Purpose Driven Life Day 3

Day 3 of PDL is “What Drives Your Life?” I can’t say I came across any new information in this chapter, but it was still inspirational. It was a good reminder to focus on the most important things.

In this chapter, Rick Warren lays out the five most common things people are driven by: guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism, and need for approval. Under fear, he explored unrealistic expectations. I think in my life, I’ve found the most frustration from that; from being expected to be something I’m not, or to do something I can’t do. I recently decided to deal with an unrealistic expectation by understanding that it is somebody else’s opinion. After years of trying to meet it, I decided not to play the game anymore. I’m not saying I wrote the person off. Not at all. I just stopped trying to meet that expectation and stopped arguing about it. Then I looked for other ways to handle the situation that I can actually do.

Rick Warren makes a statement “I don’t know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everybody.” He’s right. Years ago, I learned the secret that it’s OK to say no to requests on your time. Not to be rude, but if you can’t do it, you can’t do it.

The next major section of this chapter is “The Benefits of Purpose-Driven Living”. Rick Warren says “We were made to have meaning”. Having a purpose gives meaning to your life. It gives you hope. It also simplifies your life. It focuses your life and motivates your life. And finally, it prepares you for eternity. Rick Warren then mentions that we’ll all give an account to God of our lives, but God wants us to pass the test and already gave us the answers.

This was a good chapter. It felt like it had some meat to it. Chapter 2 was a little light.

If you'd like to go through this with me, you can get a copy through my affiliate link.

 

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