Onyinye Etoniru shares her story to purpose discovery with her 8E’s Principle - an ultimate guide to finding purpose.
Growing up, I heard a lot about the importance of finding one’s purpose in life. While I was in the University, I took interest in topics and books on purpose because I knew it was one thing I had to get right in life. I remember reading Rick Warren’s Book, The purpose Driven Life. After reading it, it gave me a good idea about purpose but it was all still fuzzy and unclear to me how to really find my own path. But with time, I realized that my purpose in life is determined by God and the discovery of my purpose is not God’s responsibility but my responsibility. As I submitted myself to a life of attention to God and His workings in my life, that’s when I began to truly find my fit in life. The revelation of the knowledge of God, opened me up to the discovery of my purpose. Purpose is one of the essential things you’ll need to discover amongst all other discoveries. You can’t afford to neglect the law of purpose if you want to achieve personal success because the full expression of who you are is embedded in purpose. There is no true success outside of one’s purpose as your vision in life is derived from your purpose. You’ve got to find what you were born for and why you were born at a time like this. Finding my purpose started with me, truly having an encounter with God. The more I got closer to God and went through His process of building me up and allowing myself to experience the potter’s touch, the more He revealed His purpose for my life. I had a picture of my future and an insight into who I would become but I needed to take out time to pay attention to my life, listen to God, connect the dots and receive clarity with the help of the Holy Spirt.
Remember Joseph, the dream he had about the sun and moon and eleven stars bowing down to him which represented his parents and his eleven brothers bowing down to him, was not man-imputed but God-imputed. This vision was a picture of the future but the purpose was discovered during the process. He knew he was going to rule someday, but he didn’t have the details of the process. As he took steps each day, purpose became clearer to Him. Joseph’s story explains the course of purpose that you can use as a reference point.
I’ll share with you the 8e principle, I discovered on my journey which you can as well apply in finding your own purpose. It starts with pictures of your future, having a vision derived from your purpose and exploring your interests. It may not be a day discovery, sometimes it may be revealed in parts via the seasons of your life; but three things are essential, being sensitive to the things that’s happening in your life and around you, learning to connect the dots and staying in the path where you find true fulfillment.
The 8E’s PRINCIPLE
As you read each principle, meditate thoroughly on each of them and write down detailed answers of your findings.
Eye - what do you see about your future and how do you see yourself?
What great picture of the future birthed in the Spirit, have you carried in the depth of your Spirit for as long as you can remember? (Vision)
Ease - what you do so easily with or without little or no prior knowledge and without stress when compared to other people doing the same thing? (Ability)
Ears - what have you heard overtime from people that you’re good at? What have others pointed out to you, commended you for and celebrated you for? Listen to these trusted voices. (Talent)
Energy - what do you do, that leaves you in an energized mode no matter how long you spend doing it and it’s not exactly tiring? (Interest)
Excitement - what is that thing that keeps you thrilled about waking up in the morning to do it, read about it and talk about it? You have a high state of aliveness, tranquility and satisfaction knowing that you would be doing this for the rest of your life. (Joy)
Experiences - what outstanding experiences have you had in the past that has shaped your life and you feel it has something to do with your destiny? Find out why you passed through those experiences, there may be more to them. (Lessons)
Environment - what problem are you driven to solve in the society? Which set of people are you drawn to serve and on what platform are you inspired to express these solutions? (Pointers)
Enlargement - what have you been involved in prior to now, that has experienced expansion, increase, growth even with little effort? What are the things you’ve been engaged in that has resulted in mega results and expansive outcome? (Results)
Connecting the dots closely via these principles, you’ll be able to discover the most prominent ideas, truths and pointers to help you define your path. Remember, it’s not in your place to choose your purpose, your responsibility lies in discovery. Finding purpose has a large extent to whether you become truly eternally successful or not. It’s not okay to live each day out of sync with your purpose or settle for what comes your way or what others or your parents think you should be doing. You should be destiny conscious enough to invest effort and time in finding your purpose. When you do discover it per time, make sure you don’t leave your purpose but live your purpose with courage.
