How To Figure Out What Your Purpose In Life Is A discussion on the best way to discover your purpose

[networker 0]

Sometimes things are cut and dried and sometimes not.For example, If you find yourself unemployed a lot and you happen tobe good at a certain hobby,say painting then try selling yourpaintings. What's interesting is that this didn't work for Van Gogh.In his life heonly ever sold one painting.Strange but true.So how was he toknow his destiny? Life is funny.

[freenrg 0]

PROPOSED METHOD TO CLARIFY YOUR PURPOSE - V1.0

 

I trust that, by now, it has become more or less clear what I mean when I talk about purpose in this forum topic.

 

Moving on, I would like to propose the following method to clarify your purpose:

 

1. Think of what the things you love to do. (let us call this "HEART")

2. Think of what, deep inside, you feel you should do with your life. (let us call this "SPIRIT", or "CALLING" if you are not comfortable with SPIRIT)

3. Think of what talents you have, things that you are good at. (let us call this "TALENT")

4. Think of what your survival needs are. Think of ways in which you can meet these survival needs. (let us call this "SURVIVAL")

 

As you assign these categories to things such as actions, tasks, jobs, business ideas, ways of living, you may find that some categories have more overlap than others. For instance, maybe you are really really good at cooking (TALENT), but you do not particular enjoy doing it (not in HEART). However, because you are quite good at it and you can demonstrate it to a potential employer and there is demand for your skill, it is one way you could earn a living (SURVIVAL).

 

So how could this help with clarifying our purpose?

 

Suppose for a moment that

1. You love to cook

2. You feel deep inside that a life dedicated to mastering the art of cooking is a well lived life.

3. You are a very good cook

4. You can make a good living by cooking

 

In this situation, i would suggest that you consider defining a purpose for your life that revolves about cooking.

 

The exact formulation is very personal. For example, if your are "learner", you could say something like: My purpose in life is to continuously improve my skills, mastering the art of cooking, and to apply this mastery in my work. Or, if you are a "connector", your purpose could be something like: "My purpose in life is to master the art of cooking and connect to and serve those around me through my cooking"

 

Please note this is just an example to illustrate the method. Each person will have different items in those categories.

 

The non overlapping areas

Now, what happens if for me these four areas do not overlap.

 

For example (not my case, ok?), I have a degree in accounting and a job as an accountant, because I have a degree, but actually I am not an outstanding accountant, and I make mistakes and struggle at work, and I do not like it much anyway. Meanwhile, I love psychology, but I know little about it so I am not particularly good in that area and cannot make a living. In addition, I am very good at cooking but I am not very interested in doing it or improving that skill. Finally, I feel deep inside that I should dedicate my life to the preservation of the planet.

 

In this case, I would have a big puzzle to solve. So big, in fact, that I would not know how to proceed.

 

Hopefully we will find ourselves somewhere in between these extremes of perfect alignment and total disarray, and we can find ways to improve alignment.

 

Questions for you:

1. Which areas (HEART, SPIRIT/CALLING, TALENT, SURVIVAL) do you think are more important? Would you assign an order of importance to them?

2. Do you think any of these areas are not necessary to define a purpose or way of living that is right for you? Which ones?

3. Do you think there is something missing in this method? Maybe you can think of an area that has been left out, which you believe should be included?

4. If you are comfortable with the idea, could you tell us what you HEART, SPIRIT/CALLING, TALENT, SURVIVAL areas are for you?

 

 

Disclaimer: This method is not my invention. It is based on Steve Pavlina's ideas. It seems to works in my case to a certain extent and I would like to build on it.