Discovering Your Purpose

“Keep on beginning and failing.  Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose.  It may not be the one you began with but one you’ll be glad to remember”.

-Anne Sullivan

 

“If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.  If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes”.

-Senegalese proverb

 

I have been working for the same company for over 30 years.  Most of this time I have been in leadership roles but I started out as a claims adjuster.  At the time I was just thrilled to get the job and I felt very fortunate to be hired.  Before I came here I had never worked in an office or gotten remotely close to a computer.  I use the term computer loosely.  My first ten years at Humana were before the internet was created or anyone had personal computers.  What we used were basically terminals linked directly to a mainframe system.  I knew I had been given a great opportunity when I was hired so I tried to make the best of the situation.  Two years after I began my employment I was encouraged to apply for a leadership position.  Although I don’t feel like I have failed a lot in my life, I have made mistakes and I tried to learned from them.  When I came to this place I had no idea I would become the person I am today.  In the beginning I was just happy to get a paycheck and be able to support my family.  Somewhere along the line I realized I made a difference in some people’s lives.  Everything I wanted to be before I came here, I started to become while I was here.  Personality tests related to careers always indicated I was best suited to become a minister, writer, teacher or counselor.  Most of the leadership skills I possess and the management style I have are basically me being all of these things.  My original purpose for coming here was to be employed and bring home a paycheck.  That is still important but my greater purposes are ministering to people, writing inspirational thoughts, teaching, mentoring young people as well as a few old people, and listening to people’s problems while trying to help them.  None of this occurred to me when I started my first day of training as a claims adjuster.  I am one example of a person beginning with one purpose and ending up with many other purposes I discovered on the journey.