Most of us, at some point, face up to the question: what is my purpose in life?
We need a purpose to give us direction in life. When it comes to the big choices, we can just drift, choose whatever seems easiest or most attractive at the time ... but just drifting through life eventually feels unsatisfying.
When we are young, it's generally not an issue: we do what we have to do, and the rest of the time we have fun. For some people, this period lasts quite a long time. But, eventually, most of us come to feel that spending your life simply having fun seems, well ... a bit pointless.
Quite often, a career choice provides sufficient direction: I'm going to become a doctor. Or a footballer, or a pop star, or an accountant, or an engineer. Or something else. But you can achieve what you set out to do, and still be left with at nagging question: whatam I doing all this for? What is my purpose in life? Also, many people discover along the way that their chosen door is closed, and again the question arises: what am I to do with my life? What is my purpose?
We tend to answer the question in terms of what we will do for a job. "I want to become a doctor, or footballer, or engineer," generally means that I want to do the things that doctors or footballers or engineers do. But, whether you end up doing those things, or not doing those things, it is unlikely to fulfill your need for a sense of purpose.
Sometimes we answer the question in terms of a specific achievement: I want to run my own company, I want to buy a sports car. But, again, when you achieve this ambition, or discover that you cannot achieve it, the question of purpose is still there.
Instead of focusing on what you should do, or what you want to achieve, here are two suggestions and a question.
- It may be helpful to focus on what you should become: what sort of person do you want to be, and what do you need to do, in order to become that sort of person?
- It may be helpful to consider: what sort of legacy do you want to leave behind - in the world, and in the lives of the people you meet?
- And, whatever you are seeking to achieve, do you want to become the sort of person who uses other people to achieve your goals, or do you want to become the sort of person who helps other people to thrive, and to achieve their goals?
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