Find Your Purpose-Driven Problem: The Key to Your Calling (Waypoint 5 of 8)

Have you ever wondered what problem you're uniquely meant to solve in the world? In this fifth waypoint of my Discovering Your Calling 8-Week Challenge, we're diving into finding your purpose-driven problem. I'll guide you through a process to identify the issues that tug at your heart and connect with your life experiences and talents, helping you uncover the unique contribution you're meant to make.

Key Quote: "Mark Twain once said, the two most important days in our life are the day we were born and the day you find out why."

Key Points/Topics Covered:

• The Four Sources of Purpose-Driven Problems: Understanding whether your calling stems from personal experience, helping others with a solved problem, process improvement, or longstanding concerns
• Five Essential Questions: Deep-dive questions to help identify what moves you to action
• Emotional Connection: Why finding the "why that makes you cry" is crucial for sustainable motivation
• Strength Alignment: How to ensure your purpose aligns with your natural talents and abilities
• Unique Approach: Understanding how your solution can be different even if others are working on similar problems
• Personal Story: How losing my mother at 58 inspired my mission to help people create meaningful work lives instead of waiting for retirement

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Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;16;24
Speaker 1
Mark Twain once said, the two most important days in our life are the day we were born and the day you find out why. In today's episode, I will uncover your why. The deeper purpose that drives you and brings meaning to your life and work.

00;02;52;18 - 00;02;56;02
Speaker 1
Welcome back friends, to the Discovering Your Calling podcast.

00;02;56;02 - 00;03;29;12
Speaker 1
In our eight week Discovering Your Calling challenge. This is way point number five. Finding your purpose driven problem. This is where we're going to identify the unique problem you feel deeply called to solve. We'll uncover the issues that tug at your heart and connects with your life experiences and talents, and whether it's personal or global. This problem will help you to find your purpose and drive your work moving forward.

00;03;29;15 - 00;04;06;02
Speaker 1
And I know this is the place that most of you wanted to start. And I hear it all the time. Just help me find my purpose. Sherry. But there's a reason we don't start here. Because without knowing who you are, which we discovered in your strengths, your skills, your core values and your passions, and having a clear vision for the life you want to create for yourself, you might find yourself veering way off course from finding your true calling.

00;04;06;03 - 00;04;36;14
Speaker 1
If you just start with this waypoint and you could find yourself trying to smash pieces of your calling puzzle into the wrong spot, like my granddaughter likes to do when we're doing jigsaw puzzles together. And you can find yourself doing that if you don't have the other pieces in place first. So there's a reason why we do these waypoints in a certain order.

00;04;36;16 - 00;05;08;28
Speaker 1
And as I keep saying, just trust the process. But I know again that you have been anxiously wanting to know your purpose, and you were excited to see all these things start coming together. And that's what we will do in this episode. Rabbi David Aaron once posed a powerful question. He said, what problem would I want to solve in the world?

00;05;09;00 - 00;05;44;18
Speaker 1
And that's the question I want you to ponder in this episode, and I'm going to guide you through a exercise to help you really find the answer to that question. And the question is really about uncovering what your true purpose is. It's about identifying the issues, the causes, or the challenges that you feel uniquely compelled to address. It's discovering your purpose is, you know, in this process it's really about discount.

00;05;44;18 - 00;06;12;02
Speaker 1
Answering the question Starland redo this part. Discovering your purpose is also about answering the question, what pulls at your heart strings and lights a fire in your soul? Because your purpose isn't just about finding a problem to solve. It's about connecting that problem to your heart and to your talents. Because it's not enough to be good at something.

00;06;12;02 - 00;06;42;21
Speaker 1
You need to feel deeply connected to it. And when you can find my friend, that intersection between what you're passionate about and what you're gifted at, that's where your calling lies. And that's what we're going to work on in this specific waypoint and in this pillar, because we're now moving into the fourth pillar of the four main main pillars of the discovering your calling process.

00;06;42;22 - 00;07;18;21
Speaker 1
We had you, which was all your strengths, your talents, your gifts. We had your vision. And now today we're going to move into your purpose driven problem. Finding your purpose. Finding your mission. And in this approach, I want you to remember that the way you approach something is going to look totally unique and different to you. Because as you explore the this exercise that we go through, your mind might start to say, well, somebody else is already doing that, but you know what?

00;07;18;26 - 00;07;48;20
Speaker 1
That's just proof that it needs to be done. But it's also I want to remind you that you are a unique combination of your talents, of your life experiences and just the personality that you're going to bring into solving that problem. And that will lead you to creating your unique purpose. And as Don Clifton once said, you can do something better than 10,000 other people.

00;07;48;22 - 00;08;14;19
Speaker 1
So are you ready, my friend, to explore what is that purpose driven problem that you are called to solve? That you can do it better than 10,000 other people? When you solve that problem. Now your purpose is probably tied to a problem that you see, or one that you've experienced. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a global problem.

00;08;14;22 - 00;08;43;06
Speaker 1
Because here's the thing. I remind my students in the Discovering Your Calling Academy all the time, you don't need to change the world, but you can change one person's world. And often the problem is you going to be called to solve is one that you've experienced yourself. Or maybe someone else helped you solve earlier in your life. And it's usually very personal.

00;08;43;09 - 00;09;19;02
Speaker 1
Now, my problem that I feel compelled to help solve that, help me create this whole discovering your Calling academy came from something very deeply personal to me, because I lost my mom to cancer when she was just 58 years young, and when she passed away, suddenly, it really proved to me the brevity of life. And I've often contemplated the fact that you know, she was one of the fortunate ones because my dad was in the military.

00;09;19;04 - 00;09;45;08
Speaker 1
He was career military, so he was able to retire. I just 40 years old, and create a whole other second half of life for him and my mom. They started another business. They had an upholstery business that was very successful. They had an RV. They traveled around. They went on cruises with her, her family or friends. They got to enjoy almost 20 years of what you would call retirement life.

00;09;45;11 - 00;10;22;00
Speaker 1
When they were just in their 40s and early 50s. They had grandkids that they got to travel and visit. And, you know, I often pause and think, what if they didn't have that life? What if she had had a traditional life working at a career until the age of 62 or 65, but then she passed away at 58 and maybe, you know, someone that that was their experience, and that person never got to enjoy their full life because at least my head shaking.

00;10;22;00 - 00;10;42;15
Speaker 1
And this is one of the ways I, I will share with you and how to figure out your purpose driven problem is, often I just shake my head and I look around and I see so many people taking jobs because of the benefits, or taking jobs because of the paycheck. Taking jobs because it's what they're supposed to be doing in life.

00;10;42;17 - 00;11;09;06
Speaker 1
And we saw that a lot when we lived in upstate New York with the state, and people would take these jobs because it was, quote unquote, the secure job, and it had great benefits, but they would be miserable for their entire working careers, living for that hope of retirement someday, that then they could start enjoying their life. And this drives me crazy.

00;11;09;07 - 00;11;38;07
Speaker 1
You could probably feel the passion in my voice right now, and it's one of those things that I just shake my head is like, why are you living this way? You know, according to most estimates, the average person spends roughly 9000 days of their life working, which translates to roughly a third of your lifetime dedicated to work. So don't you want to enjoy every day of your life?

00;11;38;07 - 00;12;08;02
Speaker 1
Not just two thirds of it? Like that's insane. When I think about it. So that is my passionate problem that I want to solve. I want to help people love their work, to find their calling so they feel passionate about it every day of their life. Not just a third of it or two thirds of it. And I also want to help people live today, not wait until tomorrow because we are not promised tomorrow.

00;12;08;05 - 00;12;29;29
Speaker 1
So again, you probably hear the passion in my voice when I talk about this. And that's what I want you to discover for yourself, is what is that purpose, that problem you want to solve that you're so passionate and driven to, to help solve the problem for the world, for you, for somebody else. So how do you do that?

00;12;30;01 - 00;12;53;16
Speaker 1
How do you do that? Well, I've got you, and that's what we're going to spend the rest of this podcast working on, is how to find your purpose driven problem. Or sometimes I like to say your problem is the purpose. So I'm going to take you through a series of exercises today. One, we're going to get your mind just thinking about the problems you see in the world.

00;12;53;19 - 00;13;20;19
Speaker 1
Two I have some key questions for you to really spend time contemplating. So you can create a brain dump of problems you want to solve. Three we will explore the why that makes you cry. Four we're going to narrow it down to three possibilities. Five I'm going to show you make sure that it aligns with your natural talents.

00;13;20;21 - 00;13;42;17
Speaker 1
And six will compare and contrast with what other people are already doing out there. So these six steps are how it's going to help. You will be the steps to help you really get clarity on that. Now I'm going to pause before we move into these steps and just mention if you haven't taken advantage of it yet, there's still time to become a VIP.

00;13;42;17 - 00;14;17;00
Speaker 1
In this end, the whole Discovering your Calling challenge that we're doing right now, and in that VIP as a VIP upgrade, you will get a free Cliftonstrengths assessment so you know what are your natural talents and does it align with this purpose driven problem? We do a 90 minute session so you can get clarity and get affirmed on who you are at your best, and then you get another coaching session to help break through any of the waypoints that we discover, so that you can really take what you're hearing and put it into actionable steps.

00;14;17;02 - 00;14;52;19
Speaker 1
And it's a really unbelievably great offer for the price point. And if you're interested in that, I have a few spots still open to grab before the end of 2024. Imagine stepping into 2025 with really great plan and clarity to move into the direction you want for your life and your career. So if you're interested to learn more, head to Bitly bit.ly backslash DC VIP.

00;14;52;19 - 00;15;25;11
Speaker 1
So it's Bitly backslash DC VIP. But there's a dot between the T and the URL. So be it.ly backslash DC, vip. The link is also in the show notes. Okay so let's jump into this. And I want you to think now as you, begin to work on this really again, remember that the problem you want to solve in the world isn't about judging others.

00;15;25;11 - 00;15;47;01
Speaker 1
We're not here to criticize or look down on others for their choices or circumstances. Like when I shared, you know, the experience that I see happening. And, you know, our area in Troy, you know, in Albany, New York. I'm not judging these people. They don't know any differently. It's just what they that's what they know. I'm not criticizing them.

00;15;47;01 - 00;16;04;21
Speaker 1
I'm just wanting to show other people there's options out there. So the first step we're going to do is I want you to consider what is your purpose driven problem you want to solve.

00;16;04;21 - 00;16;12;14
Speaker 1
So usually your purpose driven problem will stem from one of these four scenarios.

00;16;12;14 - 00;16;51;20
Speaker 1
So what are the four scenarios? One it could be something that you've experienced, as I share with a story with my mom, that's a personal experience. So it's something that you've experienced that has moved you, that has made an impact on your life. Two it could be that maybe you had this problem once and somebody else helped you solve that problem for yourself, but now that you're through it, you can see how you could help others solve the same problem in a different way, maybe more effectively, or just with a different audience.

00;16;51;22 - 00;17;19;23
Speaker 1
It could also stem from how you see ways to improve upon a process. Maybe you see a better way to do something, or for this could be a problem that is stemmed from something that has just bothered you your entire life. Like I shared. And as you can see from my scenario I shared, mine comes from a couple of different things.

00;17;19;23 - 00;17;39;18
Speaker 1
It's from something I've experienced, and it's also from something that has just bothered me for a long time. So think about those, you know, what is it that maybe something you've experienced, maybe a problem you had that you've solved, and now you see a way to do it more effectively or with a different audience, or how you can just help other people.

00;17;39;20 - 00;18;08;03
Speaker 1
It's something that you see how to improve upon a process or situation, or maybe it's just something that has just bothered you your entire life, and you want to help solve that. The second step you're going to take is reflect on these five questions. This is where I suggest you really just grab a pad of paper, grab you know, your pen, and just brainstorm on whatever pops up in your head as you go through these questions.

00;18;08;05 - 00;18;35;16
Speaker 1
Number one, what makes you mad or sad? So what makes you mad or sad when you look around the world or you look around your community? What just it really just stir something up in you that either makes you want to cry or just makes you want to scream. It makes you mad or sad. Number two what makes you shake your head and wonder why are they doing it that way?

00;18;35;19 - 00;19;01;25
Speaker 1
It might be where you work in a business situation. It might be SOPs, it might be systems. It might be how somebody runs their household. It could be anything like that. What makes you just shake your head and wonder why are they doing it that way? Number three, what makes you say somebody ought to do something about that?

00;19;01;27 - 00;19;31;24
Speaker 1
Now, Pastor Rick Warren's wife, Kay, once called this feeling of frustration being seriously disturbed. So what issue gets under your skin and makes you feel seriously disturbed and think somebody ought to do something about that, that somebody might just be you? Number four, what problem stirs you into action? What situation do you see out there that makes you want to jump in and just do something?

00;19;31;24 - 00;20;01;27
Speaker 1
What compels you to say somebody needs to fix this? So what is that problem that stirs you into action? Number five, what just drives you crazy? It could be a problem that others might find it insignificant, but to you, it's a glaring issue. And that might be like a small spelling mistake or typos. But to you it's just like, oh, they need to fix that.

00;20;01;27 - 00;20;26;06
Speaker 1
And this is why. So what just drives you crazy? Even if it doesn't bother somebody else? So those are the five questions just kind of bring up. So first you wanted to just consider your purpose driven problem. You know, that usually stems from one of the four scenarios we talked about. Then reflect on the five questions.

00;20;26;08 - 00;20;52;07
Speaker 1
And third think about what's coming up for you and which of them really stirs up your heart strings. Now there's an exercise we do in this in this section of the Discovering Your Calling Academy. I do this with my students and it's been become known as peeling back the onions, and it's finding the why that makes you cry.

00;20;52;10 - 00;21;21;27
Speaker 1
You may have heard me talk about it on the podcast, actually may have already referred to it in this program. And it's a really powerful exercise where you get down to that core thing of why does this really bother you? And when you can get to that place, it does almost make you want to cry. It becomes very passionate for you, and it's important to make note of which of these problems that you're coming up with on this brainstorming that really stir up the emotions.

00;21;21;27 - 00;21;45;11
Speaker 1
Because here's the thing if it doesn't stir up emotions, then when it gets challenging trying to find your calling or searching for a new career, you're going to get weary and quit. But if it moves you and it stirs up those heart strings and tugs at those heart strings, then you will continue to persevere. So take a look at your list.

00;21;45;11 - 00;22;15;27
Speaker 1
And what does stir something? Some emotions up for you now. Fourth, once you've identified your deep, why narrow your focus down to just the top three problems that feel most aligned with your purpose? So take that brainstorm list and look at what are the three that do stir up emotions. But what are the three that you feel most aligned with?

00;22;15;27 - 00;22;41;02
Speaker 1
Most called to like? You know, I would really love to make that my purpose driven, calling. So what are the three that hit the top of the list? Then fifth, once you have narrowed down to 3 or 3 or less, you might just have one right now. And that's okay. So take a look. Pull back out your cliftonstrengths if you've done them.

00;22;41;02 - 00;23;10;02
Speaker 1
And if not, maybe it's time to become a VIP, but look back at your natural talents and skills and strengths, past experiences, and do you have what it takes to solve the problem? And if you have your cliftonstrengths report, watch which of your talent themes can actually help support you in the process of solving these problems. Circle or highlight.

00;23;10;03 - 00;23;36;10
Speaker 1
Make note of what talents really jump out at you that say yes. This is totally in alignment with what I want to do. I have the gifts and talents to do this and move forward with this. Look for that proof inside of your Cliftonstrengths report. And six. The last step is to seek out someone who is already working on solving that problem.

00;23;36;12 - 00;24;02;12
Speaker 1
Now, again, as I shared earlier, it doesn't matter that they are don't get stuck in while somebody else is already doing this, so I don't need to do it now. Know your journey, your strengths, your approach is going to look different than theirs. So when you seek out other people doing this, you're doing that one to show that if they're doing it, you can do this too.

00;24;02;14 - 00;24;30;28
Speaker 1
But I want you to compare and contrast. So compare. How would you do things differently? How would you do things similarly? What would be your unique way of doing it that looks different than theirs and just make a comparison of it? Again, you're not going to copy the way somebody else is doing something. You're not going to, you know, get disappointed that they're doing it.

00;24;30;28 - 00;25;03;28
Speaker 1
You can't doing it. It's just making note of how you would do it in a different, unique way that aligns with your story, your strengths, your passions. And when you do all of these steps, you should have really reflected and refined your path to really solidify your unique mission or purpose. When you go through all these steps. So let's just quickly run down the six steps again after you.

00;25;03;28 - 00;25;36;23
Speaker 1
You get your brainstorm what they look like. First you're going to consider what what are the scenarios? What are the purpose driven problems. Looking at the four different scenarios we shared, is it something that you've experienced, something that somebody else has already helped you solve, and you see a different way to do it? Is it improving or improving upon a process or simplifying something, or is it just something that has bothered you your entire life?

00;25;36;25 - 00;26;10;22
Speaker 1
Second, you're going to spend time reflecting on the five questions I shared. Third, you're going to make sure that it stirs up emotions, that it tugs at those heartstrings. Fourth, you're going to narrow down to the top three you feel most aligned with. Fifth, make sure that it does align with your natural talents and skills and experience. And sixth, seek out someone who is already working to solve the problem and just see how you would compare and contrast with that.

00;26;10;25 - 00;26;49;27
Speaker 1
So once you do this, you should walk away from doing this exercise with at least three very clear directions. You could possibly go in three things at least. Again, maybe one, 2 or 3 not. At least no more than three things one, 2 or 3. No purpose driven problems that you feel called to solve. And in the next episode, the next waypoint, we're going to see how valuable these ideas are.

00;26;49;29 - 00;27;23;15
Speaker 1
Could they be a business for you? Is there a career already that you could seek out that is help you solve this problem? So we're going to make sure we're going to validate this, these ideas to see which one is the best one for you to pursue. So have one, 2 or 3 that we're going to go into in the next waypoint, and next week's podcast episode where we will make sure that you are prepared for impact and income in this way.

00;27;23;15 - 00;27;53;05
Speaker 1
Point number six. And in the meanwhile, I would love for you to share your insights or any questions in the discussion you're calling. Facebook Group. And if you're not in there yet, it's not too late to join us for the last half of this Discovering Your Calling challenge. All right, my friends, I hope this was helpful and take the time, as always, to really go through the steps to figure out what is that purpose driven problem that you are called to solve.