Stage 4 of 20
Purpose
Decide what you want your life to accomplish. Create your definite chief aim and write it down.
Core Question
What am I trying to accomplish with my life?
What This Stage Teaches
- The difference between a wish, a goal, and a purpose
- Hill's Definite Chief Aim
- Life purpose vs. 10-year vision vs. 3-year objective vs. 1-year objective vs. current primary objective
- What you're willing to sacrifice reveals whether a goal is real
Skill to Develop
Definiteness: moving from "I want to be successful" to "I want to accomplish X, by Y date, because Z matters to me."
The Biblical Framework
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WITHOUT VISION, PEOPLE PERISH
“Where there is no vision, the people are uncontrolled; but he who keeps the law will be happy.”
Proverbs 29:18 -
COUNT THE COST BEFORE YOU BUILD
“For which of you, desiring to put up a tower, does not first give much thought to the price, if he will have enough to make it complete? For fear that if he makes a start and is not able to go on with it to the end, all who see it will be laughing at him, and saying, This man made a start at building and is not able to make it complete.”
Luke 14:28-30 -
WRITE THE VISION DOWN
“And the Lord gave me an answer, and said, Put the vision in writing and make it clear on stones, so that the reader may go quickly.”
Habakkuk 2:2 -
LET GOD ESTABLISH YOUR STEPS
“A man may make designs for his way, but the Lord is the guide of his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 -
PURSUE A PURPOSE WORTH THE COST
“Brothers, it is clear to me that I have not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before, I go forward to the mark, even the reward of the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
Hill vs. Scripture
Hill
Define a definite chief aim, precisely and in writing.
Scripture
Write the vision down and pursue it with your whole strength, but hold it with open hands, because you plan the course, God establishes the steps.
The Hard Questions
- If I had to write my purpose in one sentence, right now, what would it say?
- Is my current goal a wish, a goal, or a purpose, by Hill's definition?
- What am I willing to sacrifice to accomplish this?
- Does this purpose only serve me, or does it also serve people beyond me?
- What would I regret most: pursuing this and failing, or never trying?
Exercise
Five Horizons
Write five short statements: your life purpose, your 10-year vision, your 3-year objective, your 1-year objective, and your current primary objective. Make each one specific enough that you'd know if you achieved it.
PURPOSE: Turn a vague wish into a definite, written aim specific enough to organize your life around.
Stories for This Stage
From Scripture
Nehemiah hears that Jerusalem's walls are broken down and its gates burned, and it wrecks him enough that he weeps and fasts for days. But grief alone doesn't rebuild anything. He goes to the king with a specific request, a specific timeline, and letters securing the materials he'll need. Once he arrives in Jerusalem, he inspects the damage himself before telling anyone his plan, then organizes the people section by section against a wall that had sat broken for over a century. The whole project, from definite aim to finished wall, takes 52 days. Nehemiah 2:1-8.
My Story
For a long time, my version of purpose was really just a feeling: I wanted to build something of my own, something that would eventually give me the freedom to focus on helping people, specifically underprivileged people, immigrants like me, who want to work and build a better life and end up making the world a little better in the process. It was real, but it wasn't definite. There was no business, no plan, no date attached to it, just a direction I believed in.
That changed when my wife and I decided to move our family from New York to North Carolina. The move gave the wish a deadline it had never had before. It was no longer "someday I'll build something of my own." It became specific: start a business, in Charlotte, by a set point in time. Once it had that shape, I couldn't treat it as background noise anymore.
So instead of waiting until after the move to figure it out, I started actively building the business before we ever relocated. The definite aim did what the vague wish never could: it forced me to act ahead of the deadline instead of after it. That business became Valverax, and everything since has grown out of that decision to make the wish specific enough to actually work toward, including the part of it that's still ahead of me: using what I build to help people like me get the chance to work and contribute.