The Ultimate Guide To Discovering Your Purpose
Finding your purpose is surprisingly straightforward.
A thrilling prospect, no?
As a purpose-seeker, know that you can take clear and repeatable steps to effectively find your purpose. Know too that the progress you will make, when you commit to it, will empower and fulfill you in unimaginable ways.
It’s important to distinguish that finding your purpose is just the first step on the journey. The second step is nurturing your purpose, growing it into something tangible and beautiful. You will likely find that nurturing your purpose is the most exciting and life-changing part of your journey, despite the process not being challenge-free. Ultimately, the greatest challenge you will face on the journey is consistently committing yourself to that purpose, as pursuing your purpose demands daily focus to maintain progress.
Fear not! Purpose, luckily, is not created in the ether by some sorcerer’s magic that “calls to you”—though for some, it may feel that way. In true practicality, purpose is a powerful internal motivating force; it stems from a place of love, and can be seen as a grand responsibility you choose to undertake, for the good of yourself and others.
Purpose is created from a fundamental and deep knowing within oneself. For many, purpose often defines who they are, what they do, who they spend their time with, what they love, and much of what they think about from one minute to the next.
Once you understand how you can add value to the world and the lives of others, your purpose will shine down on you, warming your soul like the morning sun in the depths of winter. Know this: you must want to pursue your purpose (this is where many fail). Pursuing one’s purpose requires work, and in most cases it demands great sacrifice, in the form of time—your time. This commitment is worth it, always, but it’s what separates those with true purpose from those without. However, there are fewer things that are as fulfilling to your heart, your identity, and your self esteem as pursuing your purpose.
Dear friend, you certainly didn’t find this article by chance, so read on to take your next steps in finding your purpose. If you already feel you know your purpose you will also find steps to sustaining pursuit of your purpose below, rather than shying away from it. Remember. Purpose will give you courage, and it will help you achieve great things, if you let it.
What is my purpose in life?
Your purpose is what drives you to leave your mark on the world—that means it’s a long-term endeavor. It will guide you over your lifetime, from the point you begin to walk the path it lays out for you. Some people meet their purpose from very early on, but most don’t. Some sadly never discover their purpose. Many are happy to live their lives not knowing, and that’s totally fine. However, knowing your purpose can happen separately from living your purpose (you can do one without the other). Living your purpose can be anything—like being the best possible mother or father to your children, becoming a great writer, or discovering new science that sets the world on a path to a better future.
Sometimes people see their purpose as a calling, some see it as the reason they were born, while others see it as the purest expression of their deepest desires. If you seek your purpose, but do not hear it calling to you, perhaps you simply realize that you want to do something more meaningful with your life. If so, that is a great place to start.
One of the most fulfilling ways to give one’s life purpose is to help others—in any way positive—but true purpose is generally more focused; it runs deeper. Simply helping others can be done through sheer generosity (of spirit, time, money, possessions, knowledge, or kind words). Teaching others how to elevate themselves, conversely, is a truer way to realize one’s purpose (teaching new skills: ways of thinking and looking at the world, how to talk, how to create, how to act, how to treat others, how to nourish the spirit, how to flourish in one’s life). Some even seek more grander expressions of purpose, like creating organizations that bring groups together that make positive impacts across communities, countries, or even the world. No matter which path your purpose leads you on, they are all valid, useful, and your purpose will surely be unique and powerful. You need only to do the work, every day, one little piece at a time. It doesn’t have to be all at once.
Why seek your purpose in life?
Simply put, finding your purpose in life is important. The moment of discovery can be seen as a point in time where you can really start your true life. Living your purpose is fulfilling; it gives you something to strive for, every day, in a deep and satisfying way. Purpose can shape your identity; who and what you believe yourself to be. Elevating lives and delivering tangible value to others can manifest true and lasting joy in your life too (this should not be ignored). With that in mind it is no wonder people seek out their purpose.
It’s likely that you woke up (physically or metaphorically) and realized that your life is being eaten away by things that are meaningless to you (they take from you rather than give). For many this realization becomes an earthshaking awareness—it often topples the mountainous barriers blinding people from looking and really seeing the world around them for what it is. Purpose becomes the itch that must be scratched; it gnaws at you, not in a painful way, but it often builds pressure within you until it can’t be ignored—this can happen even if you give it just the slightest amount of daily attention. It will happen to you, if you let it.
Individuals often seek their life’s purpose when they experience existential crisis—feeling stuck, lonely, isolated, unproductive, useless, or find they need to help others in a meaningful and tangible way. This is often (but not always the case) because many purpose-seekers have ambition. Many want to make a name for themselves, a career, and money from what they love. That is fine and good, but ambition and purpose are not the same. Ambition is notably more self-centered (though not always), whereas purpose generally involves helping others, because it’s the right thing to do. How many people would you expect to say “my life’s purpose is to be famous and rich!”?
Ambition, however, is useful for bolstering one’s purpose to a grander scale, but it is not always necessary. Manifestation of purpose can be humble and small—but it can, of course, also be “go big or go home”. Many who find their purpose are not driven by ambition and still manifest fame and wealth in their lifetimes. If that is your goal, then there is no reason you can’t too, but you must put in the time and do the work.
Why purpose may elude you
Most factors that prevent people from finding their purpose are psychological (complacency, self doubt [telling yourself you can’t], procrastination, narcissism, fear). That’s right, it’s likely all in your head—I mean really think about it. Generally, if you want something enough (that is legal), there is little that others can really do to stop you from attaining it, with time. However, when you don’t believe yourself that something is attainable, that’s a barrier only you can break down. Why limit yourself with such thoughts? Instead try actually doing it and see where action leads you. At worst you fail and learn something (which is still gaining, isn’t it? Failure is a wonderful teacher). At best you succeed and you discover or attain something magnificent!
No one can change your mind, or your actions, but you. You have to take the psychological leaps of faith to believe that your purpose is real, that you are worthy of it, and that you can bring it to life (you are worthy, and you can bring it to life, friend). You must take control of implementing each step towards bringing the light of your purpose into this world, through action. That might sound grim, but it is quite the opposite. Recognition of the source of a problem is the single greatest weapon to overcoming it. Why does that matter? Because now you can solve it with certainty.
The secret to doing something great, is simply to do it. Don’t just think you can. Know you can. It’s easy to talk of a million things you could do, but talk is cheap! Get out of your own way.
Remember—your purpose is not ultimately about you—it’s about those whose lives you enrich by delivering your purpose to the world, through action.
Benefits of knowing your purpose (Why you should know your purpose)
Simply put—you will live longer, and you will be happier. This isn’t some grandiose statement. It’s proven. There have been studies with thousands of subjects that have corroborated this fact. The data clearly shows that adult mortality drops sharply (on average) when individuals feel a strong sense of purpose in their lives. This means that underestimating the value of living a meaningful life is folly, in every sense of the word.
Purpose is the grindstone for the tools you use to create the awesome, the inspiring, and the awe-worthy. How could you not have the will to live longer when you accomplish wonderful things? Knowing your purpose will energize you; it’s like a friend who wants only the best for you, always—and not just you—but also all of the lives you touch. It will reduce your overall stress in life. You will have less (or zero) moments where you ask yourself (earnestly) “What am I doing with my life?”. You will also never consider anything that delivers progress towards your life’s purpose as a waste of time.
The momentum you will generate from all of your actions will give you focus. Your actions will keep your body and your mind moving, keeping you healthier. The sense of fulfillment and meaning you will enjoy will also feed your soul, and keep your spirit healthy too.
Purpose will help you to organize yourself (your actions, your time, your resources) towards execution of well-formed goals. It is a superior way of living, simply for the fact that if you already know what you have to do, you won’t have to think to act. Action is more efficient when it comes from reflex-from-practice. As you learn from doing, you will naturally become more effective. Everything you learn from trying, success or failure, will be cumulative—there is no going backwards—and you will naturally get stronger.
How to find your purpose in life & sustain progress
Not knowing your purpose (yet) and recognizing that you are only seeking your purpose now, might mean that up until this point you have been asking yourself the wrong questions, or perhaps you are simply failing to act. Hopefully now that you are reading this, you can find the right questions, and you can recognize meaningful actions to take, to guide you on your journey. Let’s begin, shall we?
Be true to who you know you are (Perhaps meet your true self for the first time?)
This is probably the most important part on the path to finding your purpose, as it requires an honest conversation with yourself. Try imagining, for a moment, that you could step outside of your body and talk to yourself, as someone who wants the purest good for you—as someone you trust with every atom of your existence.
Questions to confront yourself with:
What brings you joy? (compassionate actions that produce moments that stay with you, that you can recall, which bring you happiness)
What are your skills? (things you have learned that you can teach others, or help them with)
What are you talented at doing? (what you excel at with little effort)
Where do you see others struggle in ways that you you feel a desire to help or offer solutions?
Where do you see injustice, where you think voices are being silenced or ignored?
How can you elevate the lives of those around you?
Take the time to actually write the answers out to the above questions—you will be surprised how they change and become more robust over time, when you look back on them. You can use these answers to help drive your actions—you do not need to use all of the answers, but they are there to inspire, focus, and guide you.
Identify thoughts and habits that limit your potential.
Thoughts that that drive you towards inaction
Habitual actions that consume your precious time; daily tasks your regret doing and know in your core are time wasted.
Confront those thoughts and habits and silence them—take away their power by consciously not feeding them with supportive actions (by not spending your freedom thinking about them or performing them).
Exploring your limits is essential—you must push yourself to find where your limit breaking points are. Once you discover your current limits, you can take action to break through and get to the next level. You accomplish this by continuously practicing stepping our of your comfort zone and trying things that are new, or previously difficult or impossible.
Knowing your emotions and why you are feeling them is also important, as they can drive you to take irrational action (or irrationally not do things that would otherwise be very good for you). By recognizing what thoughts drive your negative emotions you can work at maintaining ones that put you into positive moods, energized states and empowering frames of mind. You can actively redirect your emotional state by voicing your desired state aloud, taking action and moving your body. Try it!
Commit to being your best self. Do what’s best for yourself and the lives you touch around you.
Accept full responsibility for your life
You must accept responsibility for every action you take on your journey through life, if you want to command control of your future. Taking ownership of your life the single most empowering things that you can do for yourself.
Every choice you have made in your life thus far has lead you to this moment—to you reading these words—Own it. Your will is your own, the mistakes you have made are your own, as are the successes; understanding that is a beautiful thing. If you have found that you blame others for you not finding or fulfilling your purpose, stop, because when you accept that you are in control that gives you power. You decide where you go next. Stand up, dust yourself off and continue to your next step—one more step on the journey to finding and fulfilling your purpose, and enjoying fulfillment from every action you take going forward.
Commit yourself to knowing that you are the master of your own destiny. You are in control. No one can live your life for you. Life is here, happening all around you, for you—have the courage to stand up and take it—live it.
Think about the world you want to live in
The ability to be clear with others about what your ideal world is, for you and humanity, is a great way to set a clear path to that future.
“Why are you doing all of this?” might be a question you face in a conversation. You should have an answer you believe in. Being clear about your vision for the future allows others to relate to it, inspect it, hold it accountable, and offer criticism or support. If your vision is ambiguous and loosely defined, neither you nor they will know which way is up.
Commit yourself to being clear about where you think your purpose is leading you. Find the words that most truly define why you are taking the actions you have so far, so that others can support you.
Understand that life is finite and turn that urgency into power
Simply put, you will not live forever. None of us will. All you have is now—you do not have yesterday (anymore)—and you don’t have tomorrow (yet). To make the greatest impact possible on the future you must start now—every second counts. Each moment that presents itself, before it passes you by (becoming the past forever), is an opportunity to change something—or change everything.
Do not take the freedom life gives you (your time) for granted. Time’s power is ubiquitous, affecting everything—either towards growth or towards decay—there is no middle ground when it comes to the passage of time. So wield the power of choosing how you spend your time responsibly. Cultivate habits that promote growth, of both yourself and your purpose.
Remember: The force behind regret is powerful. It will drag your spirit down into darkness if you give it power. Don’t give it power. Take action now to ensure that you can accomplish everything you know you need to.
Commit to leaving the world better than when you came into it.
Focus on growth, always
Once your purpose is found, you will begin to shape and sharpen your understanding of it. You will seek focus and meaningful progress for the things you are unqualified for, but are still trying to accomplish (also known as growth). Once you start seeing tangible progress, it is certain that you will never want to give up on your purpose. If you do abandon your purpose however, you will feel that loss in a very real and tangible way when it is gone. Giving up on your purpose after you find it is the clearest and fastest path to deep regret—something you can truly live without in your life.
Purpose-seekers are very often also growth-seekers. This is because pursuing your purpose takes work. Any kind of work gets easier when you grow and get better at it. Growing your ideas, your skills, your opportunities, your connections, and your assets will allow you to consistently progress your purpose (or anything for that matter). You will become adept at things you failed at previously, you will have more people there to support you as you help others, you will naturally have more opportunities, and at some point you will attain a critical mass of progress that will allow you to explode with impactful action and results. You will also find that as you approach that critical mass, your chances of failure diminish almost parabolically towards a chance of zero.
Read everything you can get your hands on. Study your purpose. Every little bit of the world you absorb into yourself will add to your capabilities and your ability to help others.
Commit to growing yourself in any and every direction, even by 1%, each day. That’s a 365% increase each year, friend. As you grow, so will your ability to progress your purpose. You can do it.
Show up & let your presence be known
Showing up to your commitments tells others a lot about you:
It tells them that you think their time is just as valuable as yours.
It tells them that you are serious and ready to get down to business.
It shows that you can be trusted to honor your commitments.
It shows that they can rely on you to show up in the future when you say you will.
If you are not early, you are late (a saying coined by American hall of fame football coach Vince Lombardi). When you show up early for things and are consistently punctual, others will notice.
Don’t forget to also contribute in a meaningful way, if you can. Participating in events with others will compound what they notice and remember about their interactions with you. Be thoughtful with what you say and do, be a good listener too, no one likes someone who steals the show (always) and makes every interaction about them (that’s narcissism).
Commit yourself to always showing up for everything you agree to, on time and ready to go. Others will appreciate it and trust you more implicitly (especially the next time, if it is their first time meeting or interacting with you).
Embrace community & new people
This step should not be understated. Meeting likeminded individuals is a game changer, in many ways. This is the only way you will grow the influence of your purpose outwardly.
When you are deeply interested in something—whatever it is—you will either have vast knowledge on the subject already, or you will have an affinity for learning the discipline. You will be surprised how much you know and how much you can contribute to others who have similar interests. This is a form of expertise, after all.
You will find peace in being able to be yourself around those that enjoy what you do, in the purest way. No pretenses, no pressure to act or speak a certain way or about a certain thing you are not interested in. Just pure-honest-truth.
You will get fulfillment from spending time with people who are in your niche. Finding and making friends is easy in these spaces, as you will have a great deal in common with those you meet and begin to surround yourself with. Many opportunities to have great and wonderful conversations will present themselves—take advantage of them all.
You will quickly get a feeling for the space you are in and the community you are choosing to becoming a part of. You will see what others are doing, what works, what doesn’t, who is innovating and who’s just copying, rather than really adding value. This awareness will guide you and allow you to chart your own path to being an innovator, collaborator and thought-leader; this will give you power, over time, to influence that space and carve out your own corner.
You will meet those, and be able to recognize them quickly, that get it (and get you). You will be able to navigate around the negative and steer towards the positive (people and situations). Recognizing those of quality will allow for opportunities to setup events to share and collaborate on ideas. Get out there and get noticed.
Sometimes finding your community means building your own. Though finding one that already exists is perfectly fine, at first. As people start to recognize you, as you show up consistently, if you add value to the interactions and community, people will start to want to follow you and see what you are saying. This will allow you to start building an audience of likeminded individuals. You can leverage this later on to get your message out, or rally others to a cause, or to get them to support you in progressing growth of your purpose.
Lastly you will naturally feel more connected to others. You may find people that instantly feel more genuine than people you see in your regular day-to-day life. Bonds can be forged here that can last a lifetime, across boarders, across hardship and more. There is power in friendship.
Commit to making new connections with others, so that you can find ways to make a greater impact in your pursuit of your purpose—perhaps together with other like-minded individuals.
Show gratitude, always
Showing gratitude to others (friends, enemies, God, the universe), whether the support they gave you was big or small, whether it required them to make an effort or no effort at all, is something that doesn’t go unnoticed. Gratitude doesn’t go unnoticed because it’s less common that most people realize.
It’s one thing to say thank you to someone out of politeness, but it’s completely different to really mean it. You may say, ‘but how do people really know?’—they can feel it—especially when you are face-to-face. Be consistent about showing gratitude as it’s equally important. People knowing you truly appreciate the interaction they had with you, over many interactions, will add up. This is especially true for likeminded individuals who notice what you are doing. That goodwill will not go to waste.
If you keep a journal (which you definitely should, you will learn so much about yourself!), ensure that every day you spend time on being mindful of things you are grateful for. Write them down each day in an entry, even if what you are grateful for is something as simple as “I woke up today. One more day of beautiful life!”. You will smile when you look back, seeing how that list grows, and how long that list has become. You have a lot to live for, friend.
There are also some psychological side effects of being grateful:
Showing gratitude will increase your likelihood of being more generous in your future inactions. This is important for cultivating healthy relationships, both with those close to you and even strangers. Unhealthy habits in your relationships will not lend themselves well to you pursuing your grand purpose.
You will also be more likely to be kind to others, in general, as you will more deeply appreciate what others do for you, and what life gives you. You will also see them give back in unexpected ways, over time. Whether it’s helping you in a pinch, being open to having more intimate conversations with you on tough topics, or just being nicer to you, knowing you are a good person who appreciates them at your core.
Commit to showing your gratitude, that you care, that you find meaning in what life and others give you. Mean it, live it, know that it is the right thing to do, always. Look them in the eyes and tell them, ‘I appreciate you,’ and tell them why. You might be surprised at the impact this has on strangers who are performing a service for you—especially when they do not expect gratitude for what they are doing.
Be resourceful, creative, and tenacious
Resourcefulness will serve you well on your quest to find and fulfill your purpose. When faced with a problem, don’t just give up immediately and walk away. Take a moment. Really think about what the problem is. Look at the situation from every angle you can imagine and see if there is a weak point that you can exploit, with a solution you have seen or implemented before—maybe the answer is to go and ask someone who knows more than you do. You would be surprised how willing others are to help you, if you just ask.
Pair resourcefulness with creativity and you have a winning combination. The two together allow you to find quick and clever solutions to problems, in unexpected or innovative ways. Know that finding the means to success, and the solutions to any problems are always within your reach, if you think creatively enough.
Tenacity can be layered on top of resourcefulness and creativity to create a trifecta of consistent effectiveness that can serve you throughout your life. At its core, tenacity is the quality of not giving up. Individuals who exhibit this quality often inspire awe, because they usually succeed at accomplishing their goals, eventually. In most cases they find their answers sooner than expected. This is especially powerful in situations that others are watching, and have seen others fail in the past. Tenacity can garner you a lot of respect, especially when you are working to help others.
Commit yourself to never giving up, giving things a good hard look, and thinking of creative solutions to problems you face. You surprise yourself with the successes you enjoy along the way.
See the truth in acts that bring you joy
Knowing what joy really is, as compared to pleasure (when considering your happiness), makes a big difference.
George Lucas clearly described the relationship between happiness, pleasure and joy during his speech at the Academy of Achievement:
Pleasure is short-lived—you can’t remember it. Pleasure is self-centered—it’s fueled by greed. Whereas joy can last a lifetime—it stays with you and you can recall it—as you give yourself to someone or something else. Joy is fueled by compassion.
Daydream for a moment and consider some of the strongest moments of joy that you can recall. What were they?
Perhaps your joy is putting pen-to-paper and seeing what magical people the ink creates, what adventures they go on, what worlds they traverse, the lessons they learn (and teach us), who lives, who loves and who dies.
Perhaps your joy is feeling the satisfaction of putting something steaming, succulent and beautiful on a plate, to watch someone’s eyes close in enjoyment as they chew, and swallow, and look for the next bite.
Perhaps your joy is seeing a child’s eyes light up when they master a new skill—a skill that your sweat, love, tears and patience unlocked in their growing mind; leaving their future a little bit brighter.
Perhaps your joy is seeing the now-pristine landscape as you and your friends nod to one another, a job-well-done, having turned it from a neglected wasteland to a paradise fit for life to resume.
These moments will tell you a lot about who you are, and who you truly get satisfaction from being. If you combine what you know about what brings you joy with your pursuit of your purpose, you can harness your passion, and gain lasting fulfillment from the actions you take.
Commit yourself to taking action to fill your life with moments of joy, you will find yourself living a life of abundant happiness.
Remember what you’ve already attained
You likely have a roof over your head, aren’t starving, and you might even have a little (or a lot) of money in your pocket. Though if any of your basic needs are not met, it might be a little more difficult to pursue your purpose, however it is not impossible—everyone starts somewhere, and that doesn’t mean that your journey to manifesting your purpose is longer or harder than anyone else’s.
Recognize and acknowledge all of the good things around you. Let that positivity and awareness fill you up and give you strength. Let your mind sharpen, let your heart well up with the warmth that good things bring. Grasp the courage to press on, even if you are faced with great adversity. Don’t let fear hold you back—fight it—you can always defeat fear, even as it glares back at you.
Frame your perspective around all that is good and ever-present—your search for purpose in life will gain a purity and focus that cannot be beaten down. Know that solutions exist to all problems that can ever, and will ever stand in your way. You just need to seek them out, one at a time. You will find them if you look hard enough.
Commit yourself to seeing the good in everything and everyone around you. Let the stresses of life melt away and enjoy the inspiring journey you are on.
Seek feedback and criticism about how you are doing
This act requires courage, humility, and self-awareness. It’s common for us to not seek out criticism from others out of fear of what they might say or show us about ourselves. Many of our day-to-day actions do not require seeking feedback from others, and in many cases there is little value in getting someone else’s feedback on how you are doing. However, when it comes to delivering your purpose to the world, cultivating habits of feedback seeking can prove invaluable.
Feedback seeking presents an opportunity to build new relationships with others.
It allows others to understand a major facet of who you are, allowing them to relate to you, if they wish.
It will allow you to understand what others appreciate about you. This can build your self-esteem.
It may allow others to reflect on their own views/values and possibly change them, if you show them a new and better path.
It will create an opportunity for you to help them, or for them to offer help to you. Who knows, their purpose might align with yours, and that can prove to be extremely powerful.
Know as well: good intentions can lead to unexpected or unseen side effects. You might find that in pursuit of your purpose you might be enabling or doing something that negatively impacts others, the environment or some other facet of the world. Someone with another perspective or expert knowledge might be able to see what you cannot. It’s always better to find out late, than never at all—at least now you can take responsibility and do something about it. Conversely, you might find that your actions are having profoundly positive impacts in unexpected ways, and others might recognize this when you do not. In most cases those you seek feedback from will appreciate the opportunity to tell you about it.
Commit to hearing the voice of others along your journey, about your progress, so that you can gain otherwise unknown insight about how your purpose is affecting the world and those around you.
Start off small, and build momentum through consistency
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you try to take on your life’s purpose head-on, especially if your purpose has a grand scope. Start off small, build your habits, learn what works and what doesn’t, appreciate that any progress is progress well-earned.
The power of starting off small is especially true when standing at the starting line of your journey. Know that you will likely tread in the footsteps of others that came before you. There will be steps that everyone before has already taken. Seek guidance in others if you are faced with an obstacle that you don’t see an obvious way around. Try different approaches to the same problem and see what succeeds.
Commit yourself to building momentum through lots of small actions at first. You will look back and see that all of those small actions form a mountain, when you stack them up.
Respect others and be kind, always
Either you lift people up by respecting them, making them feel valued, appreciated and heard, or you hold people down by making them feel small, insulted, disregarded or excluded (Christine Porath - TED Business - the cost of rudeness http://t.ted.com/tXOVrcy).
You have everything to gain from respecting others. It’s the right thing to do, even if others don’t do it too. No one gains success when pursuing their purpose through bringing others down. If you wield disrespect, you cross a line that is hard to come back from. You lose trust, credibility, comradery and a whole host of other things with positive potential. We are not saints, that’s true, but always trying to make the best of a bad situation is a better policy than sinking below and letting irrationality get the best of you. Being rude is corrosive, it will eat away at everything you apply it to. Don’t do it, it’s not necessary, ever.
Commit yourself to interacting with others through respect and kindness wherever possible.
Be patient with yourself
It’s easy to get frustrated, and lose sight of the fact that failure is not the end. This is especially true with a lifelong pursuit like following your purpose. It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter frustration many times, but in these moments you must take control and re-find your center. Ground yourself in the knowledge that you will hit the boundaries of what you can accomplish or achieve. You will make mistakes, as will those that you work with in pursuit of your life’s purpose. Know that it is natural and let your patience allow you to shrug these moments off.
Accept that what you need to do after a failure is to continue walking the path of your purpose—keep moving forward.
Commit yourself to being patient with yourself, and the progress you make. You are allowed to make mistakes. Learn from them, appreciate what they teach you.
Consider becoming an arbiter of justice
Seeking justice for others is an interesting method to finding purpose, because what justice means to you is influenced by your core beliefs. I like to think of justice is exposing evil acts to the world, so that it can be adequately dealt with, for the greater good. It is a powerful perspective that can drive you to action, through purpose. You don’t need to be a judge in a courtroom to expose indecent or horrific acts that exist.
There are many causes out there, across the world. Perhaps you have found one that doesn’t have a face or a voice yet. If you have found a cause that you feel strongly about supporting, know that you can find a way to give that cause life, to draw others to support it, to make a real change and positively impact the lives of those affected. Help others to feel the compassion and love that you feel, so that they can draw upon it and build it into a force to be reckoned with.
Commit yourself to giving those that can’t speak for themselves a chance to be heard by the world.
Get to work and take action!
You are already one step father towards realizing your life’s purpose. Now it’s time to ride the momentum you have already built up from reading this article and follow-through with some action. Don’t quit. It’s there, waiting for you to find it—and if you’ve found it, go and give it the respect and attention it deserves.
Be your most honest, best self, while accepting mastery of your destiny. Connect with others to share the direction of your journey with them. Show up, be present, and express your gratitude for what others do for you. See the good in everything and everyone around you, and listen to the voices of others along your journey. Some voices are meek, give them a voice that’s strong so that the world takes notice.
Grow yourself in every direction, as you walk the path, in any way you can muster—it adds up. Be creative, resourceful and never give up, so that you leave the world better than when you came into it. And fill your life with moments of joy while you are at it; you deserve happiness too. Lastly, be patient and surprise yourself—you only live once, friend. Make it count.
No matter your age, location, or life’s history up to this point, you are worthy of purpose. Claim it, grow it and make it blossom with your actions so that others can bear witness to the bright star that guides you.
