Mark Twain said the two most important days in your life are the day you’re born and the day you discover why. I agree—and I’ll add a third: the day you start living that why on purpose. Not with fanfare or a marching band. Not with a dramatic career pivot on LinkedIn. With small, faithful steps that add up quietly until one day you notice your life feels like you.

When people talk about purpose, it can sound like a lightning bolt: a voice from the clouds, a perfect title, a five-year plan wrapped with a bow. That’s not how it arrived for me. It started as a tug—subtle, insistent, the feeling that I wanted to serve women leaders more deeply and tell the truth about work and life and everything in between. The tug didn’t hand me a new job description. It simply asked for my next right step. So I took it. Then another. Then another. Looking back, the road is obvious; living it forward felt like inching the steering wheel, half a degree at a time, toward home.

If you’re thinking, “I should already know my why,” exhale. Purpose isn’t a pop quiz you missed; it’s something we uncover in motion. We learn it by paying attention to what lights us up and what gives others life when we do it. If you’re still exploring, you’re in the majority—welcome. And if you’re thinking, “It’s too late,” let me be lovingly direct: if you’ve got breath, you’ve got purpose. Later in life often means distilled—less noise, more wisdom, clearer impact.

I love how John Maxwell talks about intentional living: decide in advance who you will be and what you will give. That idea pairs beautifully with the SparkLife formula I teach: values, non-negotiables, superpowers, and passion. Think of values as your compass—steadying you when the calendar gets loud. Non-negotiables are your guardrails—protecting what matters so your best isn’t always the leftovers. Your superpowers are how you move through the world—clarity maker, calm bringer, belief spark. And passion? It’s purpose with traction—the quiet fuel that keeps Tuesday from feeling like a rerun.

But let’s be honest about the fear that sneaks in when we tiptoe toward purpose. We worry we’ll have to blow up our lives, disappoint people, or wait for perfect timing. Sometimes big change is right; more often, your why lives closer than you think—inside projects you choose at work, in a mentoring conversation after hours, in an experiment you run on a Saturday morning because you can’t not. People may not understand at first. They don’t have your lens. That’s okay. Not naming your passion quietly disappoints you, and you are a person worth not disappointing.

So how do we start? Not with a grand gesture, but with attention. For a few days, notice where time disappears in the best way. Notice when you feel most alive and least performative. Notice who breathes easier because you showed up. Don’t fix anything yet. Just notice. Your why leaves fingerprints.

From there, choose one small expression of each SparkLife element and let it live inside your real calendar. If values say family matters, protect one unrushed dinner this week and let emails wait their turn. If a non-negotiable is deep work, block thirty minutes like payroll and honor it once. If a superpower is turning chaos into clarity, volunteer to simplify the project no one wants to touch and ship a clean outline. If passion is developing women leaders, offer a short coaching circle over lunch and see how your energy responds. None of this is flashy. All of it is faithful.

You might still wonder, “What if I pick the wrong thing?” There isn’t one perfect thing—there’s a direction. Write down the mix of interests that tug at you, even if they look unrelated: animals, organizing, public speaking; numbers, mentoring, design. Share the list with a trusted friend and ask, “Where do you see intersections worth testing?” Fresh eyes can reveal combinations you’ve never considered—therapy dogs in schools, organizing drives for shelters, mentoring first-time managers on feedback. Pick one, try it for a month, and pay attention to the before-and-after of your energy. Doors opening is data; dread is data too.

And about timing: waiting for perfect conditions is an expensive delay. It’s like promising your kids a vacation and then never choosing a destination. Intentional living is choosing a direction and pulling out of the driveway—even if you reroute once you hit construction. You don’t need a blank calendar or a trust fund to begin. You need one sincere yes and the courage to protect it.

Here’s what I want for you: a life where your values steer, your guardrails protect, your superpowers carry the message, and your passion keeps the engine warm—especially on ordinary days. A life where you can look back and say, “I didn’t admire my why from a distance. I walked it out.” Not perfectly. Faithfully.

If you’re feeling the tug today, consider this your nudge. Name what matters. Protect a pocket of time. Offer your superpower where it will bless someone else. Let passion whisper, “This way,” and take one step—half an inch on the wheel will do. The third day doesn’t announce itself. You’ll simply realize, mid-week, that you’re already living it.

I’m cheering for you. If your team, women’s network, or upcoming event wants to help people find and live their Spark—values, superpowers, non-negotiables, and passion translated into action—I’d love to bring SparkLife to your room. My contact info is in the show notes. Until then, lead with clarity, lead with courage, and definitely, lead with Spark.