One More Thing Before We Start
By: David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer
Last week we spoke about your life being a great story waiting to be written. I referenced a statement made by Viktor Frankl that each person has a specific purpose for being. I would like to share a few more details about his life. Viktor was a Doctor of Neurology and Psychiatry in Austria. In 1942 the Nazis deported Viktor, his wife, and his parents to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, and in 1944 he and his wife were sent to Auschwitz. Viktor was then later moved on to Kaufering, a concentration camp affiliated with Dachau where he remained until the camp was liberated by American soldiers. Frankl was the only member of his family who survived the camps. His wife and his parents died in the concentration camps before the camps were liberated. Through all of his hardship, Viktor continued to believe he had a purpose for being. It was through these experiences that he proved his theories. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning he wrote, “People without a meaning in their life are exposed to aggression, depression, and addiction.” I doubt that any of us have had to endure such hardships as Frankl, and thankfully so. If the power of meaning and purpose helped Viktor endure, just imagine what it can do for us.
In John Maxwell’s book Intentional Living, there are three questions to help us find our purpose of meaning in life:
- What do you sing about?
- What do you cry about?
- What do you dream about?
These three questions guide us down the path of self-discovery as we search for our purpose for being. This critical step is often missed when people set goals and plan a new year, and if skipped, our likelihood of completing the goals or faithfully executing the plan dramatically diminish. The reason for this is very simple: willpower always fades away but why power, once discovered, lasts a lifetime. Once you find your why you will find your path.
I realize that this is a tough topic to cover in such a short post. In fact, the topic has been marinating in my thoughts since I prepared for the Intentional Living teaching last week. If you would like to hear more about it, please tune into our podcast, The Next Page, as Marisa, and I try to explain it in more depth.
Download The Next Page Here: iTunes // Google Play // PodBean