Hello my friends, and welcome to the Discover Your Personal Power Podcast, the show to help you live a life filled with peace, purpose, and power. My goal on this podcast is to give you something fun and meaningful to make your day a little brighter. I want to help you find your light and your personal power within.
My name is Peggy Moore and I am a wife and mother of over 30 years, a Nurse for over 20 years, a Certified Professional Coach, and wellness advocate.
I want you guys to know that I get it. Sometimes being human can be hard. But the good news is we are in this together. We all get to choose how we want to show up in this world. and we can create the life of your dreams.
How are you guys doing? Are you enjoying the warmer weather? How is your summer going? Are the kids excited to be out of school? I am doing some recordings ahead of time this month, cuz I am going to be with my grandbabies over the summer and I want to have a lot in my business beforehand, so I can soak up all their goodness.
Intentionality
This got me thinking about life, and priorities, and intentionality. I hear that word a lot and I kind of like to think of it as living my life on purpose. REally paying attention to the choices I am making every day and making sure they are in line with what I want with my life. Sometimes it is easier than others, but I have been working on setting intentions every day and just reminding myself of all the things I am grateful for and then thinking about how I want to show up for the day. How I want to spend my time. Am I going to spend it on the things most important to me or am I going to let myself get sucked into scrolling on Instagram (I have to admit, I am a little addicted to reels) I love the fun dances! Am I going to love everyone that comes my way and hold space for those that need my time, or am I going to be short and impatient? I have been doing this for a few weeks specifically as part of my morning routine and I love it. It really provides some clear focus for my day and allows me to live my life on purpose, instead of by accident.
Michael Hyatt says Most people spend more time planning a one-week vacation than they do planning their lives. That crazy right
I am not saying we need to overschedule every second of the day, in fact, if you know how to live on purpose and live intentionally, you might not need that to list or schedule at all.
Instead of chasing our tails and struggling with life in the fast lane, we can seek a life of purpose, direction, clarity, peace, and joy instead. Life on our terms instead of life dictated to us by our schedule or To-Do list or carefully calendared items.
Life can become an endless cycle of ticking things off those lists, hurrying from one activity to another, draining our bank accounts as we succumb to a tempting new pair of shoes, a new car, or just one more toy for our kids.
We don’t have time to pause, reflect and think whether how we’re filling our days and our lives is in alignment with what we want out of life – our core values and priorities. Those values and priorities seem to just get written for us by whatever is shouting the loudest from our To-Do list.
Life on Purpose
Learning how to live on purpose brings you peace, in knowing that your life is going just as it should be.
Learning how to live on purpose brings power because knowing your values and your goals helps you prioritize your resources like time, money, and energy.
Living on purpose or living with intention drives us forward, looking ahead to our future. It helps us embrace the journey and enjoy the process.
Richie Norton said Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others make the choice for us.
First off, what does it mean to live life on purpose? Well the dictionary defines purpose as the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. The verb would be with determination or resoluteness.
An intention is the act or instance of determining mentally upons some action or result. Intention keeps the end or object intended in mind. It is the thing intended or the aim or the plan, maybe like the idea or the “why” that you are doing something.
Intentional Living
Intentional living is a lifestyle that encourages us to define our priorities and get really clear on what we want from life and try our best to live in line with those priorities, core values and beliefs everyday.
This sounds easier that it may seem. Sometimes we aren’t even clear about what we want out of life. We get busy with life and forget to even ask ourselves this question.
Getting clear on your personal vision takes a little “thought time”, maybe some journaling and question asking. Here is where a good coach can come in. For me working with a coach helped me to gain clarity and bring my goals and vision in-line with my everyday activities. I offer free discovery sessions, where we can talk about where you are at, where you want to be and formulate a plan to help you get there. Just go to peggymoorelifecoaching.mykajabi.com/site/coaching
You know what you want
Lao Tzu said, “At the center of your being, you have the answer: you know who you are and you know what you want.”
We just need to take the time to tune out the voices of others and look deep in our soul. Take some time to determine the core values that mean the most to you.
When you know what you want most from life, your day to day decisions become easier. You experience more joy in knowing that life is not directing your activities, you are directing the activities that mean the most to you.
Living a life on purpose and a life that truly serves and supports you to be the best version of you (for you and those you love) can help you create the life of your dreams.
Define your priorities
Defining your priorities is key to living a life on your terms,
Life may be a little busy every now and then and many of us struggle with financial worries, family problems or health issues but your life as a whole is more complex and intricate than this. Your life is made up of individual days in which you make millions of little decisions that shape those days (and ultimately) your life.
Knowing how to define your priorities, get clear on what matters and you may find your days and decisions will have new meaning, direction and focus, even if they don’t always go as planned!
And I recognize that this changes, as seasons in life change. But I want you to think about it.
What do I want for this time in my life? Who do I want to be, What do I want to do and how do I want to show up in the world.
Here are a few steps to help you live life more on purpose, to live with intention.
Finding your Why
First, we need to practise our self awareness and recognize what things are the most important to us. We need to find our why and really take a look at what we truly want from life?
What makes you happy? What motivates you to get out of bed each morning and what do you look forward to doing each day? What makes you smile, what makes your heart sing. What brings you joy?
One of the best ways to do this, I have found, is determining your own core values and beliefs. Your core values are the key to choosing your direction. You don’t need to have your whole life figured out, but you DO need to know what matters most to you.
Core Values
What are core values? Values “are the principles that give our lives meaning and allow us to persevere through adversity. Our core values are those that we hold dearest, the ones that are most important to us. When our rational brain uses its power to train the emotional brain to make decisions and choices according to our values and goals, we live more authentically and find peace in living intentionally.
Why it is helpful to define your core values, beliefs and priorities.
When we don’t know what’s important, it’s difficult to know what to focus on.
Consider the process of decluttering your home, when you think of what to keep and what to throw, you ask yourself some simple questions. Is that item important? Does it add value in some way? Do I use it? Do I need or love it? You don’t want to keep everything but you keep the priorities.
Life is the same. If you let your life become stuffed with clutter then you spend your time and energy tidying, clearing, struggling with the ‘stuff’ in your life, a little like you would tidy, clear and struggle with cluttered worktops and cupboards. That struggle can end up looking like frustration, anxiety, resentment, overwhelm, burn-out.
Defining priorities is about asking the right questions and clarifying the right answers for you.
Some of the questions we can ask ourselves to help us determine our core values are
- Why are your friends, your friends?
- Why did you buy. What was your last purchase?
- Why did you choose your career/job?
- Why are you with your partner?
- Why are you working late?
- What are your dreams and goals,
- What are your aspirations?
- Where would you like to be in five years, ten years.
- What matters most to you.
Everyone’s core values are different. Mine include: care for myself, care for my relationships, lifelong learning, and freedom (just to name a few). These values inform my life vision, which in turn, guides my choices.
I reflect on my values and vision every single day. It’s simple really—define what matters to you and then, do whatever you can to align your life accordingly.
If you have no idea what your core values are, start by thinking of moments when you’ve felt proud or happy, and then dig around. Generally, we feel good when we are living and acting in line with our values, and we feel bad when we violate our values.
What are your core values and beliefs? What are the constructs that you try to live your life by most?
There are lots of ways to really figure out and fine tune what your core values are. You can start by simply making a list. Look on line for a list of core values. Then start writing all the ones that you love and that mean the most to you, like for instance, loyalty, compassion. Then you can narrow them down to maybe your top five or top ten.
Analyze your living
Once you have figured out what your core values and beliefs are, what next. Well then you can determine if that is how you are living your life. It causes much pain and cognitive dissonance when our actions are not in line with our core values and beliefs.
Knowing your core values and beliefs gives your power and freedom, it helps you know who you are and live intentionally.
Discovering your personal power, is discovering your core values, beliefs, priorities and living intentionally within those thoughts.
Knowing what your core values are helps you live more intentionally. It sets the intention for the action to live life on purpose. Now that you know what your core values are, you live more intentionally and live life on purpose.
Let’s look at a typical day
Now we can look at how we are spending your time.
Being mindful of the decisions and choices we make during the day can help us discover if the things we value most are showing up in our daily actions and behaviors.
- What values are you expressing or living as you go through your day?
- Are there patterns?
- Be curious. Allow yourself to be curious without judgment.
- Examine the Evidence
- What can you learn about what you want?
- What can you learn about what you are willing to give up?
- What are the non-negotiables in your life?
Many of life's decisions are really about determining what you value most. When many options seem reasonable, it's helpful and comforting to rely on your values.
Are there times in your day when you feel like you are not living intentionally? When life seems to get away from you and you find yourself spending time, money or your energy on things that are not inline with your goals.
Here are some examples of how we choose our values with our actions.
You just got a raise at work. Should you add some extra to your savings or make your life more comfortable now?
You want to get started on an important presentation for work this evening, but your child has had a tough day and needs a little extra attention.
You're on the bus finally having a chance to sit and rest your feet when elderly woman boards and has no place to sit. What do you do?
Life presents us with many decisions large and small throughout the day. While many factors are involved, the key factor in choosing how to act comes from your thoughts and your feelings.
When we train our brains to make choices with our rational brain, we make choices that line up with our values.
When we make decisions or choices by impulse or without taking a minute to think of the consequences, we are using our primitive brain or letting the elephant take control.
However, we now know how to do thought work and emotional work. This will allow us to use our rational brain to help us determine the core values that are most important to us and choose thoughts that promote feelings and drive behaviors consistent with those values and goals. This allows us to live intentionally.
Minimize to Maximize
Minimizing or decluttering can help us maximize the life we want to live. Instead of wading through the clutter of stuff or the clutter of over-scheduling or the clutter of poor money management we can learn to minimize and declutter to provide space to help us maximize the things we want most in life.
Here are a few tips and tricks I have found useful in living a life on purpose.
1. Having a clear structure for the day. I don’t mean planning every single minute, but if you have things that you want to get accomplished a structure is nice. I also love having a simple morning routine and a simple evening routine. They kind of bookend my day. One gets me up and ready to take on the daily challenges and the other creates time and space to wind down and get ready for a good night's sleep.
2. Not overplanning. With that clear structure, I am also careful not to over plan and sometimes that may mean saying No. At this stage in my life, I go to bed early because I get up early. This means during the weekdays, I don’t schedule activities at night. I need my evening to be
3. Decluttering your home. Your home is your space and you can create a space that feels comfortable, brings you joy, and allows you to breathe. I need things to be visually pleasing but not overly crowded.
4. Decluttering your time. Invest your time wisely. Time is precious and sometimes I feel like it is our most limited resource when I'm feeling like there are just not enough hours in the day.
5. Maximize the things most important to you. When life gets busy, it’s easy to take the relationships we have with others for granted. We forget or neglect making the effort to connect and spend time with the people who mean the most to us. Relationships matter though and to be strong they need work. Be intentional about your relationships. Focus on the ones that are mutually supportive and find ways to distance yourself from the ones that seem a little one-sided.
6. Live on Purpose, Set intentions every day. What are the intentions, or energy you want to bring to the world? To your relationships? To your career, to your hobbies and interests?
Brendon Burchard says the power plant doesn't have the energy it creates energy. What kind of energy do you want to create or generate in the world?
Brendon recommends starting each day with these questions.
- What do I want to be today?
- How do I want to show up?
- How do I want to interact with others?
- How can I make a difference and serve with excellence?
If you want to take control of your life, live life on purpose, and live according to your values and goals then join me for Life on Purpose, a Free mini-course on Intentional Living. I created this mini-course to help you take these questions to the next level and Find you why, minimize to maximize, define your purpose and live your life on purpose every day.
I hope you guys have fun things planned for summertime and you are able to spend time with your family and with intention soak in all the love.