How to Live Life on Purpose with Tanya Dalton Episode 292

How to Live Life On Purpose

Have you ever wondered how to live life on purpose and get more out of your days? More productivity, more purpose, more progress…what’s the secret to getting there? 

You are not going to want to miss my conversation with Tanya Dalton that I’m sharing again this week.

Tanya was a stay-at-home mom who started her first business with $50. Since then, she has founded inkWELL Press Productivity Co., a multi-million dollar company that helps people overcome overwhelm and maximize success. 

Tanya’s first book, The Joy of Missing Out, was named a Top 10 Business Book of the Year by Fortune Magazine. Her second book, On Purpose: The Busy Woman’s Guide to an Extraordinary Life of Meaning and Success, is a guide to becoming the best version of yourself. 

Alright, let’s dive into how to live life on purpose.

The Typical “5-Year Plan” Doesn’t Work, and Here’s Why

Tanya explains that we usually have this idea of where we want to be five years from now, but then we don’t really do anything to get ourselves closer to where we want to be. It’s because we don’t align the five-year plan with who we are now. When we think about what success looks like, we tend to look around at what everyone else is doing and say, “She’s doing amazing over here; I should do more of that,” or “Oh, over here, this lady is running an amazing business I should do more of things in my business.” By doing this, we set goals for what other people are doing and lose sight of what we want and what our gifts are. 

Tanya suggests we live on purpose and have alignment by looking out on the horizon and seeing our future, the vision of where we want to go, and aligning our actions of today with getting to that vision. 

How to Set the Right Goals to Live Life on Purpose

First, we must remember that goals are not the goal – they are the vehicle to get us to the life we want. Thank you for that reminder, Tanya. 

In her book, Tanya has a timeline where the end goal is that vision or life we want to achieve, our potential. And the beginning of the timeline is where we are now. Her suggestion is to think about what’s possible in the next 3 to 5 years to ultimately get us to our end goal. But now we have to back up again, get closer to where we are today, and think about what is practical. What can we do practically and accomplish in the next year to bring us closer to our end goal? 

Lastly, if that’s what’s practical in the next year, then we think about what we need to prioritize in the next three months. So, what we prioritize is what becomes our goals that will eventually lead us to the vision of the life we want to live. This is how we live life on purpose! 

One Strategy for Getting to the Root of Limiting Beliefs

The strategy is called the fifth why, an exercise in Tanya’s book. It’s simply asking ourselves the question, why five times? And it helps us dive deep into what it is that holds us back. For example, we can start off with: 

• “I’m upset because I didn’t get the promotion I wanted at work.” 
• Why 

• “Because I haven’t gotten my advanced certification yet. 
• Why?
• “Because I don’t have the time.”
• Why?
• “Because I’m not using my time effectively late at night.”

The more whys we ask, the closer we get to the root cause of our limiting beliefs. Those lies we have on repeat in our minds. 

This strategy can be done anywhere: in the shower, in the car, or on a walk in the park. And by paying attention to our bodies, we will know when it’s time to do the fifth way. For example, when we get a tension headache or a feeling in our stomach, we can stop and think about the constant thoughts going through our heads and then start asking why. 

We must get to the root cause of our limiting beliefs to live life on purpose!

Balance Isn’t What We Are Striving for to Live Life on Purpose

Tanya says we don’t want balance because if we have balance, we aren’t really pouring the best version of ourselves into anything we are doing. We need to lean into different life priorities depending on the season. For example, maybe we need to lean more into work because we want to accomplish a big work goal for the first quarter of the year. This means we won’t be able to lean into our personal life or family in this season. And once the goal is achieved, we’ll lean back into personal and family time. This creates a beautiful harmony in our lives. 

Listen now:

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Favorite quotes:

“The goals that you set for yourself need to be aligned with that vision that you have.”

“It is the small steps that bring you joy and get the momentum.”

“The most important person to get buy-in from is you. You have to believe in yourself before anyone else will.”

“When we create an action roadmap we give ourselves the directions of where we want to go next.”

“Overwhelm isn’t having too much to do. It’s not knowing where to start. When we know where to start we become empowered and confident.”

“Productivity isn’t about doing more. It is about doing what is most important.”

“There is no balance. We are chasing our tails and wearing ourselves out trying to get it.” 

Coaching this week:

• The Big 5 Personality Test (43:25) 

Links to great things we discussed: 

• Tanya Dalton Website
• Tanya Dalton Instagram
• The Joy of Missing Out
• On Purpose: The Busy Woman’s Guide to an Extraordinary Life of Meaning and Success
• The Intentional Advantage Podcast
• The Beatles
• Ted Lasso
• Voxer
• Asana
• Big 5 Personality Test
• Atlas: Enneagram – Sleeping at Last
•  Pat McGrath PermaGel Eyeliner Pencil
• Apply for a Free Coaching Call with Alli
• Remaining You While Raising Them

Order your copy of Remaining You While Raising Them here.

Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! 🙂

xo,

Alli