About adding a purpose to your life and others

Early in life, starting with your childhood, you realize that you like some things better than others. You enjoy specific types of games, weather and colours. You enjoy listening to specific music genres while you cannot understand how your friends could relax listening to singer X. You surround yourself with a specific type of people and make friends you can connect with. Our character early on expresses itself in our preferences, behaviours and actions. It also strongly expresses dislikes through dissatisfaction and anger.

Our environment should align with our character and therefore with our personality and all the various shapes it can take. We are predestined to find our purpose of existence by asking ourselves the question “WHY, am I doing what I am doing?” or “WHY do I feel the way I do when I do a certain thing?”. Asking this question may be powerful, because it can change your life in an instant. It can provide you with strength to keep doing what you’re doing even when things get difficult. Though even WHY is a simple interrogative, which children ask about 300 times a day, it is much harder to ask for WHY when you’re older and can assume its potential impact. Fear holds you back. The fear of truth and change. Or you simply forgot what it feels like to be curious and live in a world full of wonderful adventures and mysteries.

Asking WHY reveals two very important characteristics of a person:

1. Self-reflection and the ability to change and improve.
2. Curiosity to experience, learn and create.

I consider these attributes extremely important. During my recent travels in Thailand, Australia and currently New Zealand I have begun asking for WHY heaps. WHY do people, no matter how young, understand humour and a smile? WHY is there a huge canyon in the middle of Australia? WHY don’t I feel free when I just drove 1000 km through the Outback? WHY do I suddenly miss home, when I never used to be homesick before? To be honest, I haven’t found an answer to all of these questions.

The first two months I felt vulnerable and lonely, I was happy to do things on my own to get lost in my thoughts, forcing me to feel what I successfully managed to shut out for a long time. My mood and emotions went on a rollercoaster ride, which I rarely shared. This was a new experience, as I am usually someone who tells people about everything what’s going on and use conversations as an opportunity to think loudly and receive feedback.
After two and a bit intensive months I have started to feel better. Now I feel save and strong, authentic and honest. I got to the core of who I had become and who I want to be — a question I put in my backpack, ready to answer it on my journey.

I want to be a super-connector.

I have also identified and specified my vision and the most important objectives I want to achieve in life. I call them my travel directions, as I see life as big journey.

My Vision

I want to create a culture where people make positive change in their own and other people’s life.

My travel directions:

1. I want to love my family and make it the most exciting project of my life.
2. I want to create an environment of ideas, development and experiences for myself and others.
3. I want make the world my home with true and lasting friendships.
4. I want to be curious and learn.
5. I want to make life simple and have the courage to change it when it feels wrong.
6. I want to lead people to a world full of opportunities and potentials.

Long story short: my purpose is to have an impact on people’s life.

Whoa, that’s a bold statement and a lot of work you might think. In fact, I thought the same thing. However, I feel like this is the path I am walking on and it feels truly good. And I won’t walk it alone. I will walk it with the people who matter to me. Together we will create memories which we have shared and can share with others.

Because shared experiences are what creates unbreakable bonds and lasting friendships.

I want to close this article by sharing the book “The Big 5 For Life” from John Strelecky with you. I found it on a book shelf at a friend’s place. When I started reading I immediately knew it was one of those books which change your life and you must shout it out to the world and say “Hey, read it and get inspired!”. It explains what leadership can be all about, how storytelling reaches the very heart of people and how a business culture could look like. Please also read “The Why Café” from John Strelecky, as it might have a similar impact on the way you think.

Read this article as an invitation to connect and contribute! Leave a comment or text me at sascha.bardua@hotmail.de. My next articles will go deeper into my current projects and my concepts to achieve this my purpose.