Unlocking Your Purpose: Temi's Blueprint for a Fulfilled Life"

In this powerful episode, Temi dives deep into the journey of finding purpose and the common challenges that many face along the way. Through a candid conversation, she reveals the importance of focus and consistency in uncovering one’s true calling and how these elements have been pivotal in her own life.

Temi shares her personal story of struggles and triumphs, offering practical tips and insights on how to stay the course even when the path seems unclear. She emphasizes that discovering your purpose is a journey, not a destination, and that fulfillment comes from embracing your God-given roles with passion and dedication.

Whether you're still searching for your purpose or looking to deepen your understanding of your calling, this episode provides valuable guidance to help you on your journey to a more purpose-driven life.

Keywords: Finding Purpose, Discovering Purpose, Challenges in Finding Purpose, Focus, Consistency, God-given Roles, Purpose-driven Life, Fulfillment

Tune in now to gain inspiration and practical tools for navigating your own path to purpose! 🌟 #Purpose #FindingPurpose #GodGivenRoles #Fulfillment #FocusAndConsistency

Temi is  the author of :

Package Your Passion.: How to Turn Your Limitless Potential Into Amazing Opportunities

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

So, Hello and welcome to Navigating the Chapters of Challenge with Tele. Today I've got my friend in the house, Temi Koleowo. Temi is the author of Package Your Passion, How to Turn Your Limitless Potential into Amazing Opportunities. She's also the convener of Bible in Your Business, which is a prayer meeting that she holds at the beginning of each month. So I'll ask Temi to introduce herself. I'm really excited for today's conversation and I just hope that God will bless us richly. And Temi, introduce yourself and we'll take it from there. It's so great to be here, Tele. Thank you so much for inviting me and I am Temi Koliowo. I am an innovation strategist and my expertise lies in working with innovative businesses that are trying to grow or scale. And my passion lies around being a solution provider. In addition to my professional role, my passion is to see people fulfill their true potential by working in line with their purpose. Like you said, author of the book, Package Your Passion. A lot of other books coming in between. I'm also passionate about prayer, especially in the space of businesses, supporting business owners to constantly pray and trust God to move in their businesses alongside strategies as well. So it's good to be here. Okay. Thank you so, so much for accepting the invitation. I feel so honored to have you. And Tammy is a very busy woman, so getting her here. For you, for you, I'll do it. Thank you so much. So, today's topic is about purpose. And we're going to be talking about how to find your purpose and live in a purpose-filled life. Because I know you're really, really passionate about purpose. So, I'm just going to start first of all. When we say purpose, what exactly are we talking about? So, in the simplest of definition... Purpose from just a normal meaning means the reason why something is created, manufactured or put into place. So I'll leave it as a simple definition rather than go into depth of it. So it's the reason why something is created or manufactured. Okay. So when people say they're thinking about finding their purpose and you hear a lot of people say, come across as being really frustrated that they don't know what their purpose is. Why do you think that's the case? It's the problem with the word finding. Okay. Okay. And I'm just going to use a very simple analogy to describe what I mean by that. And I use this all the time. So you look at a washing machine. Okay. A washing machine is designed, developed and manufactured to launder our clothes, to wash it. Okay. So the You put it in your kitchen, you connect it to a power source. And what does it do when you put your clothes in and you put the light on or you switch it on, you put your clothes in there and then you put your laundry, your detergent, everything in and you switch it on. What does it do? It washes clothes. Now, the thing about a washing machine is it doesn't matter what you put in it. Mm-hmm. Going back to how God has created us, he has created us for a reason. Your strengths are not my strengths. My strengths are not yours. Our talents could be exceptionally different. So in other words, just like a washing machine, you have been designed in what you need to walk in line with your purpose. So looking outside yourself for what you already have is where the challenges come in. So it's not about looking, it's walking in it. And that's the way I'll say it. So how do I walk in it? How do I know that this is what I'm supposed to be walking in? So think about it in the light of God created you with certain talents and gifts, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So how are you using those things? And a lot of times I think we're looking for this big, mighty, you know, voice from heaven to say, my child, my child. This is the way. This is the way. It's just walking in. what you have to do and it paves way for the next step and the next step but i think we overthink it a lot of times thinking it has to be something exceptionally you know different from what i'm doing and for me it's in taking those small steps to get to the next one and the next and it leads you further down another analogy i like to use is you know when you pour water down it will naturally flow yeah okay it will flow if there's a debt or a Thank you very much. I get stuck. Yes, I have talents. I have gifts. I've done courses, certifications, all those things, thinking this is my line of profession. I get stuck until I realize that, tell me, God has given you specific gifts to work in specific things and in specific ways. That's when he made a difference. And that's when I stopped struggling. But there are people who, this is a word I learned from my daughter, they're called multi-hyphenates. And they are good at so many things. They're talented in different areas. So they can do so many things. So how do those people who have... talent in all these areas and are good in these areas and they're passionate about these things how do they then determine which is exactly their purpose what is it that they're supposed to be what's the purpose they're supposed to be feeling when they've got so many things that they're good at so again i am one of those people and i've journeyed if i tell you the number of courses i've done all sorts of things but i got to a place in my life where i had to sit back and ask myself okay tell me At this stage of your life, you need to stop trying to find what you're good at you need to enhance what you've already done and how best you can manage it that was what delivered my soul that's what helped me find my path so my experiences over the years the talents I've honed the skills I've developed the knowledge I've gained all that comes together to help me work in line with my purpose so a lot it's not out of those things it's not something far-fetched where okay it's another degree we've done masters together you know sometimes it's not even that so before I did my master's I'd been contemplating for a number of years and I didn't want to do a master's in anything I wanted to do a master's in where I know my strength lied yeah because I got to a stage where it was not just about doing anything it was like following a path yeah so when I did my master's in innovation leadership and management it was in line with my profession so it brought my profession my passion and my purpose together okay and that's I find so much fulfillment in that. So for those people that are multi-talented, that can do a lot of things, when you sit back, it's not the same. You can't find the same strength in all of them. You need to learn to prioritize and ask yourself certain questions. Because let's say you have four things that you do really well. For example, you can ask yourself, okay, out of these four things, where does a problem that I can solve lie? And how can I hone in on that? That could be a possible way to do it. So it's not just about, oh, I feel like doing this. I want to do it. And sometimes you're going to hit a brick wall because it doesn't solve any problem. Because if you look at Jesus, for example, everywhere he went, what was he doing? He was solving a problem. And that's what we're called to do, solution providers. But if you focus more on, oh, I love to do this, let me follow suit. Yeah, I'm a firm believer. You can manage, you can be passionate about things. But Keith was solving problems. Problems. That's what we're called to do. So you need to then look inwards and say to yourself, how can I solve a problem? Yes. So we're supposed to be going out there looking for problems. You don't have to even look. They're there. They're there. It's just that are we focusing on that or we want to follow a path where, oh, I feel like doing this. Should I follow that? Because I believe God has put in us a radar to identify and solve problems. But you need to look to be able to find them. And those things are linked with problems. your strengths they're linked with your purpose and your purpose is kind of what you've been created to do just like the washing machine if you put potatoes in the washing machine you can try it it's not going to think oh it's potatoes I need to cook it yeah it's going to wash it it's going to wash it if you put it doesn't matter what it is it's going to still do the same thing and that's the way we need to start thinking that it's not about where I'm at or what I'm doing my gift my talent my skills the things I've learnt over the years how can I maximise them how can they enable me to follow a path so it's not about oh i know the end you know from the beginning it's about how do i take that next step yeah okay well um i don't know if you feel this way but this is something that i always feel that sometimes people get people veer off what they're meant to be doing and probably because there's something else going on out there that looks like It's the end thing, it's the new thing, it's something that everybody's doing in there. And they think, oh, okay, I've got a bit of, I could do this, you know, I could probably do this. And they just jump into that. How would you help such people focus? Because I think it's a problem with focus. How would you help such people? What would you say to somebody who has that kind of problem? And I can identify with that again as well. And I've been on a long journey. You and I have been on a long journey together where we've done so many things. But what I realise in the things I've done, they've led me closer to where I need to be. They have. And if I'm being honest, they have led me. So what I've learned to do is if I feel I want to do something, I will satisfy myself by doing it. But the more I matured, I was able to weigh my options better and realise some things don't even go near it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe I've worked in this field for so many years. What can I pull out of this field? What experience have I gained? What knowledge have I gained from this job or this experience? How can I take that forward? What problem can I solve? So back to the problem solving situation. Okay. I also wanted to ask this question. It's been on my heart. There's so many people who are not satisfied being A-runs. They want to be in front. Why do you think that? A lot of people feel that way, that they have to be, because they think it's, like you said earlier, it has to be some big thing that they're doing and that's what the purpose is. But sometimes your role might just be that of an hero and doing something small on the side. So why do you think people think that way and what can people do to get out of that mindset? Again, it's knowing who you're called to be. And that's very important. And that's what I said about the washing machine. It doesn't matter where it is at. It will function to this best ability. Some of us are not meant to be in the forefront. I work best when I'm supporting. That's me. Same as me. And I'm fine with it. that FOMO that desire to be up front it's not for everybody and it's in knowing yourself if we're being honest you sit back and ask some questions okay I failed in this I failed in that I wasn't fulfilled in this I didn't enjoy that why is that start asking yourself oh was it because I was in the front or you know I was in charge of everything I didn't enjoy it let me be honest I am not called to be that kind of leader and leadership doesn't mean you're in the forefront some people lead best from the back yeah There's nothing wrong with that. So it's owning who you are. It's owning what God has deposited in you and how best you can use it. Maybe in five years time, you've built the skill set to be in front. Yes. Maybe you're never going to be that person that's in front. That's fine. But I'm satisfied in doing what I need to do wherever God has positioned me to do it. So being satisfied. That comes into it. Contentment is a great game. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. But then you don't get to a place of contentment if you don't really know yourself so you have to know yourself so how do we practically all of these things are theoretical things give me a practical example of how you have found yourself I know let's go down to the nitty gritty of it tell us your story finding yourself is probably what I'll say a lot of people say that but do you really find yourself into the end of time you're just trying you're just testing assumptions yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Except I want to lie that this is not for me. But sometimes I'm too stubborn to listen. I just want to give it a shot. Let's see where it leads. And then you go down that route and then you have to turn back. And then you find out, okay, on your turning back, you're distracted by five things. So what should have taken you six months? Because on your way back, you find four other things that look interesting. You follow them. And then that takes two years. And then two years down the line, you're thinking, oh, I was on the right path. all along, but because I was distracted by things, I stopped. So for me, being retrospective is very important. I'm very analytical as a person. So I always step back and ask myself certain questions. This didn't work. Why? This worked. Why? I didn't like this. Why? I like that. Why? This person is in my life. Oh, I did this course and I got that from it. Why? And the more I ask those questions, the more answers I get and the answers steer me in a better direction and I've always followed that so I'm not selling a service to anybody sometimes it's all about you taking a step back and asking yourself genuine questions about your pathway in life you know when I have conversation with friends family or even people I mentor as well I always say to them I can't give you the answers they're within you but you have to be honest with yourself you know where have I failed and why have I failed your failure could be down to simple as habits not necessarily that you're on the wrong path but because of your habits that you haven't developed or the ones you're not letting go of you can't get to where you need to get to so it could be there what kind of habits it could be just being disorganized okay yeah It could be easily distracted, lack of focus. They're very simple things, but they could lead you down the wrong path. Like I mentioned before, you took the wrong turn, you turn back and you're going the right way and you're distracted by four things. It's going to take you longer to get to your destination. So when you learn to manage those distractions, guess what? you're going faster down the right road. So those are the simple things. And a lot of times we don't take cognizance of that. It could be your temperament. It could be anger. It could be the way you deal with your relationships. It could be money management. It could be very different things. that could relay you from following the path you're supposed to follow. Okay. So I want to go back to focus because I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with. So what practical ways can people help themselves to stay focused on their purpose? Okay. So I've been doing a lot of study recently about neurodiversity. Okay. And obviously neurodiversity covers different areas. And one of them is ADHD. And a lot of people don't want to hear it. But I realize a lot of people have... neurodiversity or neurodiverse tendencies in them okay and not being able to hone in on that could cause a lot of problems i'm not going to say people have adhd because people don't like to hear that but there's a possibility that there's some things in you and it's not allowing you to focus mine came to full head when i was doing my master's my goodness obviously doing your master's later in life you know what it's like hard work the level yes the level of Yeah. And you have a family as well. It was a desperate need. I had to really, and that's the same thing in pursuing purpose. It's focus. I set a goal. I need to accomplish it because once I do that goal, it leads to the next. And that step by step is what helps you. So the things you need to do could be small. It could be, oh, I want to blog once a week about something I'm passionate about or something that I believe is what God has called me to do. So every week I'm going to blog. And then four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, three months down the line, which tends to happen to me. I'm like, I'm bored. I need to do something. I thought I was the only one who gets bored so easily. But guess what? You need to push through. Consistency is the key to get to the next phase. Because if you're not consistent, you and I know we've talked about this thing so many times, you know. But I realized, so my prayer during my master's was consistency. increase my level of consistency we can't fail we need to push through yeah and because there was a you know an end result even though it was tough didn't we push through we did and it's the same thing with purpose you push through you know another example i'm going to use is tributaries you know water the way water flows yeah from a river yeah you know it flows let's say it's flowing down a river sometimes it takes different turns you know so it forms tributaries maybe little streams they become different turns and they go forward for a while and then they converge into a river most of these rivers are going into an ocean but the thing is if you put a boulder in front of one of them which is distraction that stems the water from flowing so you have three streams flowing together or you stemmed one but the power of that water is all those bodies coming together to flow together to get to the ocean so the ocean is that place of fulfillment the ocean is the place where you are at your best self doing your best work and every time you're distracted look at it like a boulder stopping the flow of water stopping you from doing what you need to do so you don't have that force coming through to come together to fulfill it so what you need to do is remove the boulders which are distractions and keep pushing forward and the distractions could be anything they could be legitimate things you could say oh it's my child it's my husband in a good way by the end of the day they're all distractions so we need to really work on that but how do you then know that what you're doing is a distraction because like you said they could be legitimate things so how do you know that that is a distraction and that's something that you need to work on you know it's easy if you're not fulfilling your goal because it could just be at it okay i'll keep at it i'll keep at it realizing that it's probably a distraction it's not what you're supposed to be doing you're just continuously going at it so how do you identify that it's having a goal Like I said, if I decide, okay, blogging is going to help me achieve, I don't know, X, Y, Z. Or even studying is going to help me achieve X, Y, Z. And I see another course. Oh, this looks interesting. Maybe I should pause this and do that. But you've already set a goal. Stay focused. Stay on track. So it's removing yourself from, oh, I need to do this other thing. Put it aside. Say, okay, when I finish this one, I'll do the next one. And then the next one. But that's required from all of us anyway. Yeah. But it's hard. It is hard. Working in purpose is hard. It's hard. It is hard. And I do agree. But at the end of the day, how do we want to show up for the things God has called us to do? Yeah. How do we want to show up? I think that's what's most important. How do we want to show up? Because the gifts that we've been given, that's what we're supposed to use. And I mean, we're supposed to share that gift. with the world, isn't it? And that's how we show up in purpose. That's my understanding of it. But I wanted to ask something. Do you think that one's purpose changes from time to time? It doesn't change, it evolves. It evolves, okay. It's an evolution of purpose. And that's why you take steady steps. Because what you might be doing in five years' time could be completely different from what you're doing now. So it evolves with time. But it evolves based on how much effort you put into it. Okay. So it grows gradually. It could grow into something else? Yes. Evolution is what I will say because at every level, because if we say it grows, then that pushes us to say, oh, this is not good enough or this is minor to what I'm supposed to be doing. Okay. So every step you take or everything you're doing in regarding living a purpose-driven life is evolution. equally important. So one stage is not more important than the other. So it's an evolution of what you're supposed to be doing over time. Because when you do one thing, then it evolves into the next and the next and the next. But they're all important. Seasons, stages of life. It reminds me of a podcast I was listening to recently and the lady was talking about something called the next best thing. And she was saying that sometimes the next best thing is not necessarily what you'll continue doing you might move on from that to the next best thing for that season so like you just said seasons everything is seasonal so you talk to people about living a purpose filled life so tell us more about that talk to us about that so um when you when i say or for me when living a purpose-driven life means you're intentional about everything in your life yeah you're intentional about even things as simple as rest time it's being intentional it's and this is something i'm working on for myself because i want to be driven by purpose i don't want to waste energy on things that don't matter to me and even with my relationships with friends i'm very purpose driven about that i make time when it's necessary and i realize the more Purposeful. You're about your everyday lives. You will see how things align for you. Okay. You see how you're able to walk things through. And like I said about habits. Okay. If you're purpose driven. You manage your habits better. Why? Because you know that, OK, sitting in front of the telly for six hours is not going to add anything to me. So I'm going to do one hour a day of watching telly or watching a movie or just relaxing. And that is being purpose driven about my relaxation time. Yeah. You build relationships as well. You're saying, okay, I love this, my friend. I don't see it. Okay, let's catch up once every quarter. That's being purpose-driven about your relationship. Same goes with your marriage. Same goes with your children. Same goes with your finances. Oh, I'm not buying any dress this month because I want to put money somewhere else. That's being purpose-driven about your finances. So it covers everything for me. Okay. So if somebody came to you and said, look, my life is all over the place. I don't know. what I'm doing you know I've got my hands in so many things and you're talking about purpose driven life I don't know what to do what would you say to that person Oh, the simple thing is do a SWOT analysis on yourself. A what analysis? A SWOT analysis. A SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Okay. So when you do a SWOT analysis, that's a simple process. It's online. You can research it and find it for yourself. Yeah. It's basically looking at your strengths. Okay. Okay. So if we focus on strengths, for example, what I would say is identify your strengths. Yeah. And then score them. scoring what do you mean so scoring means which is your strongest strength of all the better words okay of all your strengths where do you think you're the strongest okay let's say you have eight strengths or six or five or however where are you strongest okay identify your weaknesses where are you the weakest so what's the weakest thing when it comes to your weakness or which one is less weaker than the other because obviously your strengths could counteract your Your weaknesses. Your weaknesses and vice versa. And then when you do your strengths, you now ask yourself, what opportunities can I avail of based on these strengths? Okay. That's where your problem-solving skills comes in. So what opportunities are out there that I can take advantage of? Okay. And then when you look at your weaknesses, you ask yourself, so what can threaten my strengths based on these weaknesses? So the threats and the things you identify that if I don't work on these weaknesses... They will threaten me walking in purpose. They will threaten me fulfilling the things I'm good at. They will threaten how I show up with my strengths. So it's a simple exercise, but a lot of times we use it in business, but you can use it for your personal life as well. And it's a really good way to start by identifying your strengths and your weakness and how your strengths can complement the opportunities you find and how the threats can work against your strengths If you don't deal with your weaknesses. Okay. Can you draw a picture for me? Maybe like make it a bit more clearer in terms of maybe an example that people can relate to. Okay. Not a problem. So I love using myself as an example. So I, one of my strengths is being very analytical. Okay. I'm a very analytical person. And if you come to me and say, oh, tell me, I want to do this. I will ask you so many questions.

UNKNOWN: 27:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 27:08

So we have to analyze the situation and come with an answer. In the same light, just because I'm analytical doesn't mean it's applicable to everything. So that can become a weakness in the sense that I need to be able to identify where that strength does not work. So sometimes being analytical works. Sometimes it can be a strength. Sometimes it could be a weakness. So when an opportunity comes, I need to ask myself, am I... over analyzing this this opportunity or can i tap into it yeah okay so the threat is if i don't deal with my over analysis i can't maximize that strength and i can't maximize the opportunity does that make sense yeah so that's where you can use it but in in in scoring your strengths. I mean, you could say from one to 10, which one's number 10, which one's nine, which one's eight, seven, you score them and you start asking those questions. But like I said before, if you're not realistic with yourself, nobody else can help you. You need to be realistic with yourself. The weaknesses is where all of us fail because we don't want to say we have weaknesses, especially who we are. We all have them. We all do. You know, and I'm very open about my weaknesses with myself to another. Okay. All right. You know, sometimes I feel I want to do something, but I'm like, should I? Should I not? You know, apathy sets in. I had to really deal with that. If I want to get to where I want to get to, if I want to be purposeful about my life, I can't be apathetic. I can't start holding back and saying, oh, I don't feel like it today. I need to go for it. What is stopping me or what's making me feel that way is maybe I'm not getting enough rest. or maybe I'm distracted by things I shouldn't be doing so you see where I'm going there's always another layer of another layer that I need to deal with so if I feel I'm not doing what I need to do maybe I'm not getting enough rest maybe I'm eating too much chocolate which is making me feel tired maybe I'm going out too much and I need to cut back maybe I'm distracted because I'm not meditating and I'm not spending time within myself to centre myself and when I look at it from that perspective then I think okay I need to correct those things so I can do the things I need to do. And sometimes it's all those simple things. It's not magical. Yeah, simple things. I just wanted us to go back to the topic of, I know you said people don't like to talk about it, ADHD. But I want to talk about it because I think that's what this whole podcast is about, talking about things that we don't like to talk about. How do you think this ADHD thing, yeah, we're naming it. How does... It affects people's purpose. I won't say ADHD. I'll say neurodiversity. I think that's the key thing because I realise it's... Can you expand on that some more for us? I'm not a medical person, but I can't really say much about it. But what I've just been studying is how it appears in people's lives and people don't realise it, you know. ADHD is really linked to people that lack focus because they're quite hyper and not to say God hasn't created us well but he's created us all very diverse and different and in some cases people have these minor things that they're not addressing or they're applying the wrong solution to it and they're not getting anywhere so I don't want to focus on neurodiversity per se but I just want to focus on if you feel you're facing recurring challenges it's best to find out what it is especially the areas of being distracted, low moods, all these kind of things. It may not be that you're neurodiverse. It could be something else. But I'm just doing a lot of study around entrepreneurship and neurodiversity and how, because apparently a lot of talented people tend to have ADHD, like super talented people who These are geniuses and all those type of people. So I'm asking myself why and how do they now manage that part of them with the things they're able to accomplish? So I'm just doing a little bit of studies, early stages, but I'm just trying to find the correlation and how people are dealing with that. So that's why I started asking myself. So a lot of people, because they're not questioning how they are or how they can maximize who they are and they're looking at it from a negative perspective. I'll give you a simple example, actually. I was in a store the other day and I was talking to these ladies and it was this time I just launched my book and I was just having a conversation with them. And one said, oh, I love to gossip. And I said to her, you don't love to gossip, you like to talk. But you've put a negative connotation on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is me. I get distracted easily. How can I manage it? Do I work in bursts of half an hour, 30 minutes, one hour just to make sure I do things right? But then at the same time, what are the strengths of who I am and how can I maximize that? So that's what I will say is a better way to look at it. But then if you don't identify what it is, what you're struggling with.

UNKNOWN: 32:48

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 32:49

The solution is going to elude you. The reason I ask is because I've been actually thinking about it about myself. I'm going to be honest. Recently, I started thinking to myself, do I have ADHD? Because I struggle with focus. I mean, you know this about me. I am one of those who like the shiny object. I used to have, let me not say I have, I used to have the shiny object syndrome, the new thing out there. And for me, it was not... It was just from the perspective of, I wanted to know what's happening. Oh, this sounds interesting. I'd love to know what this is. And because I always wanted to, you know, my mind is always... So that's why I was a bit... I was thinking, maybe I need to be finding the answers. So if I wanted to find out answers and to be sure, how would I... What can I do? Tests can be done online. Okay. Yeah, that just gives you idea. Okay. And I know a lot of Christians, for example, would reject this kind of information to say, but it's not about that. It's about... the Bible says we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. So however you present yourself, you need to know that's the foundation. Fearfully and wonderfully made. So whether you lack focus, you can focus on this and that, fearfully and wonderfully made is the foundation. So how I present myself is a different ballgame entirely. And how can I maximize how I present myself or how I've been created? So like you said, If you're easily distracted, I love what you've done with your podcast. For instance, you've done it in series. So you can take a break and go back again. Yeah. If you don't do that, you and I know. I've given up a long time ago. So those are things you've put in place to manage. the times when you feel I'm losing focus. So you take time out. Yeah, go back, do everything else and then come back again. So those are measures you're taking. But a lot of people are so frustrated when they talk about purpose. I try to say that it's not this big mystical thing. Oh, I want to find my purpose. It's a simple day-to-day. Start with the day-to-day. I was in a meeting on Wednesday and the speaker was talking about, you know, this thing about purpose. Whatever your hands find to do, that's what the Bible says. Do it to the best of your ability. And the thing is, when you do it well, it leads to something else. What a lot of us do is, because we don't feel well, It's where I should be. We don't do it well. Yeah. But it's in doing the things you do well that leads to the next phase of life. Yeah. Doing the things that you do well. Yes. Yeah. So identifying, like you said earlier, identifying what you can do well and just honing in on that aspect. on that aspect. Totally agree. Yeah. I was going to read something that I saw online. Just give me a minute to find it if I can read my own notes. Yeah, I think you said something alluding to it earlier. It says, if you are not intentional about finding out what you want in life, it is easy to fall into survival mode. And I think that a lot of us fall into survival mode. We just keep doing things whatever we find. Like you said, okay, whatever you find your hands to do, do it well. But there's also that tendency to just say, okay, I'll just do this. And a lot of people are frustrated in just doing what they find to do. So do you want to talk on that a bit? Okay. This journey of purpose, it requires intuition. It requires the help of the Holy Spirit for those that are Yeah, do you see it? And I got to a place where I was just unhappy. I wasn't fulfilled. And I knew I needed to do something else. I didn't know what it was. Okay. So I told my family, okay, I'm going to send you a SWOT analysis. All of you write out what you think are my strengths and my weakness. And they did that for me. The theme that came out is I love solving problems. Okay. So that is that. But the question is, what kind of problems do I love to solve? Okay. OK, so I went down the wrong route first trying to solve those kind of problems. I couldn't do it. Then I came back and I said, OK, I didn't enjoy solving those problems. What problems do I love to solve? I did another analysis. OK, I love solving problems. Help me analyze what kind of problems I love to solve. And they did another. These are close friends and family. They did another exercise for me. And in that I pulled out. The problems I love to solve. I love solving business problems. I love helping businesses find the right strategy to help them grow. And I started in very small bits. I remember my first client. She paid me 40 quid for a consultation at the time. But it felt like a million dollars because she believed in me. And I'll never forget that. And that seed is what has pushed me to where I am today. And I'm working with businesses that are bringing in millions of pounds. So my point is... In questioning yourself, in analyzing, it's taking a step back. I said it earlier in asking, what do I do well? Why do I do it well? What has God put on the inside of me, you know, that I need to express and how do I express it? The way I work as an innovation consultant is not the way somebody else does it. Yeah. Okay. my personality comes into my role the next person personality will come into their role and that's how god has designed all of us to be the way we present ourselves the way we package our solutions is based on us and god has designed us that way for a purpose he's designed us that way to fulfill specific needs there's some clients i work with that the next person may not be able to work with them and there's some clients the next person works with I can't work with them because there's not a connection per se and that's just the reality of it so it's finding out I know it sounds a bit thing but the answers are within rather than without Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How many potential customers are there? Have you asked them if they like it? Are they telling you the truth? Have you tested it? If they're going to use it, does it provide a solution? People are like, oh, you know, I have an instinct. Hey, instinct is not enough. You need to do your testing. That's why you get samples of products come through your door telling you to try. And they say, do you mind doing a survey? We need to get some information. It's the same thing with finding that place of where you're living a purpose-driven life as well. you need to ask those questions and they're hard questions to ask and it doesn't matter yes if we're younger and we're making those decisions good but we're where we are So we still have to ask because at the end of the day, you want to be fulfilled. You want to enjoy what you do. You want to finish every day and say, I did a good job. I love what I do. For every client I meet, the joy I feel, I can't even describe it. It took me a long time to get there. I started with food science degree and the journey has been different. So you went from food science to accountancy? Yes. Okay. And then business. Okay. And then the business kind of, so you see, so it was staring me yeah you know and honestly I've done all sorts I won't say I haven't done in between the business I still did all the courses laughing Oh, my God. And then I pull myself back. But one thing I've learned with me, if it's not God's way for me, he shuts the door. Yes. Yes. He just shuts that door and I'm banging. I need to get through. He's like, nope. Nope. Not your door. If I let you go to get you back out, it's going to be a problem. So you're not going through. And I've learned that. Yeah. And the other thing I want to say is that... Master your patterns. Understand the patterns of your life. How things pan out for you. So I know what my patterns are. When God doesn't want me to journey in a certain way, I know the patterns. I can be stubborn. Sometimes I put my head through and say, I'm going. We all have that streak in us, that stubborn streak. And he's saying, okay, I'll let you go. I'll wait for you. When you're ready, you come back. So if you can master your patterns yourself, then you start realising a lot more. And the more you hone in on that the better you get so rather than go two years without no you realize six months you're already clear sometimes even before you take the step you say okay this is not for me i'm not doing it i'll give you a good example i finished the math in between the master that i thought oh i love this course i did a course in between oh wow because and you're saying you didn't have time how how did you manage that don't ask It was a six week course. And I did, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say what it was, but I just, I did because I felt that was the trajectory of my career in a way, because I'd done the certification and all that. And I thought, okay, I shouldn't waste it. So I took time out to do it. I have never seen doors close as fast as that in my life. And I'm saying this because it was even very recent. So not to say that I've found the perfect route to working purpose. Sometimes you deviate like we do. But I'm learning a lot more to stay on course and stay on track. That's what I'm teaching myself. To stay on course, stay on track. You've said a lot of things that I can just, you know, that I'm going to go back and listen to this again just because I know that there's so much value in what you said. But one thing you said that I really struck me was that you did a SWOT you asked your friends and family to do a SWOT analysis for you and I think that's something that we need to actually do you know get the people who know you best you know to just help you because I know if I do it myself I may not be honest with myself I may not be honest with myself and there might be some things I'll be like yeah just close my eyes to that you know but people that you can trust you know to help you and then you can use that to find your path and then find your way so we're first coming to the end of the podcast and I always like to end this podcast on a note of hope so what would you say to somebody out there just to encourage them anybody who's out there who's thinking I don't know what I'm doing I don't know where I'm going I don't know my purpose how do I live a purpose driven life what would you say to encourage somebody out there Okay, thank you so much. What I will say is we have all been designed with gifts and talent. There is something in each and every one of us, okay? It's a matter of finding out what yours is, honing on it, and working in it. So there's no one God has created empty. Everybody has something, okay? Now, the time it takes for each and every eaten every one of us to discover what that is and walking it could be different yeah but don't stop trying don't stop seeking and don't stop searching yeah with time everything will come together don't stop seeking don't stop searching that's it i was gonna say searching i've mixed the two words don't stop searching and seeking and with time everything will come out Well, thank you so, so much. We could go on and on and on and on on this topic. But I'm really grateful that you could take our time to come and be with us. So thank you so much. And hopefully we'll get you to come back and talk to us about something else. Again, something interesting very soon. Yeah. Thank you so much. And God bless. Thank you, Tammy. Thank you. And thank you all for listening in again to another episode of Navigating the Chapters of Challenge. Hopefully you'll be with us again sometime soon to listen to another episode. I just want to say thank you so much and God bless you.