Three Quick Ways to Know You’re Positively Aligned with What You’re Meant to Do in Life
#3 — Does it make you tingle?
Even if you have a vision for your life, it doesn’t mean you know what to do right now.
And many times, we don’t even have a real vision. We have a vague sense that we sort of want to do something kind of like this.
We’re told that we should follow our passions. But that doesn’t always lead to viable careers. For example, I’m passionate about logic puzzles and math. I even considered a career in actuarial science. But the constant emphasis on what could go wrong was a mismatch for my personality.
Career counselors recommend analyzing what you’ve enjoyed doing in the past. Then use that to determine what you’d enjoy doing in the future. Except, the reason you’re looking for help to find a career is that you haven’t found the perfect thing yet. So how will looking at things that aren’t right help you find what is right?
Most people believe (or want to believe) that there is a reason for their existence. There’s something they’re here on Earth to do. But how do you figure out what?
Here are three quick ways to help you figure that out. Is what you’re currently doing (or considering doing) aligned with your life purpose? Will it satisfy your soul as well as fill your wallet?
1️⃣ Things come easily
I don’t mean that you are given the things you want with no effort. But if you’re aligned with your purpose in life, things will flow.
When you get to a point where you need some crucial piece of information, you’ll just happen to find it. You’ll go out to clear your head, start talking to someone in a coffee shop, and discover they are an expert in that thing.
At the other extreme, when everything seems to take twice as long as it should, that’s a red flag. If you’re the only one who experiences these setbacks and delays, that’s a warning. You are out of alignment with your life purpose.
A tale of two businesses
When I was in college, I thought that I could earn some extra money by becoming a Mary Kay salesperson. At the time I joined the program, another college-age girl joined, too.
Within a few months, I had managed to sell about $100 worth of product. In that same period of time, the other girl had sold thousands of dollars, and won a car from the company.
Selling makeup was not aligned with my purpose. The few sales I made were to people with birthmarks or skin conditions. Why? Because I didn’t actually believe in using makeup to make yourself look pretty. But I wanted to help people who felt self-conscious feel better about themselves. It’s the same reason I write self-improvement articles now.
The other girl saw it completely differently. She felt that she was offering a service to underprivileged women to get out of their situations. She was helping them to become independent. She was ensuring their financial future. By paying for college with her earnings, she became an inspiration and role model for others. For her, this was completely aligned with her life purpose.
2️⃣ Time behaves strangely
Often, when you are doing something aligned with your life purpose, time flies by. You’ll spend hours at it, and feel more energized and alert than when you started.
Some people have the opposite reaction. For them, time almost seems to stop. They hang in a frozen moment, where their minds can whiz through options and scenarios.
Whichever it is, it is a crucial sign that what you’re doing is producing “flow”. Activities that produce flow are not necessarily those that match your life purpose. But those that align with your life purpose will produce flow. Your “zone of genius” will always produce flow, even if some of the other activities associated do not. As a writer, submitting work, reading editorial responses, and revising doesn’t cause flow. But the writing itself most definitely does. Flow comes when there is nothing else to which you would rather pay attention. Your entire focus is on what you’re doing.
“Just a minute” never is with flow
I’ve learned this lesson with my husband. When he’s in his zone of genius, I don’t ask him for time estimates. “I will be ready in one minute” might be half an hour.
By the same token, when I sit down to write, I may think it won’t take long. Then I look up, it’s dark out, and he’s letting me know he’s going to bed. Somehow four hours have passed, and I was completely oblivious to it.
3️⃣ It makes you tingle
We all have physical responses that let us know what our body thinks of something. You’re probably familiar with the concept of a “gut reaction”.
Someone can tell you something that sounds like a good idea, but your stomach feels heavy or queasy. That’s your body warning you that it’s a bad idea, even if it sounds good.
By the same token, your gut can tell you if something is a good idea. You might feel a warming, a lightness, or an electric tingle.
That’s because 95% of the serotonin you produce is triggered by nerve cells in your gut. Your gut’s “second brain” does more to make you feel happy, at least chemically, than your main brain.
And unlike your main brain, your gut isn’t worried about your ego or what your friends will think. It just knows “good for me” and “not good for me”. So you can trust that good feeling is aligned with your highest purpose.
Choosing the best opportunity
A group of us were discussing potential new business opportunities. They all sounded like fun. They would all advance our life missions to some extent or other. But which one should we choose?
The first option was one that could be implemented in a few months. But it would be labor intensive, and tied to a physical location.
The second option was going to take much longer. And it required finding someone else to run a particular part of it that none of us had any experience with.
Then my husband started describing the final opportunity. As he explained it, getting more and more excited, he paused, eyes wide. “I just got a tingle!” It played to both of our zones of genius, as well as accomplishing some significant goals. It tied into something I’d instinctively known (with my gut brain) would be good for him.
It wasn’t something that the people we were discussing it with were suited for. But it was obvious that was where my husband needed to focus.
Conclusion
You’ll be happiest and most fulfilled when you spend your efforts and energy on your life purpose. But how do you know what that is? Or, if you know it, how do you know what actions in the short term will best serve it?
Three signs that you are doing something in alignment with your life purpose are:
- Things come easily
- Time behaves strangely
- It makes you tingle
If something you do, or are considering doing, meets all three of these criteria? Odds are good that it’s in alignment with your life purpose.
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