During my late teens and early twenties, there were many times when I felt I didn’t know where I was going.
There were stretches of days, weeks, and months where I’d wake up, go to work, watch TV, go to bed, and mindlessly repeat being on some treadmill to nowhere.
I was lacking purpose and self-awareness.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my purpose, my life mission, and how I’m going to live these out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
No longer am I on a treadmill to nowhere, and now have goals and a vision.
What I realized is in order to fully realize my full potential and unlock my life mission, I would have to find and embrace my Personal Truth.
I capitalize Personal Truth because it is unique to me. You also have your own Personal Truth, as well as your brothers, sisters, parents, friends, and co-workers. Your Personal Truth is personal and unique. This is why it is special and treated with respect.
Finding my Personal Truth has been a winding path and has been a work in progress for a number of years.
It’s possible that this is your first exposure to thinking about this concept. This is totally okay and up until a few months ago, I had not been exposed to it either.
Maybe this will resonate with you, and maybe it won’t. Finding your path in this world to your goals is a personal experience and finding what works and what doesn’t work is part of the process.
Understanding my Personal Truth has helped me and that’s why I’m sharing it with you
In this post, I will be talking about what is Truth, finding your personal Truth, and how living out this Truth will lead to fulfillment.
What is Truth?
Truth is an interesting subject which has been discussed by philosophers throughout history. From my brief research and understanding of the different argument and thoughts, there are a few different varieties of truth.
(If I’m wrong, please excuse my misunderstandings as I’m still learning and forming my knowledge on this subject…)
The few different varieties of truth which I want to discuss here are absolute or universal truth, collective truth, and personal truth. Something interesting here is that FACT and TRUTH are not necessarily the same thing – whereas many people equate these two concepts.
What is Absolute Truth?
Absolute truth is defined as unaltered reality. Absolute is concrete, fixed, and invariable.
Many things in mathematics are considered absolute truth. Without diving into the details of abstract algebra, commonly, humans operate mathematically using the Ring of Real Numbers.
Under this construct (which no one thinks about but math weirdos – like me), adding 2 and 2 is 4. Multiplying 0 and 5 is 0. Dividing 12 by 3 is 4.
Another example of an absolute truth is a square cannot be a circle.
However, there are a number of things that many people believe that may or may not be absolute.
Collective truth is another variety of truth which I want to discuss here.
What is Collective Truth?
Collective truth is something that many people believe is right, and through this mutual agreement, life is made easier.
An example of a collective truth is best viewed through the perspective of religion.
Christians believe that there is one god and this god is all-powerful and all-knowing. Through this thought, Christianity is all about serving this one god, doing good deeds, and living a good life.
The difference between absolute and collective truth in this situation is evident by the fact there are many varieties of Christianity (Catholicism, Orthodox, Lutheranism, etc.), as well as many varieties of different religions which are not Christianity (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, to name a few.)
Along this line of thinking, collective truths may or may not be an actual fact, but since so many people agree, it is accepted as fact.
Collective truths help organize and push a group a people towards a common goal.
Collective truth is similar to the concept of the “Imagined Myth” – what Yuval Noah Harari discusses in his book, Sapiens. Essentially, humans are the all powerful species because we can formalize abstractions (money, religions, nations, companies) which can steer populations strategically towards a goal – something other species cannot do.
Finally, let’s get to what I really want to talk about: personal truth.
What is Personal Truth?
Every person has a different perspective. No two people have lived the same life up until any given point.
Even twins growing up in the same household, going to the same high school, and hanging out with a similar friend group will have a different perspective on the world!
Personal truth is something you believe is true.
This could be something as simple as believing that Chipotle burritos are better than Qdoba burritos, or more convoluted as believing that a zombie apocalypse is going to happen this year and we need to prep for it.
These examples are somewhat ridiculous (on purpose) and show that again, a personal truth does not necessarily have to be fact, but if you believe it and you live it, then that is what ultimately matter to you.
I believe that everyone is unique, everyone is capable of achieving their goals, and through daily disciplines, you will get there.
You can disagree with me, and that’s fine. It’s part of my Personal Truth, and if I believe it, I need to live it out.
Personal truths are unique, and based on your perspective and life experiences.
Finding Your Personal Truth
What is your Personal Truth? Do you have one?
I capitalize Personal Truth here because each of us has the ability to possess it, and once understood, is unique.
What is my Personal Truth?
I believe I’m capable of providing amazing value, through my actions and thoughts, to help other people achieve their goals in life. This value can be manifested in many different ways: through my daily actions, through how I interact with others, and through what I put out into the world through my work.
A key point here is that it is my belief that I can affect change in the world.
Writing this blog post is part of living out my Personal Truth.
This blog post has been sent to my email list of 900+ individuals.
While this isn’t thousands or millions of people, I’m risking my opinions, thoughts, and Truth because I believe through my thoughts, I can help you and others.
If I’m right or wrong, I don’t care.
It’s my Personal Truth and it’s up to me to live it out – and through me living it out, I’ll find fulfillment and peace.
Finding your Personal Truth involves creating a quiet space for you to let your intuition guide you towards what is important to you.
Some examples of this could be… (I came up with these in 30 seconds, maybe that’s enough time, maybe you’ll need more time):
- Your work as an *Insert Profession Here* is incredibly important to your local community.
- Tacos are life. It’s your life mission to cook the greatest taco.
- Your children or spouse’s happiness is the most important thing and you are a servant to them.
- Being healthy is more important than being wealthy or working in a great career.
- The environment is being destroyed and we must save it.
Of course, these examples might actually form part of your Truth. Also, there can be multiple dimensions to this. You can have a Truth around relationships, a Truth around health, and a Truth around work.
It’s up to you and your experience!
Once you have your Personal Truth, now, it’s time to take action.
Using Your Personal Truth to Unlock Your Life Mission
Companies and organizations typically will have some sort of mission statement which is a guide to their companies’ philosophy and corporate decision making process.
Your Personal Truth is similar to this, and can be used as a guide to leading the life you want to lead.
Let’s go back to my Personal Truth and talk about how I’m using this as a guide for my life.
My Personal Truth is “I believe I’m capable of providing amazing value, through my actions and thoughts, to help other people achieve their goals in life.”
I’ve purposely left my Personal Truth a little bit vague so that I can fit a lot underneath this umbrella.
Currently, I’m trying to live this out through writing content on The Mastermind Within blog, producing podcast episodes with my co-host on the Simple Minded Millennial podcast, and through renting out my house.
Right now, this isn’t all that impressive, but it’s dynamic and a work in progress.
My Personal Truth starts with “I’m capable of providing amazing value.” Over the next 3 to 5 years, I already have thoughts on launching a number of new projects, websites and companies to help expand how I’m leading change in the world.
There’s a potential that I’m still tapping into, and I’m incredibly excited to see what I’ll be able to accomplish.
This is my life mission and is my why.
For you, once you find your Personal Truth, the next steps are aligning your actions with this Personal Truth.
If you believe being a millionaire will make you happy, then start living below your means, start investing your savings wisely, and learn personal finance.
It’s surprisingly simple, but an incredibly powerful force to finding fulfillment.
What’s Your Personal Truth and How are You Going to Use it to Better the World?
Part of my Personal Truth is that I believe others are not reaching their full potential in a variety of areas.
It is true for me – I’m not 100% happy and fulfilled in all areas, so to think that everyone else but me is 100% happy would be a little bit short sighted.
My takeaway for you from this article is to think about what your Personal Truth is for yourself.
What is the one thing (or handful of things) that you hold near and dear to your heart which you believe is fact and true?
With this one thing, or handful of things, how does it affect your every day life?
If you believe health and outer beauty is the most important piece in life, then why are you spending money on things which do not lead to you being beautiful? Shouldn’t you be aligning your actions with what will bring you happiness? Why are you sitting on the couch bringing Netflix if this doesn’t lead to happiness?
Again, this is just an example (and maybe a little bit extreme), but hopefully illustrates the point.
One last piece here before signing off.
Your Personal Truth is dynamic and ever-changing. Maybe, you don’t know it today, and it’s still forming. That’s totally okay 🙂
I know my Personal Truth is ever-evolving. Our world is dynamic and through this lens, I have to stay flexible.
Hopefully this was an impactful article for you and your life. I’m looking to lay the foundation for helping you become more self-aware here in January of 2019, and this is the first step towards becoming who you are meant to be.
Thank you for reading!
Erik