in coaching as a kind of guidance function to enable me to achieve my best possible performance.

* High Performance is the result of heightened and sustained levels of: clarity, energy, courage, productivity and influence. www.highperformanceinstitute.com

Are you clear about your life purposes? What strategies do you use to course correct your high performance journey? Who have you engaged to help keep you on track?

Take the High Performance Quiz to find out more.