A Guide to Finding
Your Life Purpose
By Donald Latumahina, September 10, 2008 Everyone wants
to have a fulfilling life. Unfortunately, many people miss a key ingredient
to have it: finding their life purpose.
They may spend years of their life only to find at
the end that they have done the wrong things. Many others achieve fame and
financial success but feel empty inside. Don’t make the same mistake.
Your time is too precious to waste. Why You Should Find Your Life Purpose
1. It gives meaning to
everything you do Your life
purpose makes everything you do meaningful.
You could be successful outside, but if you don’t find meaning you will feel
empty inside. 2. It directs and
guides you Not only can your life purpose
give you meaning, but also it can give you clear direction of where to go in life. It helps you make big decisions in
life. People who don’t find their life purpose don’t have a strong foundation upon which to make
their decisions. They most likely will just follow popular opinions. Besides
helping you make big decisions, your life purpose
can also guide you in making small decisions. When you have two options in front of you, it will be easier for you to decide if
you know what your life purpose
is. 3. It motivates you In life
there are always difficult times to go through. You may experience failures
or rejections. In such situations, your life purpose can give you the
motivation you need to keep going. How can your life purpose do that? By
helping you see beyond the horizon. What you face in
front of you may seem difficult but your life purpose helps you see beyond it. Finding Life
Purpose Is Not Easy
It’s never easy to find life purpose. In fact, it’s one
of the most difficult things to do. Here are two reasons why finding life purpose is difficult: 1. It doesn’t have a
universal formula Life purpose is a personal thing. Everyone
has different purpose and different way to find it.
What apply to me might not apply to you and vice versa. 2. It takes time This is perhaps the main reason
why many people never find their life purpose. They want results instantly.
Unfortunately, finding life purpose
doesn’t work that way. It’s more like a journey than a one-time
stop. Tips to Find Your Life Purpose
While finding life purpose is a personal
experience, there are a few tips that can help you find it. Here they are: 1. Don’t expect instant
result I’ve written above that finding
life purpose takes time
so don’t expect to find it soon. It’s a journey and rather than complaining
about your journey you’d better enjoy it. 2. Identify your
strengths Your life
purpose is related to your personal
strengths. If you are strong in learning, for
instance, it’s likely that your life purpose is related to learning. One way to find personal
strengths is through StrengthsFinder test which can be found in the book StrengthsFinder
2.0. 3. Identify your
passions I’ve written about passions
multiple times here. Your passions are things you do because of love and not
because of external reward such as money or recognition. Find
and develop your multiple passions. 4. Identify your causes Identify the causes that matter
to you. Is there a condition in the world that
makes you feel discontent? Is there a condition that makes you feel the urge
to do something about it? 5. Find the intersection
between your strengths, passions, and causes Now that you have identified
your strengths, passions, and causes, you can find the intersection between
them:
You can repeat this exercise
until you find a cause which have strong intersection with your strengths and
passions. At the end of the exercise, you will find a cause you deeply
care about for which you can effectively
do something with enthusiasm. This is a clear sign
of your life purpose. 6. Write a personal
mission statement Based on what you find in the previous step, write a personal mission statement.
It’s your one-liner
that concisely communicate what your life purpose is. Don’t worry about getting it right on the
first try. Just write down what you’ve got and build upon it. 7. Do something about
the intersection Your one-liner is your guide to
finding your life purpose.
It may still be broad, so you should keep refining it. The way to refine it
is by working on it. Make serious effort to act upon what you’ve found.
Increase your competence and find ways to contribute to the cause you choose.
Your effort will give you feedback that will either reinforce or diminish
your interest on the subject. 8. Act based on the
feedback to refine your personal mission statement If the feedback from the
previous step reinforces the purpose you’ve found,
over time you will get better understanding of what exactly
your life purpose is and how
you should fulfill it. You may create new one-liners as you find new clues.
This process of refining may take years but you are going in the right direction. You just need to keep your eyes
and mind open to recognize every new clue regarding your strengths, passions
and causes. *** I wrote my first personal
mission statement in 2004 and it stayed for three years until I wrote my
second (and current) one in 2007. I walk with it
and I’m getting better and better idea about the precise nature of my life purpose. I enjoy my journey. I hope you
do too. This article is part of
September 2008 theme: Fulfilling Career http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/09/10/finding-your-life-purpose
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