We live in a world where it’s easy to get pulled in lots of different directions. Everything is labeled as important when in reality so much of what we focus our time on makes no difference, in the grand scheme of things. It becomes easy to confuse being busy with being successful. Just being busy and really having no idea what we’re striving for is a pattern that is easy to fall into. But if we can anchor into an essential theme in life, we can begin the journey of finding our full human potential.
What is Essential?
Essentialism is the concept of making life as simple as possible by having one priority – one overarching theme. A normal day might include kids activities, work, relationship with our spouse, working out, spiritual time, and much more. Its easy with all of the things going on to get lost in the day and have no real direction other than just getting through the day and hoping tomorrow goes a little smoother.
If we can find the essential theme for our lives, however, we can use it as a road map to make our time valuable and our days clear and focused. If we ask ourselves, “does this task or responsibility get me closer to my essential theme?” then it becomes much easier to set clear boundaries. We are talking one thing here. One pursuit that informs the decisions in all other matters. With boundaries clearly set by our one priority, we can really dive into the things that are truly important.
Essential and Purposeful
As we ask ourselves the question of “what is our essential theme” a key component is uncovering our purpose.
- What do we want our life to be defined as?
- Who do we want to be?
- What impact do we want to have?
- How can I maximize my potential to be of service to the world?
Purpose may be finding our full human potential so we can raise great kids. It might be finding our full human potential to be a great spouse or a leader in our community. Regardless of what it is, it should light us up. Our purpose should be something that makes us want to get out of bed before everyone else, watch less TV, workout harder, read more books, take time for spiritual growth…something that makes other people look at us and say “there is something different about that person”. If our purpose doesn’t fuel us, then we probably haven’t found our real life’s purpose.
As a community we can help each other find these themes and make our family tribes as strong as possible. If we have a burning passion to find full potential, build unbreakable bonds with our spouses and children, we can go out into the world and create positive change and unlimited amounts of success for our family and everyone that comes in contact with us.
Let’s start thinking of what our purpose is and what the essential theme for our life is going to be. The potential for finding greatness in ourselves and our family is limitless.
Jake Taylor
Jake is a husband and dad of two. He thrives on physical challenges, is an avid reader, is committed to seeking full human potential, is a man of deep faith, and strives to serve others. He is a CrossFit-L1 Trainer.
