Purpose-Driven Living

A very common sentiment that I hear in therapy is “it seems like life is just passing me by”. This feeling is often the result of an overly rigid routine, lack of personal time and the general hectic nature of life.

When discussing ways to address this, often the topic of discussion lands on self-care and meaningful hobbies or outlets. Resistance is often met here though as many people are convinced the time or resources are simply not there to be able to engage in more self-care/indulgence.

To that. I challenge my clients to try “purpose driven living”. This is a very simple exercise consisting of 4 steps.

Step 1: Identify your areas of purpose. This could be meaningful like “courage”, “integrity” or “accomplishment”. Or it can be more superficial like “eating a good meal” “visiting a new place” or “meeting new people”. The idea in this first step is that you are going to make a comprehensive list of areas of purpose

Step 2: Prioritize the top 5. Looking at your list, start prioritizing which 5 are the most appealing to you at this time. Don’t think in terms of most meaningful but rather what are you attracted to trying practically in the forseeable future.

Step 3: Now that you have your top 5. Go through each and identify the next practical step that you can take to engage with this purpose. For example, if the area of purpose was eating a good meal, then identify that the next step would be spending 10 minutes on Google looking for restaurants in your area that seem appealing. Work through each of the top 5 until you have a measurable action plan for each.

Step 4: Look at your calendar and schedule a specific time of when you will take this measurable step.

That’s it!

With an exercise like this, you do not just want to do it once. The idea is to make this part of your routine. Even a few times a year can go a long way in helping you live a more purpose driven life.

If lack of routine or purpose is something that you struggle with, Philadelphia therapist Noam Dinovitz can help!

Noam can be reached through the form below or by:

Email: Noam@dinovitzcounseling.com
Phone: 484 424 7722