Recently I have modeled my own life and pursuits in an interesting format that I hadn’t ever thought of before.

I was listening to “Getting Things Done” on audio and I remember David Allen talking about “org charts.” I had no ideal what this meant, so I looked it up on Wikipedia (which – when combined with Google – can provide all the knowledge and wisdom any human will ever need).

Once I saw an “org chart” (short for “organizational chart”), I thought of its applications and how the hierarchical model would work in different contexts.

I thought about the purpose of my own life, and how the different facets of my life path naturally flowed from there. I then thought about the major pursuits I’m involved in, and the projects I am building currently. All of these aspects build off of each other.

I figured that an org chart might be a solid reference point where new activities and pursuits could be cross referenced, and where purpose could be reviewed, aligned with, or tweaked.

For me, this tool is nice to get a clear idea on structuring the way we make priorities – which basically boils down to:

• What do you value?
• What do you live for?
• What do you yearn to develop, create, experience?
• …What are you doing right now?

Thats what this is about on my end. That’s the kind of integrity and congruence that I believe to be immensely fulfilling.

I’ll run you through how I went about assembling an “org chart” for myself:

(Note: I am writing this as though its a kind of instructional, but of course its just the way I went about it. If you want to recreate an org chart like this for yourself I think you’ll find it useful, but this isn’t the best “method” or anything. To me, this chart is all about what works for me in terms of keeping my highest aims and priorities in line with what I’m doing with my life. If this idea resonates with you, roll with it. I’m not a Guru, I’m just a guy who doesn’t sleep because he reads and writes this stuff constantly.)

 

 

 

1) Highest Purpose

Come to a basic conclusion as to your highest reason for living, your purpose and most high objective.

Be warned, this will be a vague statement. Mine looks something like this “Maximal enjoyment, growth, and experience of richness for myself, with maximal benefit incurred to the world through me.“ I would like this to be my reasoning behind all action, my highest purpose. I aim to align myself with this purpose through my actions and choices.

You might want to emphasize your family or yourself, or you might want to de-emphasize yourself. Its really your own bag, here. 

Think about if you had one sentence that would be the base reason for everything you did. Write a bunch of them until one hits you in the chest. For now, use that one (you might tweak any of this stuff as soon as you feel the genuine pull to do so).

No matter what, make sure that your purpose is as boiled down as possible. In other words, do not mention your job unless your job has some form of immense, innate value in and of itself and serves no higher end. 

This statement will not be something very easily actionable – and by itself this broad statement of higher purpose will not provide you with any plans. However, it will be the basis for any planning you’ll ever make. Think about it, would you ever conscious plan out anything that wasn’t channeled towards your own highest purpose for living?

 

2) Core Pursuits

Determine the core pursuits and areas of focus that constitute the attainment of your highest purpose.

This involves understanding what actually achieves your highest objective. Again, these areas will also be relatively vague, but they will put some kind of form or context to the method in which you will attain and live through your higher purpose. 

For me, these areas include “Enriching Relationships,” “Innovation in Self Development,” and “Logistics / Health.”

For me, relationships of all kinds are the magnifiers of the human experience, and understanding how to manage, form, and cultivate relationships that are ideally enriching is a huge component in general fulfillment.

In terms of a purpose in work and creative endeavor, dedication to understanding and innovating in self development is something that will provide me with an outlet to produce presentations, understandings, and techniques to seriously better their own lives – while at the same time I will learn more about maximizing my own potential and living my life to the fullest on my terms.

The rest has to do with the factors that are required in the attainment of my other two branches off my highest purpose – anything that will help me experience more awesome mutual relationships / friendships / etc…, or anything that will aide in my continued, fulfilling innovation in the field of self development. This includes health, organization, and getting things done in general (which entails delegating tasks, 

You might have many more categories than I do, or you might have the same amount as I. I Would recommend that you group them in a manageable way. If you have kayaking, mountain climbing, water skiing, and snowboarding as 4 separate “core pursuits,” you might think about classifying  then together with “Health,” “Athletics,” or “Adventure.” Keep in mind that even these categories might fit well into other broader categories. 

 

3) Channels of Your Pursuits

Determine individual branches from your core pursuit that are central to you ideally maximizing them in terms of your highest purpose. 

A little wordy, huh? What I’m trying to get across is that each of these broach pursuits will have numerous branches to it, numerous sub-pursuits that are aligned with your highest purpose. If one of you’re core pursuits is Spiritual Development, then maybe your branches involve meditation, living the virtues of your faith, and studying spirituality.

For me, I can say that in terms of “Health / Logistics“, for example, I have three categories: “Health + Function” (includes all details on keeping myself physically and mentally sharp in order to live longer and experience more in terms of enjoyment and be able to contribute more), “Getting Things Done” (this isn’t a reference to the book GTD, it involves the broad category of moving projects and pursuits along with planned, organized grace so that I am able to do as much as I can in an optimally efficient way).

 

4) Ideals to Work Towards

Identify what ideal or set of ideals it is you want to be striving towards with your core pursuits – ensure that this relates to your highest purpose.

This is the base of the org chart diagram. If you look at my example org chart, you’ll see 3 large boxes on the bottom of the image correlating this the 3 core pursuits. I didn’t include text because it would be messy, but you get the point.

These boxes serve to be references to the ideals towards which your projects and pursuits aim. For instance, below the sub-pursuits of my “Logistics / Health” (in my actual diagram) I have a few bullet points that read:

• Increased efficiency and ability to delegate tasks and finish projects
• Spending as little time as possible on tasks that are not ideally enriching on my own terms
• Working towards holistic physical wellness

This is what the “Logistics / Health” category is about. I want to basically be as swift as possible in the processed and tasks that I will be heavily involved in, while looking to more and more channel my life towards the fulfilling experiences and activities that I most want to be enveloped in.

 

Adding Projects

Determine individual projects for your core pursuits, each of which will involve plans and next actions.

Here I’m going to cover the topic of “projects” in brief. If you really want to get into this, check out David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done.” Here goes:

It should be noted that “projects” are not on my sample diagram near the top of this post. I have a “project list” in a text file that I use for this purpose, the org chart itself is just a reference for me to keep myself reminded of and aligned with my purpose.

Once you’ve determined your highest purpose, as well as the branches that will be your pathway to that purpose, determine individual projects (long and short term) that will serve to maximize your efforts in those pursuits towards your purpose.

For instance, in my branch for “Innovation in Self Development,” I have individual projects for establishing a club for Self Development at my university, and a project for developing a presentation on productivity that I plan on giving to students at my school, and many more. Each of these projects relates directly to my ideals and purpose.

 

What its About

I find that if catch more people in the midst of most of their daily actions, you can ask them “Why are you doing this?” and they will not be able to provide any sort of informed response. In my opinion, being purpose-confused is no way to live our lives.

Like I’ve said before, this entire model – for me, anyways – is about being able to reference a system to make my decisions clean and in line with what I’m all about.

Again:

• What do you value?
• What do you live for?
• What do you yearn to develop, create, experience?
• …What are you doing right now?

Those 4 questions might be the most simple breakdown of what this whole idea of modeling is about for me in the first place. Once the purpose, pursuits, and projects are aligned they tend to promote compelling, meaningful action.

This look at self understanding, combined with plan / action / purpose understanding is described in more detail in my article “Principle of Universal Motivation.”

 

Extra tips for doing it yourself:

Q: How many core pursuits and sub-pursuits should I include here?

A: Whatever is manageable and functional for you. You might end up with only 2 core pursuits that you channel your life towards in order to achieve your highest purpose. You might also have 12 sub-pursuits under one core pursuit. Mine might have some categories that are vague, but thats because I like this model to be clean and workable.

Q: What if I want to use categories other than the 4 categories that you included here?

A: By all means, go for it. Highest Purpose, Core Pursuits, Sub-Pursuits, and Ideals are just what I found most useful – it wasn’t sent to me from the heavens on a stone slab. If you want to include your biggest projects into this mix – do it! If you’d rather look at contexts of your life (IE: home, work, etc…) and not pursuits – do it! Do whatever seems to work best in terms of organizing our purpose in a graphic form – or whatever serves as the best reference to keep you on point with your greatest goals and ideals.

 

In order to actually get the most out of this as a model, you will ideally analyze each segment by cross-referencing your ideals and your life. Are your day to day activities aligned with your highest purpose? 

How can you channel yourself more fully into the core pursuits that will enable you to live your purpose? How can you turn your subjective desire for something into a real, finish-able project?

You will likely find times when you would like to edit your model. Projects will always be changing and should be updated weekly at least – but even your highest purpose and core pursuits may need revision over time, and it will be your genuine creativity that will mold them into something you can follow.

Have fun.

 

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