In 2011, I started moving from one secondary school to the other in Ogun State with my great friends to share some inspirational insights with teenagers, with the aim of helping them avoid costly mistakes and becoming better citizens of the world. I have found out that what really, really drives me is the desire to help people learn, grow, develop and become better individuals.
I love people a lot. However, discovering my purpose in the world is the first step, developing my gifts, talents and vision is the most difficult step. I studied (not read) every book in sight on personal development, leadership, wealth creation, psychology, entrepreneurship, health, public speaking, thought, success, greatness and legacy. I enrolled in various online and offline courses. I re-carved my brand called SK-HEALS (SK being my initials and the HEALS standing for Health, Entrepreneurship, Administration, Leadership and Self-Development) and went for certification and real time experiences in all of them.
I strive as always to be a good health practitioner and I know my onions as a pharmacist and a health and life strategist. I did Young African Leadership Training online Certification on Entrepreneurship and Leadership. I went to Daystar Leadership Academy for my basic and advanced courses in Leadership. I also did an international programme in delivering training to become a certified trainer. I’m currently doing my master’s in Administration at the University of Lagos.
How do you discover your purpose?
You can discover your purpose by using the acronym SHAPE
S – Skills: What natural skills do you possess? Is it dancing, singing, writing, communicating, fixing things etc?
H – Hate: What is that thing you dislike that you want to change for good? Do you dislike dirty environment? Maybe your purpose is in the laundry business. Do you hate the kind of leadership in this country? Maybe your purpose is to make a difference in politics.
A – Ability: What do you have ability to do? Is it teaching, running, playing football, public speaking, etc.?
P – Passion: What are you passionate about? Helping people to grow and learn, humanitarian and altruism, or beauty and art, etc?
E – Experience: What are those things you’ve done in the past and you excelled at? What are those things friends and family have acknowledged you to be good at?
By using SHAPE, you can discover your purpose and why you do what you do.
How do you develop your purpose?
You can develop your purpose by following the acronym KSA (not King Sunny Ade or Kareem Sesan Ahmad or Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). KSA stands for:
K – Knowledge: You must be informed about all you need to succeed in your field and be much better than your competitors.
S – Skills: You need to develop the rights skills that will turn your raw talents to flourishing talents. You may need to acquire marketing, creativity, leadership, interpersonal, communication, management and negotiation skills, amongst others.
A – Attitude: You must develop the right mindset, thoughts, emotions, behaviour, belief system and character that will make you succeed.
From experience, developing these three keys to become a better person can be quite challenging. There are sacrifices to be made and prices to be paid; but you will eventually find out that it is really worth it.
How do you deploy your purpose?
The reason for discovering and developing our talents, gifts, calling or purpose is to deploy such towards making the world a better place. Here are practical ways to achieve this.
Have a MISSION STATEMENT: Have a single sentence that summarises the purpose of your life. Why are you are in this world? For instance, my mission statement is: “To inspire, equip and educate people to discover, develop and deploy their inherent greatness in order to achieve their full potential and make a difference.”
Have a VISION STATEMENT: Where do you want to be in the next five, 10, 20 or 40 years of your life? Create a big and compelling vision for yourself and dream about it all the times.
Have a MOTTO: What do you want people to know you for? My motto is: Touching Lives, Inspiring People.
Have your own CORE VALUES: What are those things you will stand for? If you don’t stand for something, you will definitely fall for anything and everything. My core values are: service, sincerity, simplicity, ingenuity, constant growth, continuous learning, and team work.
Set goals: Set SMART daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, medium term and long term goals. Goals give you direction towards actualising your mission, vision and core values.
Have strategies to achieve your goals: Have a solid plan to achieve your set goals.
Go to work: This is the most important aspect of developing yourself. Go to work. Work hard, work smart and give, give and give. Never stop adding value to humanity through your purpose.
ACTION PLAN: Use the acronyms SHAPE and ASK to discover and develop your strengths. Come up with your mission and vision statements, core values, and life goals. Have a personal development strategy and personal development budget. Go to work on yourself.
AFFIRMATION: The purpose of my life is a life of purpose. I will discover, develop and deploy my inherent greatness to fulfil my purpose.
