Buzz
If you're feeling dissatisfied or unhappy with your life, it might be time to reflect on your life’s purpose. This will be a challenging journey of self-reflection, and the results may lead you to believe that you've been off track all along. But be brave and optimistic; it's never too late to start living a meaningful and joyful life. Find your purpose and take action to live the life you truly desire.
Steps
Consider your passions and interests
Keep a Purpose Journal. A journal can be a valuable tool to help you make changes or gain new perspectives in your life. Take a journal and write down your thoughts about your purpose, passions, and joys in life.
- Don't worry about writing perfectly; no one else will read your journal except you. What matters is that you write honestly and openly, regardless of your writing style.
Ask Yourself. When you start evaluating your purpose in life, it’s crucial to reflect on what you enjoy doing, what you are currently doing, and what needs to change for you to live a more purposeful life. Here are some questions to consider:
- What are the happiest moments of your life?
- What are you truly proud of about yourself?
- What qualities in others do you admire the most?
- What makes you feel alive and full of energy?
- How happy do you feel on a day-to-day basis?
- If you only had one week left to live, how would you spend it?
- What “should do” tasks overshadow your “want to do” activities?
- If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
- What change would make your life happier?
List your interests and passions. Write down the activities you’re willing to dedicate time to. These activities may relate to your work, personal life, or family life. They should bring you joy—things you genuinely love doing. These are things you enjoy, not just for the paycheck, and they should be activities you lose track of time doing.
Write down what you cherish. The people and things you hold dear play a significant role in your life and how you manage your time. Recognizing what you truly love will help you focus on your passions and purpose. You may get closer to your true passions when you focus on what you love with all your heart, without thinking logically.
- If your love is mainly for your family, you might feel unfulfilled if your life is dominated by work, causing you to be away from them most of the time.
Find your joy. This is similar to identifying your interests and passions but with a more focused approach. To find your joy, think about what makes you feel truly happy. Recall the last time you laughed uncontrollably or smiled so much your jaw hurt.
- It may help to think about the games you loved as a child. Is there a game (or similar activity) that could bring you back to your childhood joy?
Use a backward timeline plan. Imagine you’re 90 years old, reflecting on your life, completely satisfied that you’ve lived a meaningful and fulfilling life. Picture what that life looks like, and then work backward from that point to determine what actions you need to take each decade leading up to 90 to live a complete life.
- For example, imagine you’re 90, surrounded by grandchildren, happy with your retirement after a successful career that helped the community, living in a large house with vast land around it.
- This image suggests you want a family, you want a job that helps others, and you like the idea of living independently in the countryside.
- This backward plan might lead you to decide to have children by age 28, pursue a career as a social worker by age 25, and prioritize your health to remain independent in your old age.
Step outside of your own self
Define your humanitarian purpose. This is a significant question that requires time and reflection. Once you have clearly defined what your humanitarian purpose is, you can narrow down the scope of your ideas and apply them to your life.
- For instance, you might decide that your humanitarian purpose is to help others live better lives in this world. In that case, your personal goal would be to contribute to community development, and you can identify the steps needed to achieve this aim.
Find people who inspire you. Think about those who you believe truly have the ability to inspire. They might be global leaders, historical figures, or people present in your own life. Consider what makes them capable of inspiring, and look for the actions or special qualities in them that you wish to learn from.
- You can write down this list in your purpose journal. Remember, you don’t have to admire or follow every aspect of that person – just take the qualities that you also want to develop.
Step out of your comfort zone. Stepping out of your comfort zone also means you will gain a broader perspective of the world and the people who live in it. We often get caught up in our daily routines, but you'll have the chance to see a larger world once you break free from the bubble around you. With this fresh awareness, you can better understand your position in the world and evaluate your passions and goals objectively.
- Once you understand more about the people around you, decide how you want to interact with them. Determine how you want others to perceive you in relation to them, and then strive to become that person.
Ask your friends about your strengths. If you're struggling to assess yourself, or if you simply want another perspective, ask a few close friends what they believe your strengths are. They may point out things about you that you might not notice yourself.
- For example, you might not realize that your actions are inspiring your friends to follow suit. A friend might say to you, 'I think you're great at diving into plans without waiting for others to initiate.' You can include this strength in your purpose.
Stop thinking in absolutes. Many people believe their purpose (or career, passion) revolves around just one thing. But sometimes, our true passion lies in balancing multiple interests to fulfill different needs and desires. Realizing that your purpose (if you limit yourself to one goal) can encompass many aspects will make you more adaptable when setting your own objectives.
- For example, if your life goal is 'to bring happiness to yourself and others,' you can set smaller goals like 'being satisfied with your job, showing patience with family, bringing joy to your children, and listening more to friends.' All of these contribute to your larger goal.
- The advantage of having multiple objectives is that if one area of your life progresses slowly or faces difficulties, you won’t feel completely off track. For instance, if your career isn’t going as expected but your family and social life are thriving, you’ll still feel you're on the right path toward happiness.
Define your purpose. After evaluating yourself and expanding your perspective on the world around you, identify your life’s purpose. Remember, it’s okay if this purpose changes over time. What matters is that, in the present, you have a clear goal and direction, even if you later adjust it as you evolve and mature.
- Once you have defined your life’s purpose, write it down. Place it somewhere visible, so you can read it daily and remind yourself of the things you wish to achieve. Each day, ask yourself if you’ve completed tasks that move you closer to that purpose.
Take action toward your purpose
Write your personal mission statement. Another way to think about your life’s purpose is to transform it into a personal mission statement. This allows you to frame your goal in a more action-oriented manner.
Practice meditation to set your goals. Meditation or mindfulness yoga can be helpful methods for setting goals, whether for the day, week, year, or even for your life. Clearing your mind and visualizing the life you want can help you take gradual steps toward the life you aspire to have.
Stop trying to please others. Even if your goals involve social aspects, constantly trying to please those around you will only hinder, not help, your overall purpose. It is important to ensure that your actions in life are your own choices, not those of the people around you.
- People often don't know what could truly make them happy. So, even if your goal is to bring happiness to yourself and others, meeting everyone's immediate demands won't help you live in alignment with your own purpose.
List the actions that will lead you to your goal. Write down the actions you can take to move directly toward your life purpose. Even if you're not ready to act on them just yet, identifying the steps to achieving a purposeful life can help guide you in the right direction.
- For example, if your current career doesn't align with your life purpose, you might write 'find a new job' on your list. However, you might not leave your current job right away until you secure another, as you still have bills to pay and a family to support.
- Break your list into short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.
Take the actions that will help you fulfill your life purpose. Once you have identified the necessary steps to achieve your life purpose, take those actions. Sometimes, just taking action can provide clarity and greater happiness instead of overthinking everything.
Review your journal regularly. It's important to revisit your journal regularly to read and review the lists you've created, so you can adjust, add, or remind yourself of your purpose. Over time, you may find yourself swept up in the comforting routine of daily life. While there's nothing wrong with that, you'll feel more fulfilled if you strive towards the purpose you've set for yourself.
Avoid activities that go against or distract from your purpose. It's undoubtedly difficult to avoid every activity that doesn't align with your life goal. You might not enjoy doing laundry, but sometimes you still need to do it if you want to bring happiness to yourself and others. However, you can avoid actions that go against your purpose.
- For instance, if your goal is to bring happiness to yourself and others, you should avoid saying hurtful things to others. You should also steer clear of things that upset you, such as being around people who make you feel dissatisfied with yourself.
Advice
- Remember that we often discover our purpose along the way. Typically, we can only say someone's life had purpose after they have passed away, based on the events and choices they made throughout their life.
- As you devote more time to fulfilling your purpose, you will find it easier to make decisions by asking yourself, “Does this opportunity align with my passions, actions, and inspirations?” Over time, you will experience a more purposeful life and become happier and healthier than ever before.
- We often view our purpose as the answer to everything in the present moment or as something that can only be achieved in the future. Although our purpose in life may ultimately be realized far in the future, start NOW and find a way to begin.
- Sometimes, recognizing what you don't want is more helpful (and easier) than knowing exactly what you do want. If necessary, start by listing the things you don't want to do (or become), and then identify what you do want.
