Purposeful by Kumanu

This app was a game-changer for me. It’s based on the latest behavioral and neuroscience and is constantly improving. Interestingly, I didn’t feel like I lacked a sense of purpose when I tried it. I was pretty clear on what was important to me and what my life meant. I was just having a little trouble sleeping at night and staying focused in the workday and was looking for a bit of help. Purposeful helped with that and more. It really enables me to focus on actions for living more purposefully. I feel more energized, on track, and happy. I just feel great.

I kinda initially thought the idea was really for someone who was still working and busy in organization. I’ve been disabled for sometime and in chronic pain. There have been very low times when I have blamed myself for the injuries others have caused, and I’ve been beating myself up for it, feeling without worth or value, without a voice and without a purpose. Purposeful actually is an amazing concept. It gives you a word each day. It could be ‘strength’ or ‘mindfulness’ or ‘love’ or ‘communication’. Purposeful gives examples of how incorporating these words into one’s life can help us identify our strengths; and therefore, open our eyes to what purpose we can have. It gives prompts and ideas of how to add that word into your life in some way, shape or form - perhaps just by smiling at a stranger, holding the door for a random person and saying ‘thank you’. It’ll ask if you’re willing to try it for the day and then it’ll catch up with you later in the day to see if you’ve done it - it’s a little bit of life coach but also helping you maintain a responsibility for your actions and plans. It’s a little bit like a friend who you can pour out all your frustrations to, and know that the friend won’t blab your business as soon as s/he can. It’s a little bit of encouragement that we all need each day. I would highly recommend to anyone who is feeling less than, feeling like their life has stopped having meaning or need a reminder to focus on an area where you can improve your understanding of yourself and therefore make appropriate adjustments to be the person you want to be. I certainly have been on the brink and I see a psychiatrist and psychologist, but this is a private moment essentially with myself where I can meditate, if you will, on the word of the day and do my very best to incorporate that word as fully as I am able.

I found this app helpful when I was trying to figure out what career I wanted to do next. I liked how it gave choices on what you wanted to focus on. I think it would be awesome if there could be two things someone can focus on for the day (for example-loving and productive), and reminders to finish out the day tasks. A wish list item for the app; if you could customize it more to focus on either your career or a personal development task. Other than that, the app is a very useful tool.