According to William Damon, author of A Path to Purpose, purpose is “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self.” Simply put, it is the reason why you get up in the morning.
Every people have different purpose in life. It could be one of the following: success, having meaningful relationships, giving back to the community, to be happy.
Why is finding your life’s purpose important? Research shows that people that are living purposeful lives are happier and live longer (healthily). Those are two good reasons why it is essential to know your purpose in life. To help you get started, here are some guide questions that may lead you to discover and define your life’s purpose:
- What do you truly enjoy doing?
- What activity would you like to do just for the fun of it?
- How do you want to spend your time?
- What is important to you?
- What world problem do you care about?
- What scares you the most?
- What struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate?
(Mark Manson 2023)
Now you might be sitting right now, pondering and coming up with really good answers to these questions. But coming up with the answers is still not going to help you live out your purposeful life. You have to get up and take action. Make that big jump—or maybe just one small step—toward your purpose. What is important is taking that one singular action that will propel you to live out your purpose in life.
For most people, finding one’s purpose is not a one-time eureka moment. It is through trial and error that we discover our purpose in life. It is not done by doing the same thing over and over again. It is trying out new things and discovering what makes you want to get up in the morning.
That said, can our purpose in life change? Yes. Our sense of purpose changes as our life experiences shapes us. What drives us in our twenties may not be the same when we reach our forties or fifties. Our purpose can change many times over in our life.
But one thing we can never allow is to lose our purpose in life. We need to have a reason to wake up in the morning and to keep us moving. As Michel de Montaigne has said, “The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.”
Sources:
Hogo. “What Is Your Purpose in Life.” Last modified January 29, 2023. https://www.trackinghappiness.com/life-purpose-examples/.
Manson, Mark. “7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose.” Accessed February 5, 2023. https://markmanson.net/life-purpose
Philip, James. “Understand that Your Purpose Is Constantly Changing.” Last modified June 21, 2017. https://medium.com/thrive-global/understand-that-your-purpose-is-constantly-changing-7528d932ce49.