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Elizabeth Knight | On Defining Yourself and Your Mission

·4 mins
Graduate Theory - This article is part of a series.
Episode 39: This Article

Do you know what you want in life?

Do you know why you want it?

In today’s episode, we go deep into creating a more purposeful life.

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Elizabeth Knight is the founder and director of Purposeful. She’s previously been a director at various startups and is now also co-founder of her no-code business, Next Revolution.

Her mission is to help young people find their place in the world.

🀝 Connect with Elizabeth
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LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-knight-009757149/

πŸ‘‡ Episode Takeaways
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Define Your Values
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that is key to living a purposeful life is not actually having any regrets because if you are truly being like authentic and doing your best to live by your values and make decisions that align with those values then you shouldn’t really regret anything

We spoke with Liz about vision boards, and how she has used them to create her vision for the next year.

I thought it was really interesting how Liz went about doing this, finding artefacts and things that she wanted to achieve, but also taking the next step and aligning these things to her values.

I can write a big list of the things I want or what I want my future life to look like, but I’m not so sure which of my values are driving these instincts and desires.

I am certainly not clear on what my values actually are.

And yet how can I set out to achieve something if I am not sure if it maps to the things that I value?

It’s an important distinction and one that I admire in the things that Liz has done. She has plenty of clarity on what exactly she wants, and how that maps to her values.

This enables her to live a life of authenticity, one without regret.

Be Bold
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If I could change anything from that process, it would just be to, be bolder, sooner in the journey and not wait for so much permission for things from people

Do not wait for permission.

As the saying goes,

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Do first, ask for permission later.

Do things you aren’t ‘supposed to do’

Do the things you aren’t qualified for.

Do the things you shouldn’t be able to do.

Push the boundaries.

Spend Time With Yourself
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the biggest differentiator when I look at my journey and the things that I started doing early on, […] was spending time with myself

Spending time with yourself is vital.

Today we spend so much time looking at screens, so much time ‘connected’, that we spend very little time thinking.

Digesting what has occurred during the day and thinking about your plans for the future are two examples that both come from spending time in thought.

Liz shared that this was something that was very beneficial to her, and yet it’s something that we are doing less and less.

Spending time alone, going for walks and engaging with nature is something I strive to do more, to have more time to reflect and away from the chaos of the world.

It’s an easy thing to do, and Liz thinks it is something very powerful.

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πŸ“ Content Timestamps
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00:00 Elizabeth Knight

00:28 Intro

01:13 Vision Boards

09:52 Challenges Young People Face Today

13:57 A New Education System

18:59 What do students undervalue?

26:13 The beginnings of Purposeful

29:50 The Purposeful Journey

34:55 Most Worthwhile Investments

40:47 What does success look like?

43:57 Advice for Graduates

46:18 Connect with Liz

47:01 Outro

Graduate Theory - This article is part of a series.
Episode 39: This Article

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Watch the conversation Graduate Theory Open YouTube β†— Read the full transcript β†’ This episode is the final episode of the first season of Graduate Theory.

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