Once you have a clear idea of your Identity, then you can begin the process of finding and stating your Purpose. Purposes arise from Identity, and power Goals.
The concept of Purpose is a core concept in karatedō and the foundation of other core concepts like jibunrashisa (identity) and mokuteki (goals).
Together, along with some related concepts, Identity, Purpose, and Goals are part of the Cycle of Four lectures. For some background on that, please see this Parent's Guide.
For a complete discussion of Ikigai 生き甲斐, please read this article in preparation of working through the exercises we'll discuss below.
Goju Karate
Purpose Drives Happiness and Satisfaction.
In addition, you can see previous Parents Guides in this series:
Goju Karate
Parents Guide for IDENTITY
Core Ideas about Purpose
Ikigai 生き甲斐 is pronounced “i-kuh guy” and like every technical term or concept, it's important for students to learn the word and how to say it. (It is, however, perfectly fine to also use the English translation of Purpose once the concept has been introduced).
A few important ideas for everyone to understand about Identity:
- Purpose isn't a goal: a purpose drives goals
- Purpose is usually is expressed in the form of "I want to accomplish _______ for _______ (some other person or group)"
- Generally, you have three to five purposes.
- Identity statements should encompass every element of identity possible.
Here's an example that illustrates these characteristics:
I have two Purposes:
Be the Best Boy I Can Be
I will be a great son and an amazing brother for my Family. I will do my best to help my parents, and be a role model to my little sister.
Be a Great Student
My main job right now is learning and working hard to become smarter. I will learn as much as I can in order to prepare myself for when I grow up and I will accomplish great things.
Why Purpose is Important
Purpose will drive all the goals that you create later. A goal without a purpose is mostly just wishful thinking. A purpose creates momentum and gives you strong energy to keep going forward when it's hard to keep working.
The purpose of this exercise – creating a list of purposes – is to think about what is important to you. And more specifically, what are the "missions" that you can embark upon that will result in you becoming better (ren ma).
Doing this exercise will give your young karateka the beginning of a map to guide them forward. They already have a compass direction from the previous exercise (the identity statement) in this series, and the next one will give them the rest of the map (goals).
The Exercise
Every student in any kids division – Juniors, Youth, Mentor, and Teens – received Three Purpose cards. (In subsequent weeks, they'll receive a number of Goal cards.)
The Purpose card has a brief introduction to defining, describing, and writing out a Purpose (you have most of this information already, in this article) and the back has a convenient workspace for writing the name and description of the Purpose.
It's not entirely necessary to use the cards as the sole place to record and work with Purposes. Teens, for instance, may be more comfortable working on a tablet or computer.
However, having an object that is a physical representation of a Purpose is very handy for younger kids, and even Adults and Teens benefit from this.
Regardless of age group, spend time talking about the importance of having clearly defined purposes, and discuss the characteristics of a well-crafted Purpose.
How to Choose Purposes
Click or tap the division below to learn about different plans for writing an Identity statement:
Juniors
Juniors may not have enough writing skills to actually write down a Purpose with a description. So they can follow one or more of these approaches:
1. Write words that represent the concepts. For example, write "strong", "smart", "math", "karate", "tell stories", "Batman" etc. Think of this as a "word cloud" of ideas that represent his or her identity.
- Write a few simple sentences: "I am smart" etc.
- Draw a picture of themselves, with perhaps a word or two around the picture.
In addition, Purpose at this level is going to be simple. See the ones in the sample earlier in this article, and use them as a template.
One of the key points to make: feeling accomplished and having a purpose makes us feel good. Talk about how it feels to have purpose and accomplish things.
Note that at this age, it may be conceptually challenging to see the difference between a goal and a purpose. Try to explain the difference, but don't worry if that doesn't sink in.
Youth
Students in the Youth Division should have no problem writing simple sentences. Treat the exercise as crafting two or three bullet-points, and structure each sentence in the form of "My Purpose is ___________ because ________"
Once you've settled on two or three, then discuss these purposes so there is a sense of "mission" and talk about what it would feel like to accomplish goals within these missions.
Goals will be covered in more depth later, but talk about the difference between accomplishing a goal and working on a purpose, and note that one purpose will likely have a few goals attached to it.
Mentor
Mentor Division students all can write coherent sentences, but they may need help in focusing on the task at hand to arrive at two to three purposes.
Keep in mind that the entire exercise doesn't have to be completed in one sitting. Perhaps spread it out over a few days, and then each time you resume, review what has already been written.
Treat the exercise as crafting two or three bullet-points, and structure each sentence in the form of "My Purpose is ___________ because ________"
Once you've settled on two or three, then discuss these purposes so there is a sense of "mission" and talk about what it would feel like to accomplish goals within these missions.
Goals will be covered in more depth later, but talk about the difference between accomplishing a goal and working on a purpose, and note that one purpose will likely have a few goals attached to it.
Other than focus, Mentor kids will produce fine Purposes: they've been doing meditation exercises for several weeks preparing them.
Teens
Spend time discussing all the concepts inherent in Purpose. Perhaps spend some time discussing why having a Purpose is important. Draw comparisons to other teens that they may know that don't seem to have a purpose or a direction -- negative examples can sometimes be more powerful than positive ones!
However, don't be surprised if they'd like to just do this on their own: that's a good thing. As Teens become older and define a sense of their Identity, they will also start to get an idea of what their Purposes can be. This is the beginning of "growing up" -- and that's a wonderful thing.
Still, even if they do this exercise on their own, have discussions of Purpose. Talk about some of your Purposes; discuss how the purposes that you have, and they might develop, are also based on the Family's Identity that you all share.
The Next Step
A life lived without Purpose is indeed an empty, unfulfilling life. This is a crucially important concept that should be intuitive to everyone, but sadly, is not.
This set of exercises is therefore a very important one. Once you've done the appropriate exercises with your young Karateka, continue coming back to discussions about Purpose, and the purposes that they selected and put on their Purpose cards.
Keep this exercise alive by coming back to it over the coming months!
