Video: Finding Your Life's Purpose

Dr. Brad Swift on Following Your Purpose and Passion in Life

Following the Breadcrumbs of Passion by W. Bradford Swift.


At Life On Purpose Institute we believe everyone should follow their purpose and passioin in life and that doing so will never lead you astray even when you aren’t completely clear where it will lead you. I call it “following the breadcrumbs of your passion” and it’s actually how Life On Purpose Institute began.


I first got the idea of starting a organization that was a reflection of my own purpose of living a life of service, simplicity and spiritual serenity from a pet writing project:

Project Purpose: To write and publish articles about people and insitutions whose lives and missions are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.

After interviewing and spending time with dozens of these purposeful people, I began to recognize certain common elements they shared; one of which was that almost all of them were expressing their own life purpose through some organized structure -- a for profit business, a non-profit, etc. I was in the midst of pondering what such an organization would look like for me when I received an assignment from Yoga Journal to write a feature article on simple living in a complex world. They wanted, as part of the article, a sidebar listing resources about living simply.

Well, I thought, Life On Purpose Institute could be in that sidebar, except there wasn’t a Life On Purpose Institute yet. At first I dismissed the idea as being premature, but as I continued writing the article I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. Finally, I ran it by my coach who replied, “Why not include it and see what happens?” So, I did.

I didn’t think much more about it until 2 to 3 months later when the article appeared as the cover story for the August, 1996 issue of Yoga Journal with a cartoon illustration by Gahan Wilson. A few days after the magazine hit the newstands, my phone rang. “Hello, Brad Swift,” I answer in my customary fashion.

“Is this Life On Purpose?” An excited voice on the other end of the line asked.

I paused, momentarily dazed and looked around my office. I had forgotten about listing my dream in the sidebar. Gathering my wits about me, I replied, “Yes, how may I serve you?”

That was almost 10 years ago. Today Life On Purpose Institute is a flourishing, spiritually based enterprise. Hundreds of people have clarified their life purpose by working individually with our Life On Purpose Certified Coaches, and thousands of others have done the same through our group programs.

We have had close to a hundred purposeful and passionate people who have gone through our Coach Development Programs as far away as Germany and Australia. While our mission to deeply and profoundly touch and contribute to at least 1% of the world’s population (around 60-70 million people), is far from complete, we’re building momentum to have it accomplished during my life time.

This “meta purpose project” continues to transform my life and that of my wife, Ann, who is also Life On Purpose’s CFO and program registrar. Only in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could live such a satisfying and fulfilling life as I’m living now, but then again, isn’t that where such realities begin — in our dreams. Perhaps Goethe said it best:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it: boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

For all of you reading this who are just starting out, I encourage you to take the time to identify your true purpose in life, for it will guide you to that wellspring of passion and enthusiasm that can serve as the fuel to keep you moving forward even in the most challenging of times.

At Life On Purpose Institute, we continue to follow our purposeful path of passionate breadcrumbs. You can count on it. To read the landmark article, Simple Living in a Complex World that launched LOPI into the world, go to: http://lifeonpurpose.com/index.php?page=62

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Since founding Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. in 1996 Dr. Brad Swift has become the country’s foremost authority on personal life purpose, authoring the book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life (http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/books) — the first and only how-to book that guides people from confusion to clarity about the most important question: “Who am I and why am I here?” To learn how on or off purpose your life is, take the fun and engaging Self Test at http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/selftest .

What Drives You to Fulfill Your Destiny?

I love going to schools and speaking to students. I especially enjoy talking to a group of students labeled as "at-risk", "troubled", and "problematic".


Regardless of what's going in my life, hearing this makes me step my game up. I know that I have to bring it because it might indeed be tougher to get my message across to them. It doesn't matter how tired I am or if I "feel it". Somehow, someway I have to give people their money's worth.

I ask every group I speak to the following questions: "Why do you want to pursue a certain job? Who's going to be your mentor as you pursue your goals? How passionate are you about XYZ career? What are your natural, God-given talents?"


Before I can get to the third question, the student's faces are covered with confused and shocked looks. They don't expect me to get all up in their business like that. It's even more jarring because they haven't thought about these questions.

I believe that we all need to put a premium on our gifts. The abilities you have weren't given to you to be hidden from the rest of the world. You were blessed with them because you're meant to do something special with them. You are charged with taking your powers, developing them to their potential, and bringing magic to the world.

So what drives me? Knowing that if I don't succeed, if I don't get better, if I let my music die within me, I am essentially cheating humanity out of a good thing.

Now I ask you, what drives you to fulfill your destiny?

Down Doesn't Have to Mean Out

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Nelson Mandela

Let this letter sink into your consciousness like lotion into your skin. Remember it when you're tempted to dwell on all of your mistakes, missteps, and shortcomings. Call it forth when you're about to compare yourself to someone else who you think has more going for themselves than you.

Don't let where you are today determine where you're going to be tomorrow. I was talking with a hero of mine, a gentleman named Willie Crawford. If you've spent significant time online in the last 10 years it's possible that you've heard his name. You may have even purchased one of his products. Willie regularly receives, on average, over $20,000 per month from his online ventures. He said that he might even make more than $100,000 this month alone! Yet, he doesn't run a major company with tons of employees. He runs his operation independently out of his home office. The guy has even written a best-selling cookbook! He is, without question, an Internet marketing "guru".

But, it wasn't always like this. He came from an impoverished family of tobacco farmers in North Carolina. In fact, most of the people that he knew were on welfare. He wasn't surrounded by positive, successful role models that he could learn from. So, how did he go from being down and disadvantaged to being a mega-successful entrepreneur? He realized that everything he had gone through in life were lessons teaching him how to prepare for greatness.

He learned - like we all should - that he is FREE. Free to decide his future. Free to live his purpose. Free to experience goodness. Free to help himself to anything he wants in life.

You have this freedom, too. But, are you going to let not finishing school keep you down? Are you going to let a failed marriage keep you down? Are you going to let bad habits hamper you and keep you from your destiny? Are you going to empower your misgivings? To put it plainly, how many times are you going to fall and stay down?

Just because you have fallen doesn't make you irredeemable. It makes you human. Falling is a part of living. It took me a long time to get to this point. But, I finally, really and truly understand that there is no shame in stumbling.

Failure is not determined by the number of mistakes we make. What matters is how we respond to our indiscretions. Don't let your faults and lapses in judgement become the defining elements in your life. The truth is that you have the final word on whether you make it or not.

In order for us to change the course of our lives we're going to need a combination of acumen, astuteness, cleverness, enterprise, get-up-and-go, industry, initiative, judgment, and resourcefulness. So embrace your humanity, love yourself, and don't give up when you fail - your success might be just around the corner.

Get inspired by Majora Carter!

Majora tells how minority neighborhoods have suffered most from flawed urban policy, and energetically shares her grassroots efforts to "green the ghetto." I live about 4 miles from the area (South Bronx) that she's talking about.

The people in the South Bronx have been living in toxic, contaminated, polluted, run-down, drug-infested, poorly maintained communities for many years. Majora is working very hard to change this. She's a true freedom fighter who is using her life's purpose to improve the lives of others.