Finding Your Life Purpose: Questions to Ask Yourself
Do you know how to find your life purpose? If you posed that question to several people, the majority would likely answer no. It’s because there is a world of possibilities. People are afraid to try something new out of fear of the unknown. They often don’t know how to go about looking for what they should be doing.
You first need to ask if what you are doing now is satisfying. Put aside the bills and your paycheck for a moment. Do you get a charge out of getting up every morning to go to work? How do you feel on Sunday evenings, assuming you start up work on Mondays? Do you dread having to get up in the morning on Monday, or does it excite you?
Another problem is you may feel stuck doing something in which you don’t believe in. Suppose you work for a company that isn’t doing right by the community. It may be legal, but you don’t feel it’s ethical. It pays well, and that is why you stick with it. You even like many of the people who work there. However, the company sells something that makes your stomach turn. You need to ask yourself if you can continue to work in an environment which doesn’t fit well with you.
You will also need to ask yourself what will it take to make changes to get out of your current situation and into something you enjoy. It may require going back to school or at least, training online. Luckily, there are several options available, and many of them are cheap or free.
If you find that the path is well laid out, ask yourself are you’re willing to put in the time and make an effort? If not, you haven’t truly found your purpose. You either need to continue what you are doing or find another path. Keep doing this until you are willing to put forth the effort.
You should explore your current situation and determine if you can change up your routine. For instance, ask your company if there are other opportunities within the organization that you can explore. If there are, they may ask you to serve two roles (your old position and your new one) while transitioning. Working like this could require putting in overtime, etc. But, it gives you some options to explore your purpose.
Obstacles Can Help Define Your Purpose
If you don’t know your purpose in life, look back on the obstacles you faced. Some obstacles you have no choice but to work through. For instance, if you don’t pay your taxes, the tax man will eventually find you. It’s rare that people get away with this. These are not the obstacles that define you. They are just annoyances that you must sort out.
You can choose to handle or ignore other obstacles you face. Your choices help define your purpose. For instance, if you come across a problem at work that requires a skill you don’t have, you can either let someone else handle it or learn how to do it.
This experience will carry you through and possibly get you a promotion. On the other hand, if you let others handle the problem because you weren’t qualified, you weren’t meant to find a solution. It is not part of your purpose.
You may believe that you can learn any skill, and to some degree that is true. However, if it is something you aren’t passionate about or isn’t something you desire to learn, it’s going to be difficult. You won’t have a passion for everything that comes your way. In fact, you may feel the opposite about several of them.
When you are willing to do what it takes to overcome certain obstacles, you should look at the process on how you did it. Having the determination to overcome a barrier helps define your purpose, but the steps that led to the solution can also be telling.
Don’t underestimate this as there may be hidden clues to understanding yourself better. In fact, the obstacle itself may not have defined much, but something within the process told you a lot more.
Obviously, the bigger the obstacle, the more defining it will be for you. Small obstacles and everyday problems are not going to make much of a difference about your purpose. Although, how you go about overcoming them can be.
If there are obstacles that are too overwhelming, try to figure out why. When you break this down, you may find the reasons are no longer valid. You may have had a stigma about something and made assumptions that you can’t handle it. However, new experiences and the wisdom of age may help you see it’s not as difficult as you once believed. That too is part of what defines your purpose.
Pay Attention to Your Daydreams – They Hold the Key to Your Purpose
The next time you catch yourself daydreaming, take a moment to reflect on your thoughts. Daydreams are a mechanism that can remind you of what you want. In other words, they can be a guidance system to your purpose.
For instance, suppose you always wanted to start your own company. You may find this to be the content of your daydreams. Pay attention to that. If you truly want to start a company, learn what steps you need to take.
Your daydreams are usually detailed enough to let you know what kind of business you want to start. For instance, if you have always wanted to open a hardware store, you may picture yourself dealing with customers and calling suppliers. Your daydreams may even show you solving problems in your imaginary business.
When you have daydreams, try writing down the details on a notepad. You can do this on a smart device. However, a notepad is often more accessible. After all, you want to capture the details as quickly as possible so as not to forget them.
Do this for several weeks and try to notice trends in your notes. These are hot topics that you can use to explore your new venture. Focus on any common themes that you may see. These can be your research points.
You are under no obligation to pursue your daydreams. However, they are there for a reason. They are a part of who you are and what defines you. It could turn out that you pursue what you believe is your life purpose based on your daydreams. Then, you find it wasn’t what you were expecting. When that happens, those daydreams will disappear. Then, you will likely discover others.
Don’t worry if you think your daydreams are outlandish. Most successful people are out-of-the-box thinkers. They likely had outlandish daydreams themselves. The difference is they pursued what they daydreamed. There is no reason why you can’t do the same.
It doesn’t have to be a career change that makes daydreams relevant. For instance, suppose you have always wanted to create an organization that helps others. You could achieve this philanthropic venture without giving up your current situation, such as your career. Over time, you may decide to focus all your energy on your new philanthropy. There is nothing wrong with this. Just follow your daydreams. They know a lot more than you think.
Finding Your Purpose May Require Change
People have difficulty accepting change. However, it’s the one aspect of life we know will happen. Change is going to happen whether we like it or not. If you don’t do well with change, you should reverse your aversion to it.
Think of it this way. Perhaps you haven’t yet found your purpose because you have resisted change. That is a common affliction with many people. They simply refuse to accept that something different is happening in their lives.
The good news is people adapt with relative ease. After a while, you’ll have no choice but to accept most of the changes that happen in your life. People close to you will move on (one way or another). You will go through stages of life. In the end, you will cherish the memories that you have.
There are unintended consequences in most changes that occur for you. For instance, your current boss may leave the company, and a new one is going to replace them. You enjoyed working for the old boss and are dreading the new one.
He or she could be someone you don’t like. Then again, the situation could now be beneficial to you. Perhaps you and the new boss think along similar lines, more so than your old boss.
You will need to deal with changes in your personal life, too. Your kids are going to move out of your house eventually. You may have to one day take care of your parents, and so on. When you are young and first starting out on your own, you don’t think of these situations.
The most significant benefit of any change is that it may be just what is needed to find your purpose. If you are used to the same routine, and it doesn’t seem right for you, changes may give you the boost and desire to find something that is right for you.
You should try to expose yourself to change more often. Some changes you cannot plan. However, there are many that you can. For instance, you can try to take an opposing point of view that you would never dare to in the past. If you favor a political party, speak with people from the opposite party. Try to keep an open mind when doing this. Ask them how they chose that point of view.
By exposing yourself to change, you will become better at accepting it. When this happens, you may be closer to discovering who you are and what your purpose is.
Are you up for the challenge of discovering your purpose?
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