What’s Your Magic Word

WHAT'S YOUR MAGIC WORD ?

The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.

When studying the careers of famous and successful people all over the world it is abundantly clear that the no.1 factor that makes them successful is passion and purpose. They get a deep sense of meaning and satisfaction from what they do everyday.

Whether it is Warren Buffet talking about “tap dancing to work everyday” or an actor or a sports person putting in 18 hour work days happily – this secret sauce is what makes them go beyond the ordinary.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

To find this purpose one wonderful exercise from the author Evan Carmicheal is to find your “one magic word”. Find a word that excites you, defines who you really are and want to be and is deeply meaningful to you.

Ask yourself a few questions and start writing the answers

What all do you enjoy doing
What do you do well
What are you deeply passionate about
How do you make a difference to others lives
How do you want to make a difference to others lives

From this will come a long list of ideas.

Whats common ? any themes or phrases jump out at you ?

For instance, Jessica Alba and Christopher Gavin, the founders of Honest Company were deeply passionate about giving kids honest non toxic safe products. So their one magic word became honest. This was the philosophy of their company which went on to be valued at nearly a billion $. Honest products, an honest ethically sourced supply chain and so on.

For Evan his one word is Believe. He believes that entrepreneurs can change the world for good and he can help them do so via his books, blog and training.

A second exercise you can try is “who is your enemy “

What do you hate
Is there an injustice in the world you want to set right
What do you stand against

For instance in world war 2 , Sir Winston Churchill stood against the Nazi evil and his mission was to protect the free world from it. He defined his one word – VICTORY.

The famous V sign went on to inspire the British people to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and set the stage for winning World War 2 and establishing lasting peace beyond.

This one word defined everything for him everyday giving him focus and energy and drive to achieve this massive goal.

It can be something simple. For my grand ma, her one word is Feed. She feeds everyone. With her own hands. Family neighbours friends strangers servants workers anyone who comes across her will always get some delicious food to eat. A small gesture of deep meaning – she will make a cool drink in summer for those who come in from the heat and something warm fro them in winter.

Finding your one word can take time and can be challenging. So here is a list of words to get you started. Ask yourself – what defines you ? what makes you feel – yes that’s me ?