How Do You Find Your Life Purpose?
A lot of people I talk to are struggling to find their passion or purpose life (I spent years searching, too). But it doesn’t have to be such a painful experience. You don’t have to feel stuck, lost, and frustrated.
I know this feeling all too well–I’ve experienced it at several points in my career, and I’ve witnessed other people wrestle with their own lack of purpose in every organization I’ve worked in. I know how debilitating it can feel (as well as how costly it can be to an organization and its culture) when a huge number of people are disengaged from their current work but don’t know what they want instead, nor what to do about it.
More than anything, I appreciate how people are realizing that they want more from their work. Our entire society is growing in consciousness, slowly and steadily. This cultural shift towards doing more meaningful work, where one feels self-expressed and passionate, is an important indicator of our growth.
I believe where most people get held up (and where I was stuck, too) is in how we approach cultivating passion and purpose, and I want to help more people rethink these concepts so they can free up their energy to take action–naturally and joyfully.
One of the biggest shifts I experienced in this domain was seeing my life purpose as something that I am creating instead of finding.
One problem with believing we need to find our purpose is that we’ll never know if a certain path we choose is the right one–our ultimate purpose–or if it was a decoy and our true purpose remains hidden.
This is especially an issue when whatever path we have chosen becomes difficult and we encounter challenges we’ve never faced before. If we subscribe to a belief that life purpose has to be found, then it’s easy to assume all of the adversity we’re experiencing is a sign that the path we chose wasn’t our true life purpose. All of this results in doubt and very often the abandonment of the current path in search of a new one (as well as plenty of doubt, frustration and confusion in between).
Instead, I would encourage you to consider your purpose to be something you can create. Consider, even, that you’re already living your life purpose. Everything you have experienced and are currently experiencing is of your creation. You’re in the driver’s seat, and are already responsible for the choices that have led you to where you are.
Of course, if you’re not fully satisfied or fulfilled with what you’re currently creating, then it’s certainly understandable that you would want to create your purpose with greater consciousness and awareness.
And for that, I recommend doing everything you can to rekindle and own your creative potential. There are virtually infinite ways to do this, and here are two self-directed resources that first come to mind:
#1: The book “Creating the Impossible” by Michael Neill
I love the spirit of this book. It’s meant to be fun, playful and imaginative. If you actually do the exercises in the book, you will almost certainly experience a transformative shift (or two) in your perspective on purpose and passion.
#2: The Ultimate Life Purpose Course from Leo Gura at Actualized.org
I bought access to this last year ($250 USD) and I truly believe it is worth it. He has done all the heavy lifting for us, reading hundreds of self-help/personal growth books, coaching dozens of people on the topic of life purpose, and distilled his insights into 25+ hours of high-quality videos as well as dozens of exercises.
Finally, just know that you’re not alone. This is something that millions of people wrestle with every day. It doesn’t have to be such a struggle though. Instead of fighting our longings for greater meaning, purpose and passion, we can learn to dance with them, aligning ourselves with them and using them as a source of great creativity and self-expression.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this, too. If you’d like to talk more about your own personal situation, I’d be happy to host you for a private coaching conversation. I love helping people transcend their own perceived limits with this topic.
Purposefully and passionately,
Ed
