Many people are drifting through life with a feeling of emptiness. One major reason is that their lives lack purpose. Having a purpose can provide direction and add fulfillment to someone's life.
But it can be hard to even define purpose in life. Even if you define it, you still need to figure out your own purpose before you can pursue it.
With that in mind, here is a good definition for your purpose in life:
It is whatever you should be doing with your life.
This definition helps but doesn't clarify it to its fullest extent. For starters, it doesn't tell you what you should be doing with your life. That's okay because that is something that you should figure out for yourself.
It doesn't even give any clues to figure out what you should be doing with your life either. This will come from knowing yourself and understanding a few guidelines. So, here are some guidelines and some things to do to figure out your purpose:
Guidelines:
You don't need to change the world
When many people look for their purpose in life, they think that they need to change the world. But this is far from true. It doesn't need to go down in history. In fact, it doesn't even need to be charitable, although that would be nice. It just needs to motivate you to get up in the morning and take action.
For example:
You don't have to be a pop star for singing to be your purpose.
It doesn't need to be your job
Many people think of life's purpose as a job or a career. This is because they, for good or bad, identify themselves with their careers. Although your purpose can be a career, it can also be a hobby. a cause, or even a role in your family or friendships.
Now sometimes your job is part of your purpose. One example would be if you need the income to support what you want to do.
It doesn't need to be singular
Having a purpose doesn't mean that it needs to be your only one. Many people achieve fulfillment from doing more than one thing. What matters is that you can manage your time to fulfill your different purposes. It also helps if your purposes make it easier to fulfill each other.
Example:
A traveler who is also a photographer has 2 purposes that support each other.
Things to do:
Identify your talents
Raw talent is not the only thing that should define your purpose. But it is good to consider. While passion and work ethic will make you more effective, adding raw talent will help.
Identify your passions
Your passions are the things that you pursue with enthusiasm. Pursuing them doesn't feel like work because you enjoy doing it so much. In fact, passion will often determine your skills even more than raw talent. This is because passion makes it fun to practice and improve your skills. When your life's purpose involves your passion, you will get great enjoyment out of life.
Example:
If you love carving wood, then it will be more fun to practice being a wood sculptor.
Identify your ideal future
Knowing your ideal future helps you to find your direction in life. This includes things like your goals, your dreams, and your aspirations. Your goals, dreams, and aspirations must be consistent with your purpose in life. If not, then either your goals, dreams, and aspirations must change, or your purpose must change. Otherwise, they will detract from each other.
Identify your values
Your values include the standards that you use to judge character. They also include what you believe to be important in life. You need to know your values because they are important to whatever you do in life. Your purpose must be consistent with your values. Otherwise, your life will lack fulfillment and your path will lead to burnout.
Example:
If you support animal rights, then you shouldn't work on a fur farm.
Make it a journey and not a destination
It helps if you make your purpose a journey instead of a destination. If your purpose is a destination such as a goal, then you will need to find a new purpose after you reach it. Otherwise, you could achieve all your goals and still not be happy or fulfilled. Instead, you would feel the emptiness in a life devoid of direction. The same thing has happened to many successful people. The only cure is for them to find new goals. But if your purpose is a journey, then you can pursue it for the rest of your life.
Example:
If your purpose is to get your medical license, then it ends once you have it. But if your purpose is to heal people, then you can do it for a lifetime.
Make sure it is your purpose and not someone else's
You are the only one who can live your life. So you might as well live it on your terms. You should base your purpose on your values, passions, talents, and aspirations. For this reason, you should never let anyone else dictate how you should live your life. If you are choosing a career to fulfill your purpose, you should choose passion over prestige. Passion is about what you feel, while prestige is what others think.
Ask yourself the right questions
You must know yourself if you are to find your purpose in life. You can learn much about yourself from life experiences and how you deal with them. You can also learn about yourself by the questions that you ask yourself. Although the answers can change, the questions will stay the same. So here are some questions along with what they can help you to learn about yourself:
What are you good at?
This is a good question for identifying your talents. It can also help to identify your passion. This is because passion can be at least as important as talent in developing skills.
What would you do if you never had to work again?
This is an excellent question for figuring out your passion. Doing something even when you don't have to do it shows that you get great enjoyment out of doing it. Also, it shows that you don't think of it as work and you don't intend to retire from it.
When were you the happiest and what were you doing then?
This is another possible way to figure out your passion. If you know what you were doing when you were the happiest, then you can figure out what you enjoy doing. The question also takes a broader look at your life in general. By doing so, it gives you a chance to understand what makes you happy.
What do you do that makes you feel good about yourself?
This is a great question to identify your values. Your actions only make you feel good about yourself if they align with your values. Also, your actions that align with your values tend to bring fulfillment.
What type of people do you admire?
This is another great question to identify your values. This is because you are more likely to admire people who reflect your values. They embody some of your best qualities. This question is also good for identifying your goals, dreams, or aspirations. You often admire people who have achieved the lifestyle that you want to live.
What would you like to see yourself doing in the future?
This is the most direct question to identify your goals, dreams, or aspirations. The answer should determine your actions to achieve the future that you want. Your goals provide the direction for your short-term future. But your dreams and aspirations provide direction for your long-term future. Your purpose should allow you to achieve these.
What must you have in life to feel good about it?
This question identifies what you must include in your life to feel happy and fulfilled. So your purpose must allow you to include these things in your life. If your purpose brings some of them into your life, then that is even better.
What do you feel like you were meant to do?
This is the most comprehensive question for finding your purpose in life. It sums up the meaning of all the previous questions. If you can answer this question, then you already know your purpose in life. Your next step is to do it. Also, the word "meant" correctly implies that your purpose helps to add meaning to your life.
In summary, here are some guidelines and some things to do to figure out your purpose:
Guidelines:
You don't need to change the world.
It doesn't need to be your job.
It doesn't need to be singular.
Things to do:
Identify your talents.
Identify your passions.
Identify your ideal future.
Identify your values.
Make it a journey and not a destination.
Make sure it is your purpose and not someone else's.
Ask yourself the right questions.
Your purpose should be consistent with your values and your desired future. Otherwise, it will not be fulfilling. It also helps if your purpose aligns with your talents and passions. That will increase your enjoyment and effectiveness. Also, asking yourself the right questions will help you to find your purpose. Whatever the case, your purpose must be your own.