Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? What are you here on this planet to do? What’s the difference between the purpose OF your life, and the purpose IN your life? In this episode, Chris will address how to identify your gifts and passions and how you can use them to bless more lives. And yes, you can even use these to create massive wealth too. Discover how to combine your passion and purpose, appreciate your strengths, and serve others wholeheartedly.
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What’s The Purpose In YOUR Life?
I appreciate you guys coming and joining us in this episode. Thank you for bingeing and sharing. I appreciate you reaching out with questions. There have been so many of you coming in, especially on that Passive Income Calculator. We have seen so many of you that have may amazing potential to create some five-figure or even six-figure cashflow in 2023. If you haven’t taken that Passive Income Calculator, do that now. If you haven’t done so, subscribe to our YouTube channel, the Money Ripples page. We are Money Ripples officially. You can subscribe to that channel because we got new videos coming out every day. Check that out.
I want to take a different turn. I realized that many times we get very strategic on the show. It’s great but without the heart, true intention, and the real power behind all of these numbers and the strategies we do, it will fall flat on the space. It will fail you. I want to talk about purpose. What is that purpose in your life? Have you ever asked yourself that question like, “What is my purpose here? What am I here to do?” I’m not going to answer the question for you. I’m not going to tell you what your purpose is. What I’m going to talk to you about is how I helped discover my purpose, how that could apply to you, and what you can do to help get clear on that.
Life Purpose
Here’s the one thing that’s cool about this too. It’s how that can be monetized and lead to more financial freedom in your life. Let’s start with it now. Let’s talk about purpose. As a kid, when I was growing up, I didn’t know if you were like me, but I wanted to be a superhero. I thought it would be cool if I had mind powers. It’s almost like kinetic powers that can move things in my mind like a Jedi. They wanted to fly or be super strong. For me, it was having those Jedi-like powers. It’s what I could do to cause things to move. Needless to say, I grew up a little bit disappointed. I don’t move many things with my mind. Sometimes, I am even having a hard time moving with my muscles. We always want that superpower.
What is that we have that’s special? I grew up that way. It’s interesting because as I went through life, I thought my purpose was to serve people, which is true. If you look at the purpose of your life, it’s very different from the purpose in your life. Let me repeat that. The purpose of life is different from the purpose in your life. I believe that the purpose of life for everybody is to serve people, leave this planet a better place, and create that ripple effect that I talk about on this show. It’s about creating that. That is the purpose of life. It is how we help bless our brothers and sisters on this planet. I believe we’re given God-given abilities, unique traits, and things like that. We can bless people in ways that no one else on this planet can. That’s my personal belief.
I believe that’s the purpose of life. We are here to serve people. Even if you’re not religious, many people still feel the same way. We have this connection to each other and we’re here to bless lives. The purpose in your life is where it gets very personal. This is where it’s an individual answer for everybody. That purpose in your life is how you uniquely solve that problem. How do you uniquely show up to bless lives? We’re all here to serve people. I remember people saying, “My purpose is to serve people,” and they would say it all the time. The truth is how you go about serving people is the real question we should be answering. I want to dive into that because I started this journey more in-depth in about 2008.
I remember my friend, Garrett J. White. Some of you guys have seen him. He does Wake Up Warrior. We were in a company together. We were doing the Soul Purpose Intensives. We were trying to help people figure out their purpose. What’s interesting is at first, it didn’t click for me. It wasn’t making sense. It was very philosophical. I’m the kind of person who likes it to be real and tangible. That’s where I got to be fun. Here are some key things to do because for you to be able to have your purpose, you got to know how to do this. Before we get into that, why do you even care? Why should we even worry about purpose in the first place? You can just exist through life. Can’t you just make it through? Here’s the reason why it’s so important. That purpose is the thing that pulls you where your vision might be that North Star that keeps you on target. The purpose is the thing that gets you to that target faster.
Purpose pulls you to your vision. It is your North Star that keeps you on track. Click To TweetIf you want financial freedom faster, you need to know why you’re doing it. You need to know for what and what purpose. Purpose has nothing to do with your identity, although it gets expressed through the different roles that you play. For example, for me, I’m a father. I’m also a husband. I’m a churchgoer. I’m a brother that way. I’m also a teacher. I’m a leader. I’m the CEO of my company. I am also playing the role of being a neighbor. I play the role of being a community servant. I play the role of being a dishwasher and cook in my house sometimes. We play so many different roles in our lives. Here’s the thing. Your purpose will get expressed through every single part of these roles. Your role is not who you are.
I am not an anti-financial advisor. That might be a title or a role, but that’s not who I am. I’m much deeper than just a name or title, and so are you. You are too. You have to understand. You got to separate who you are from these roles. I noticed this happens a lot with mothers especially. Mothers get so caught up in the role of mother. All of a sudden, that changes on shifts or maybe they can’t have children for any reason. They feel like, “My whole purpose on this planet was to be a mom.” No, it’s not. You are so much more. Trust me. Being a mom is one of the coolest roles you could ever have on this planet. It might even be the coolest role to have on this planet and the most essential for our society, yet you are not just a mother.
Key Strengths
Many times some people say, “I’m just a mom. I’m just a housewife.” No. A job doesn’t define you either. It doesn’t define who you are. You are so much more than that. You are so much greater than that because it’s about who you are from the inside that gets expressed outward. Here are the key things of how to do this because it’s so important that the more you are clear on this, the faster you will progress. Number one is you got to identify the key strengths that you have. What are your key strengths? What are the key abilities that you have? We all have these unique different combinations like tumbler lock with all these different combinations.
You have a unique combination of abilities and talents that nobody else on this planet has. Even if they did, it doesn’t necessarily mean it always ties up. You have this unique combination of gifts and abilities. Identify those. What are ways to do that? A great way is to ask other people. I’ve had people poll and survey other people. When they survey people, especially depending on your age, you might tell them that you’re not going through a midlife crisis. You’re not dying. Nothing like that has you. You don’t have cancer. You want to know how other people see your strengths and abilities. What do they admire in you? What do they count on you for? What do they think that they think is so unique about you? Ask them. Poll at least 5 or 10 different people.
The cool thing is you poll people that have known you your whole life versus those who maybe have only known you a few months. You’ll find out they’ll say some of the same exact things. There’s something that emanates from you that you don’t even realize that seems unique. For example, I was thinking about the neighbors I have. For her, it’s cool to see that. She lights up the room. She just lights up. She’s so friendly and loving. You can tell she’s a strong bold woman. She probably gets in some fights, but she’s this wonderful spirit. That’s something that emanated from her from the first time we met her. It’s obvious and it still is true nowadays, even as we’ve known her for a year. That’s true with you too so ask them.
You can also take a series of tests. You can take things like the predictive index, which is great even in the work environment. There’s also the Myers-Briggs test. I like to use HumanMetrics.com. They’re Type 2 Myers-Briggs. I love it. It’s a great way to get some unique keywords that are in there. You can take things like StrengthsFinder 2.0. There are things like that. There are so many different ways to do this. Get to know and understand it. If you’ve taken multiple tests or surveys of people, you start to see that there are some common words or phrases that come out of it. I call that get a clue. If you start to see that show up multiple times, there’s a purpose for it. That means this is something that you pay attention to. When it comes to money, your unique abilities are everything because people don’t pay you for what you suck at. People pay you for what you’re amazing at.
Passions
I don’t remember anybody coming to me in an interview saying, “Chris, I want to get hired as someone who helped produce your podcast. I stink at it. I’m not that good. I don’t even know what a podcast is, but can I work for you?” The answer is a resounding, “No, never.” Nobody would do that. We hire you for your gifts and abilities, something that makes you different from everybody else. That’s essential. Number two is your passion. What are your passions? What are you passionate about? What drives you? What can keep you up at night? What could you talk about that would all of a sudden you lose track of time? What could you do that you lose track of time because you love it so much? What are your passions? What do you love doing, even if you think you don’t love something?
It’s funny because I’ve had people say, “I don’t love anything.” They usually tend to be more logically minded. I’ll say, “What ticks you off?” All of a sudden, there’s this huge list. I had this one guy. He’s like, “I get ticked off because I’m loyal to my family. If somebody messes with my family, I’m mad.” I say, “That’s great. Loyalty. You’re passionate about family.” It’s not just about family. It’s about loyalty in the family. You should be loyal to one another. He was also passionate about politics. What was it about politics? He hated stupidity. He hated this and that. Find out what those are. You would find your values a lot of times when you start to find that.
Here’s what I found out. The more passionate you are about something, the faster you become gifted at it. Many times, your passions might even coincide with your strengths. I learned this as a ballroom dancer. I used to be one of the nation’s top amateur ballroom dancers. I stink nowadays. I would get my butt kicked in the competition. Back then, I did pretty well. When I was dancing, the thing is I danced many years less than other people.
There were kids dancing since they could barely walk. At 3 or 4 years old, they’re starting to dance. I started when I was eighteen. I stunk even when I was eighteen. Eventually, by the time I got into my early twenties, I started getting better and better. It’s not because I was a naturally gifted dancer, but because there were certain strengths and passions that I had that coincided. For example, one of my strengths is I like to do things and perfecting on things. I like to make it better and better and keep perfecting it.
That’s exactly what I do with dancing. I was like, “Can I be a little bit better? Can I do this a little better?” I’m also coachable, especially if it’s something that I want to be coached in. I don’t want to be coached. I want to be coachable. I’m coachable, so I would absorb things, learn them, and then try them out, practice them, and try to refine them over and over. Those are some of my gifts. Here’s another gift. I love teaching. If you couldn’t tell, this is a passion and a gift. Many people would say, “That’s cool. How did you do that?” Unlike some ballroom dancers, some of them would never share information. They say, “I spent hundreds or thousands of dollars learning this. Figure it out yourself.”
I was an open book. I was like, “Let me show you.” The teacher always becomes the best student. As I taught more and more, I perfected it myself. I got better because I was able to teach it. That’s what helped me accelerate past even people that had been dancing for many more years than I had. This is true. I’ll share this quote with you. This quote is cool. This one is from Oprah. She says, “Follow your passion. It will lead to your purpose.” What are your passions? What are those things that you have? What purpose can we create out of that? That’s essential. Find out what your passions are. What are you passionate about?
The more passionate you are about something, the faster you become gifted at it. Most of the time, your passions coincide with your strengths. Click To TweetMonetize Your Diving Genius
There’s way more than this. If you’re in our Wealth Accelerator Academy, we have a whole course called Monetize Your Divine Genius, which not only helps you find these things but even also how to monetize them. I want to talk about that now. When I started getting clear on my values, strengths, passions, and that purpose, that’s where it came together. This is something I had created. My friend helped me design it. I have specific reasons for the images. You don’t have to create an image. I did. This is the purpose statement I created and the mission statement I have for my life. Regardless of what role I’m in, this is the statement. It says, “I’m a leader and teacher through powerful conversations and faithfulness, establishing higher standards of service, perseverance, and stewardship to create happy fruitful lives.”
This shouldn’t mean anything to you necessarily, but it means everything to me. I even shorten this phrase when I do this, “I established higher standards of service, perseverance and stewardship to create happy fruitful lives.” I don’t need a leader and a teacher. It pretty soon became a part of who I was. Even though I needed that at the time, I didn’t believe I was a leader and teacher when I had this made in 2008. It’s through powerful conversations, faithfulness, word and deed that I created this thing. Eventually, it became a part of me. It levels up.
That’s what my theme is about. It’s how to up-level everything in your life and create a happy fruitful life. That’s what my purpose is. That’s why I do this show. This is why I’m a podcaster. It’s one of my roles. It’s not who I am. It’s a role that I’m fulfilling. Even Money Ripples is not me. Money Ripples is an expression of that purpose in this. I believe we have God-given abilities and talents and we are here for a purpose. That purpose is to create and bless more lives. Sometimes, the surprising thing is you don’t even realize how you bless people’s lives.
Speaking to that neighbor I mentioned, I was out, going for a run. Many of you don’t know this. I’m a marathoner. It’s not my purpose. It’s a role. I’m a runner. I was out on the trail and about 3 miles into my run, I see some people at the end of the trail. It’s about where the intersection of the road meets the trail that I was running. I could see that somebody had fallen off their bike. I saw one group of people come up. They stopped, but then they moved along. I thought, “They’re probably fine. Maybe I shouldn’t even stop myself.” As I’m approaching, one of the women says, “Is that Chris Miles?” I’m a little bit shocked because I can’t quite see who it is yet. As they got close, I could see that’s my next-door neighbor. “It’s funny meeting you here.”
Three miles on a trail, you eventually see somebody you might know. I stopped and I found out that the other two women that were there collided in their bicycles. One of them fell off and hurt her shoulder. She was sitting on the ground and looked horrible. She wasn’t speaking clearly. You could tell she was dazed and too dizzy to stand up. That neighbor said, “Can you give her a blessing? Can you bless her?” I said, “Of course.”
She asked the woman, and the woman was responding well. I don’t know if she was embarrassed and didn’t want one. I got to the point where the other bicyclists said, “If you don’t want that, do you want to just go home?” She’s like, “I just want to go home, lay down and see my husband.” She said, “Should we call him? Should we call for a ride?” She said, “Yes.” At that very moment, a car pulls around. A truck pulls up and says, “Do you need a ride?” Within five seconds, right after she said yes, the truck came around the corner, slowed down, and stopped to see her that she was on the side of the road there. He said, “Do you need a ride?” She said yes. He had enough room. He could put the bicycle in the back. My neighbor went back to ride with her. We helped her in and got her back home. We found out later that she had a broken clavicle. She did get hurt and was injured pretty badly, but she’s doing fine now.
Service
As she was getting ready to leave, my neighbor said, “Chris, thank you so much.” I said, “I didn’t do anything. For the most part, I stood here and helped her into the truck. I didn’t give her a blessing. I didn’t do anything magical.” She’s like, “That’s not the point. You being here meant everything.” It came back to mind. What is your purpose? Service is a big thing. That’s to me. The fact that I was there, the presence, sometimes that’s all you need. Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything. You just have to be who you are. My challenge to you is to be the best of who you are.
How has this come back financially? It’s everything. The more you are authentically yourself and who you are, the better you do financially. The better you’re able to live in that congruence. Now, we need more of that. If I were to even add extra advice, this would be investing not 101 or 202. I call it 505. One of the best things I’ve ever learned in investing is to listen to that inner voice and listen to that whisper. Being in tune spiritually is so much more important than almost anything you can do. Learning this stuff is great, but getting rid of the noise and the chatter of the world, getting in tune spiritually, making a connection, whether it’s to God or whatever source you connect with the universe, getting in tune with that and starting to listen to those whisperings, you’ll know what are some of the best decisions.
Some of those decisions might say, “I want to invest my money here. Even though this looks better, something tells me to go here.” It might also tell you, “I should reach out to Chris.” I can’t tell you how many times people have said, “I was praying. This came up, and I felt inspired to reach out.” I was like, “I was praying that I would meet somebody who needed our help, that we could meet up and connect together.” That could be you. It may not be. Regardless, there are so many ways that whisper can help guide your life. When you’re aligned with your purpose, strengths, passions, and everything else, things move more easily. Things work out better.
It pulls you faster to that goal, vision, free life or whatever life you have, that abundant life, that prosperous life, that life where your children say, “I want that life too,” the kind of life that people look at you and say, “You must have been so lucky.” You realize, “That has nothing to do with luck. It has everything to do with who I am and showing up with that purpose.” That is the key. Find ways to understand the strengths and those passions, and take your values and everything about who you are, connect with your source, God, and everyone you need to do to understand that whisper.
What is the right path for you? Our paths are all different, and we show up ways to rock people’s worlds. We show up in ways to serve and ways that can bless people’s lives that no one else can. Even if you think you can’t do it, there are people out there. I know that they will cross the path that is meant for you. If I were to cross their paths, it wouldn’t do anything for them. If you were to cross their path, their life could be altered, changed, and blessed forever. That is my challenge to you guys.
If you want to make it a wonderful process, not just a week but in life, find your purpose and utilize that to your advantage to bless more lives and be more prosperous. If the money follows too, it’s even better because that allows you to expand that purpose to be bigger and bigger. Be an instrument in the hands of our God. Be an instrument and be a blessing to the lives of our brothers and sisters on this planet. Make it a wonderful and prosperous week. Make it a prosperous and purposeful life. We’ll talk to you next episode.