The 4 Phases of Purpose
There is a time for narrow focus and a time for wide exploration.
The trick is learning to sense what you are meant to be doing right now.
In my experience, there is a 4 phase cycle
that your Purpose moves through:
Phase 1: Exploration
Phase 2: Discernment
Phase 3: Focus
Phase 4: Completion
Sometimes the cycle only lasts weeks or months.
Other times, this cycle can last decades.
What's important is to keep a pulse on your Purpose,
to know what phase you are in
so you can act in alignment with that phase.
I recently found myself trying to force Focus.
I was attempting to manufacture specific goals,
a narrow direction for my life and work,
and it just wasn't working.
I told myself it was because I wasn't fully committing,
I was being lazy or undisciplined.
Then I went on a retreat for a few days
and felt something inside me say,
"Wait. Stay open. It's not time to Focus yet."
Trying to force Focus
when you're actually in a phase of Exploration
will only result in frustration or burnout.
Or trying to Discern your next thing
when you're meant to be Completing your current season
will not prove to be fruitful.
Recognize the phase you are in with your Purpose
and then align yourself with what is required of that phase.
The 4 Phases of Purpose:
1. Exploration
Be open. Read widely.
Have conversations with interesting people doing interesting things.
Follow whatever peaks your interest.
Travel to exotic places.
Watch weird documentaries.
Follow the breadcrumbs that seem to be calling your name.
Your aperture should be wide,
your mind open, not filtering or judging too quickly.
2. Discernment
Turn your spotlight inwards.
Spend more time in silence and solitude.
Go on long, reflective walks.
Assess what's going on in your internal world
and see what your internal compass is beginning to point towards.
Spend less time with interesting people
and more time with your trusted inner circle who know you well
and can help you get in touch with your next right move.
3. Focus
When you get the green light on your next move,
go all in.
Focus your efforts, energy, resources in that direction.
Unify your life around your discerned Purpose.
Adjust your sleep patterns, your eating habits,
your social circle, your information diet,
around your newfound Purpose.
If this level of your Purpose is a short sprint,
go all out.
If it's going to be a marathon,
you'll need to take breaks, vacations, sabbaticals,
but you will keep yourself oriented in this direction
until this layer of your Purpose has reached its end.
4. Completion
All things come to an end.
It may be of your choosing or it may not,
but your job is to see it through
and close out this season of your Purpose well.
You're not done until you have closed out the tasks,
the relationships, the responsibilities.
Don't leave loose ends or leaking energy.
Your next season of Purpose will flow (or not)
from how you ended this season.
End it with integrity and grace.
"To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
Identifying where you are in the cycle of your Purpose
allows you to align (instead of grind against) where you're really at.
It may be frustrating if you desire to Focus
but you're meant to be Exploring.
Or if you desire to Complete
but there's still more for you to do where you're at.
This requires two things:
An understanding that there are larger cycles, phases, seasons
that you live within and can align with.
And that you have the ability to identify what phase you're in
through your intuition / inner knowing.
This is not easy for me.
I often want to believe that I can
create and do whatever I want, when I want.
And in some sense that is true.
But it feels like trying to swim upstream
if I'm not aligned with something larger and truer.
When I align to where I am truly at,
there is more flow, ease, joy.
It often feels more like floating downstream.
