Imagine you are walking alone in an isolated area and suddenly you see someone down the road walking towards you. Most people’s first instinct is to be scared. This instinct arises because of fearing the unknown. So many thoughts will race through your mind like, is this person going to do harm or steal. But what we often forget is that every person is probably feeling the same way about you.

Once you safely pass one another, nothing happens and the fear felt by both individuals was an exercise in futility. It is a natural response but only because we have been conditioned to feel this fear due to a lack of trust.

I recently wrote about the inferiority complex and how we all suffer from this in some sort or another. This attitude comes from deep within us and is a product of an emptiness that we try to fill with material things.

Most people are unaware of this emptiness and continue to work to make as much money to buy as many things in hopes of fulfilling their desires and filling that hole. But it becomes a vicious cycle because the more we try to satisfy our needs with material wealth, the bigger that hole becomes.

To become aware of this fear, we first have to understand why we have this fear in the first place. We all tend to be afraid of things we do not know. The fear is there explicitly because we do not know something that comes from a lack of trust – mostly of ourselves.

Once we learn to trust ourselves, then we can trust others and fill that gap. Working with a purpose in mind rather than the desire to expand our material wealth is one of the biggest steps we can take to do this. When we become purpose-driven in all of our deeds, then love and passion is infused in everything we do.

There are a few things you can do to adopt a more purpose-driven lifestyle so that eventually the inferiority complex and emptiness disappears from within.

First, whatever work you currently do, become one with it. If your job stresses you out and you get no satisfaction from it, then it may be time to find your passion. Until that time comes, you can devote yourself fully to the work you currently do in order to ease distress. Lose yourself in your work and you never know what you may find within yourself.

Secondly, determine when your work is done for the day are you happy?, because of the actual work accomplished or because of outside validation. If you work only for praise and material gain, then you are missing an opportunity to fulfil yourself and your passions. Find joy in the actual work that you do, not in the rewards associated with it.

Third, you will know if your work is purpose-driven when you feel it is coming from your intuition rather than from outside. In other words, when your work becomes effortless, that means you are working with compassion and purpose as your main influences.

Finally, if you easily become upset if someone criticizes your work, then it is not purpose-driven. The outcome of the work you do should be good but mistakes happen. If these mistakes are pointed out and the criticism upsets you, then you are working only to receive praise. Working selflessly means that you gracefully accept that others will have opinions about what you do and that is Okay.

Working with purpose in mind is not easy because it means changing the way you and others have worked for years. It requires a brand new and radical way of thinking. However, the reward of personal satisfaction and losing yourself to a greater cause is immense.

Cover Photo by Jordan Madrid on Unsplash