Have you ever felt adrift in your life? Have you ever had those moments where you questioned why you’re here, what you’re meant to do, and what’s coming next for you? If so, you’re not alone. Finding your purpose grounds or roots you down even during the most challenging times.
Researchers say having a purpose increases your quality of life, enhances your physical and mental health, and decreases your chances of dying early or having a stroke.
But how do you find your purpose?
Asking questions
Trying to figure out why you’re here on this planet might be an existentially loaded question, and quite frankly, an unnecessary one for finding your purpose. The truth is that you’re not required to have one single purpose in your lifetime. It can fluctuate between the seasons of your life as you grow, expand, and experience new challenges that change you as a person. The goal is to find a purpose now that gives your life a sense of meaning and direction and realize that it will evolve as you grow.
Now that there’s no more pressure to find one singular purpose, let’s hone in on what you can actually do to develop your current purpose.
The first thing you want to do is consider how you want to feel about your place in the world. When you lay down to go to sleep at night, how do you want to think about yourself and what you’ve done that day? What are some things that you would like to have accomplished? What would you like to try? How would you like your actions to affect other people?
Is there something that brings you joy and fulfillment when you do it? Make a list of these things.
The more questions you ask about what makes your spark, the clearer your vision will become.
Looking outside of yourself
You can also look at the praise you’ve garnered from others. What do they tell you you’re good at doing? How do other people say you’ve affected their lives?
Looking at the strengths and interests you’ve considered both from yourself and others, you can piece together the beginning of your purpose. You can create test runs, like a hobby or volunteer work, to see what you like and what you don’t. But to be clear, a life-purpose is not necessarily a job.
Purpose can also come out of hardship, challenge, or suffering. There are people who have suffered and do not want to see others suffer in the same way, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving or Battle Against Cancer. You can turn your own suffering or someone you care about whose suffering has affected you, into a quest to shift what is possible. This is why purpose is so powerful.
Purpose as a mission
Sometimes a life purpose is something as simple as inspiring others. In this example, inspiring others is a purpose that can be applied to all areas of your life, not only your career. You can inspire people at home or everywhere by living authentically and sharing your story.
Your life purpose isn’t the same as a goal, which looks more structured. An example of a goal would be to become a senior partner by 38 years old and retire by 45. An example of a life purpose would be to use your expertise or skills to make a difference for an important cause or issue. See the difference? Goals are structured with milestones that can be measured. Life purpose is like a mission that is bigger than yourself and you carry this mission into all of your actions and relationships and it is an inner compass that gives deeper meaning to how you make decisions, shape your behavior and determine your goals, to live a fulfilling life.