Each of us are given only one handful of life. Just one. Unfortunately, in this life, there are no ‘do-overs’ or mulligans. We get only one chance to be a 25 year old or a 55 year old, we do not get to go back and redo any of our years. One problem with this arrangement is we live life moving forward but understand it looking backwards. George Bernard Shaw remarked succinctly that ‘youth is wasted on the young.’ Perhaps not as eloquently the mega country music artist Toby Keith sang, “I wish I didn’t know now, what I didn’t know then!” Ignorance is bliss but it comes with a price.

Learning to lead ourselves to some level of realization as to our purpose is essential to getting all the fulfillment possible out of our one handful of life.

Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeast Illinois University wrote 250 of the best known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals in the world and asked them “What is the meaning of life?” Their responses were shocking. They ranged from “I don’t know” to “Let me know when you find out.” These replies from the supposedly ‘enlightened’ crowd do not bode well for the rest of us.

Eventually, it seems we are all haunted by questions from the shadows. As life advances we hear these questions whispered from the corners of our mind, “What is my life about?”, “Why am I here?”, “What difference does my life make?”, “What am I involved in that is bigger than I am and will last longer than I do?” George Washington Carver said, “No individual has the right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind a distinct and legitimate reason for having passed through it.”

Confusing success with purpose is an easy and common miscalculation. Focusing on ourselves is unsatisfying and never reveals our purpose.  Being successful and fulfilling our purpose are not the same issue, but they are closely related. Some of my friends have found fulfillment in their careers and others have found satisfaction through the means that their work provides.

Zig Ziglar is quoted often by motivational speakers. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it” is a favorite. But that is only a portion of his quote and it is therefore, often misquoted. Here is the full Ziglar quote and proper context, “If you can dream it, you can achieve it. You will get what you want out of life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

I may not know what the purpose for your life is but I am convinced that everyone’s purpose has to do with relationships and the impact we have on the people who walk across the threshold of our lives. Sociologists believe the shyest person among us will influence more than 10,000 people during their lifetime. If our purpose is associated with our relationships and the people we influence, then perhaps the people in our lives are our most important asset.