When people ask me about why I am so focused on helping them find their purpose, one of my primary answers is that I don’t want them to get distracted.

One of my friends was surfing with some of his buddies off the Oregon coast, where the water can be wild and the rip tides furious.  One of his friends was not familiar with the water in this part of the country and, because he wasn’t paying close attention to what was going on around him, he was swept out to sea and almost didn’t make it back to shore.

This story is a physical example of what can happen to us when we don’t have a destination — a strong purpose — that we are focused on each and every day.  Life throws lots of problems and choices at us every single day, and unless we have a purpose through which to filter these choices, it becomes very easy to be distracted and drawn away from focusing on accomplishing our highest priorities.

People without a purpose are like a ship without a rudder — it gets driven wherever the wind and waves are going, and it is without the ability to control its direction.  Don’t be that ship.  Have a strong purpose and stay focused on achieving it.