2022 Recap: What have we learned so far?
HI FRIENDS
Welcome to this new year! Before jumping into it again, let’s recap what we discovered from our research since launching in August of 2022. I wanted to pick out for you some of my major findings and conclusions in order to keep our purpose close in mind, before we look to what’s next.
First, for those who are new, at Thoughts on Purpose we believe that we all have a unique calling / vocation, and that finding meaningful work is a vital component in a fulfilling life. But discovering our calling can sometimes feel like guesswork, so we’re on a journey to find and develop practical ways to help everyone identify and pursue this calling.
If you’d like to find out more about the back story, here is a recap of what Thoughts on Purpose is all about and where it comes from.
In our research last year we tested the following exercises which were very useful:
Fear Setting by Tim Ferriss — Defining your fears will help drive you
And this journalling exercise called the Sparketypes Expressions Inventory which helps you to find what types of work you love most.
And we read the following books which had some great things to say about purpose:
Mastery by Robert Greene
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
And we began to identify some red flags:
🚩 Toxic talk about purpose will set us on a path toward burn out.
THINGS TO EXPLORE FOR 2023
There’s lots more to come in this next year. I want to:
Do a deep dive into the Enneagram personality typing system for discovering your unconscious motivations.
Explore the Future Authoring program. The psychologist informed journalling tool for setting life-long goals. This tool helped to get this whole project started for me, so I’m a big fan.
We’ll look at the Sparketypes Test which helps you “discover your unique imprint for work that makes you come alive.”
And try out the highly popular Start With Why course by Simon Sinek.
We’ll explore the Japanese concept of Ikigai.
If I can get some help from others, we’ll also try some podcast-style in-depth interviews exploring how people found their vocation.
And our current list of books to read includes Forty Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, Sparked by Jonathan Fields, The Element by Ken Robinson, Do Purpose by David Hieatt, Undistracted by Bob Goff and Ikigai by Héctor García. Any others that should be on this list?
What else would you like to see or share with others this year? Please share your thoughts and recommendations.
OTHER BUSINESS
In order to allow more time to research and provide in-depth content, I’ve decided to switch to bi-weekly posts from now on. I will also separate post content, so that all of my musings and ramblings can stay separate from book reviews and other research.
I hope you’re as excited about this coming year as I am. I’m excited to see what we can learn and discover together; what new opportunities might open up for us in our world of work and what new depths of fulfilment we might find there.
COACHING
But if you’re just feeling stuck or stagnant - like you’ve run out of gas, then why not be brave and reach out? I’m available and I’d love to help you find a path full of purpose that’s just right for you. I need people like you who are willing to try something new to send me a simple email or message, and we can work out together how I can help coach you to find the next step forward.
Godspeed,
T Mo