[00:00] Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Sudddart here aka the focus b. And on this show, I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness, and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic.

[00:41] I'm really excited to announce that in the upcoming weeks, I am launching my new program to help you to optimize your time and your energy to reach the results and impact you want in your business and in your life. If you want to find out more about my new program, check out thefocusbeat.com program. This is the last episode on energy. As I've said a million times before, energy is so, so important for your well being, for your life, for people in your life. So prioritize it, make it important, and work on taking it to the next level. The topic I'd like to talk about more in depth today is looking at what gives you meaning and purpose. I feel that this is a highly misunderstood topic and that when people focus on it or think about it, it creates more stress and anxiety than it does happiness and joy. Let's just take a moment now to reflect on what gives you meaning in your life. And you don't have to answer a big, existential, amazing, transformational, changing the world type answer. It can just be like having a nice cup of tea in the morning that can give you meaning. It's okay. Or it can be relaxing in the evening with my partner, or seeing a few friends, or just doing my work well. Just start to reflect what gives you meaning? What makes you get up in the morning, what do you feel is a good use of your time and your energy? And meaning and purpose are directly correlated, but I sense that they're slightly different. Meaning for me comes down to all the things that can give you meaning. Like I said, it can be just from reading one book or seeing a friend or walking in the park. That can give you meaning. Meaning just means it just means something that you feel is worthwhile. That's all. Is it worthwhile? If you had to redo the day again, would you go on that walk again? It only signifies that this is a situation, an element, an aspect that you're glad that you're doing, that's it it gives you meaning, gives you fulfillment, joy. And we overthink this because as humans, there's always this quest for what's the meaning of life. But I don't know about you, I don't find that particularly useful. The big existential dread of we're all in this universe, that's great. And the Earth is turning and all of this big, why are we here? The only purpose I find in that is that sometimes it helps to de dramatize daily things. It's a good reframing or deframing, as Tony Robbins calls it, for those situations. Because on such moments where certain things feels like a big deal, when you remember the scope of life and the world and the Earth and universe, then you might think, okay, not such a big deal. Aside from that, it doesn't really add much to your life if you start to wonder what's the meaning of your life or life on Earth? So instead, just start to look. What are the daily things that make you feel good, that contribute to your well being, to your joy, to your happiness? And purpose is the direction in which you're going that again makes you feel fulfilled once more. I feel that there's misconception or worries around this term. What's my purpose in life? What do I want to do? Well, I'll share with you a secret. I don't even know what my ten year goals are every time they're coaches and programs. Okay, you have to have your life goal and write down what you would want to hear when you're buried and all of this stuff and have your ten year vision. I do one or two years at a time. I love to look quite short term, and I don't have a ten year vision. But having a purpose doesn't have to be a lifelong vision. It's just a direction. I know as a purpose that through my podcast, I'd like to impact as many people as possible and help them to live more fulfilled lives, reach high performance, be greater leaders. I know that this is also what I want to do as a coach or a speaker, facilitator my book. So all of these are going in the purpose and the direction of bringing more magic to people's lives. That's really what I'm about. And you don't have to have a fancy slogan or way of formulating. It just needs to be something that you feel is uniting all of your actions. And your purpose can be to be a great employee in what you're doing and to help your company grow. That's great too. It doesn't have to be changed and shift the world and reduced carbon dioxide through sustainable inventions. I mean, great, if that's what you're doing too, that's fantastic. But if it's simply to nurture your family, if you're not working in a job but you're working as a mother, and your purpose is that you live a healthy life and you're supporting your family to live healthily and balanced, that's a purpose. It's not always this big transformational. Scary words. And why is it important to have this purpose? So once you've found things that add daily meaning to your life, the purpose is your compass, it's your direction. And if you are able to vaguely formulate it in one line, it will help you to tie together your actions. For instance, in my case, and that's why I came up with the slogan connect with the magic is I really felt a lot of people are disconnected from how magical and wonderful it is to be alive. And this is why I feel passionate about connecting them back with this magic. And for me this goes with high performance because I feel that if you're able to perform on a higher level, you're more energized, you're managing your time more efficiently and that you have this level of focus and attention. All of this great level of performance reconnects you with yourself. This is my perspective. Other people might disagree, that's fine, that's how I see it. And it also goes hand in hand with being a leader, leading yourself because then you're able to manage once more time, energy, attention, to be more fulfilled and more connected with the magic and to lead other people in this direction. So all of these tie together in my case and it has helped me to define this with a few keywords because then when I work on certain projects I can ask myself does this support my purpose, connecting people with the magic? And if the answer is yes, I go for it. If the answer is no, I don't. And it might be the same for you. Just ask yourself why is it you want to contribute for your own life? Maybe for people around you, maybe in the company or your household, there needs to be some form of contribution even if it's only within your household or only in the small department of your company. It doesn't have to be worldwide or anything fancy. But purpose is both sort of inner growth but some form of contribution because a it matters and it's awesome and B it does make you happy. And as I mentioned, if you stay at home looking after your kids and you contributing to them, that's a purpose. That's why many people feel that having children gives them purpose. But it can be in work, it can be in household, it can be both. Of course you can have different purposes, in my case because my field is highly linked to others, other fields is hard to explain. But connecting with the magic could also be my purpose in my private life, making my partner or family or friends also connect with the magic. So in my case to relate. But if your business is creating sustainable products that have less impact and lower carbon footprint that can be your purpose there. And in your spare time it can be to be kind and empathetic with your friends and people in your life. For example, you can have separate directions for both your work and your private life. Having this purpose will support you to feel more energized, to gain clarity on what your next steps are and to feel aligned. Because all you need to ask is does this support my purpose? And as I mentioned, it can be as simple as being a kind person that can be a purpose or acting with integrity and supporting people around me or whatever. It is something that you do feel ties together your actions and helps you to move forward and inspires you. Also, I hope this has been useful. I also did an episode with David on this if you want to check it out. On finding purpose, we also spoke about let's not get too afraid with this huge, big great word of purpose or meaning. Let's bring it down to the earth and to actually what we can do about it on a daily basis and how we can use this to move forwards. If you found this insightful in any way, I'd absolutely love it if you leave a review, if you haven't done so yet, or unless you fancy writing two reviews, but one is amazing already. Thank you for tuning in and wishing you a great day.

[11:44] Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Focus Bee show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback, so let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you, and feel free to share this episode with a friend.

[12:02] Or a family member.

[12:04] Wishing you a wonderful, magical and focused day ahead.