Why Now is the Time to Repurpose Your Purpose

When is the right time to repurpose your purpose? The time to repurpose your purpose is now.
Doing work* you enjoy is not a privilege: it’s a fundamental need for all human beings. We all need to feel capable, appreciated, and that we are contributing to others.

This is why it can feel so painful when you are unable to find work, your business is floundering, or you are stuck in a career that is not a good fit for you.

You spend most of your waking time working, and if you want to advance and grow you often also need to spend some extra time continuing to learn and expanding or cultivating your network. So it makes sense to invest that much time in something you actually enjoy.

But what happens when you find yourself in a career that is not a good fit anymore?

Well, first of all, it doesn’t feel good. What you might not realize is that over time, as you keep trying to make it work, as you silence that knowing that tells you it’s not for you, as you spend day in and day out being unappreciated, or trying to be good at what is counterintuitive and difficult for you, you eventually get affected at a deeper level. The whole thing starts getting to you.

And it sets in motion what I call the disempowerment loop: slowly, in a way you don’t even notice until it gets much worse, you start feeling less confident, you start doubting whether you can do something better, you find yourself more and more resigned, or cynical. The more you are caught up in this disempowering loop, the less you feel like taking action, and the more you get stuck.

Or maybe you do take action, but instead of coming from joy and possibility, from curiosity and inner knowing, you show up to job interviews or networking events feeling negative, trying to get any job just to get out of your current situation, setting yourself up for more frustration and disempowerment.

I really hope this does not sound familiar. But if it does, don’t worry: lots of us – me included – have experienced the disempowerment loop.

You can get out of it

The first step is to interrupt what created the loop in the first place and do something different. This is why the time to repurpose your purpose is now.

The first step is to realize you are caught up in the disempowerment loop: it’s not you, this is a very human experience that can happen and will happen at times.
The second step is to intentionally do something different so the loop changes from disempowerment to hope and possibility.

My practice is all about this transformation and it’s based on what I have learned from mentors, working with my own coach, studying, and – most important of all – observing and iterating what works with real people from all walks of life.

There is no magic formula, but the following helps (I also wrote about this in my Framework to Change Careers).

• Re-awaken your ability to listen to your inner Wisdom
  Your innate wellbeing and guidance never went away. The noise of the disempowering loop has just gotten so loud, it made it hard to hear anything else. Through gentle practices and caring support, you can open up to your inner Wisdom again
  
• Shift your focus from what doesn’t work to what lights you up
  No, this doesn’t mean suppressing or denying your pain: but it does take conscious effort at first to reverse what might have become a habit of always looking at what causes you pain. And to turn towards the light instead
  
• Take action
  I cannot emphasize this enough! If you do not get out there and take action (researching ideas, connecting with people, trying things out), things are unlikely to change

How long does this all take? It depends: I cannot tell you, there is a mystery to it.
But one thing I see over and over again is that the longer someone waits, the more likely it is that they fall into the disempowerment loop and by the time they talk to me there’s more work to do to get them out of it.

This is why the time to Repurpose Your Purpose is now. The moment you open the door to possibility, transformation begins: it might take a very short time or a much longer time to get to your new career, but you will start creating a loop of possibility right away.

The collective disempowerment loop

I want to also bring up something else that I have noticed in the past 2 years: collectively we are much more stuck in the disempowerment loop than ever before since I started Repurpose Your Purpose.

The collective loop says that opportunities are not there, that you should stay put and buckle up, that it’s best to be angry, afraid, worried, closed off. The disempowerment loop is all about comparisons, what ifs, and blame.

That’s all going to get you down!

Instead, what I encourage you to do is to distinguish whether you are getting caught up in the collective loop of discouragement (in which case, get off it), or whether you are genuinely concerned about a bigger issue.

If the latter, get involved. Move from complaining, worrying, or feeling resigned to inquiry, community, and problem solving.
And if no solutions are possible, consider exploring deeper spiritual teachings on tough times.
Just don’t get stuck in another disempowerment loop.

Your time is now. Will you keep feeling stuck and doing work that doesn’t give you what you want, or will you open yourself up to new possibilities?

What about the economy?

Last, but not least, sometimes we stop ourselves from taking action because the job market or the economy are not good. I completely understand the concern, this can be a tough time for job seekers.

But here’s the deal: if you are not sure what you want to do next, this is exactly the time to explore what you would like to do. So when the job market and the economy shift (and they will), you will be ready to go after what you want from a place of clarity and power.

The time to repurpose your purpose is now. Take the first step towards transformation.

Psst: The Group Program to Change Careers starts on September 25th. Apply to join.

*Work here is defined as much more than a paid job or business. For example, an individual might feel called to being a stay-at-home parent and might find their career to be secondary to that calling or not that important. The same goes for making art which is not always a financially viable path, but can be the primary calling for some.