Finding Purpose
The problem
Find your purpose, a concept preached by every motivational speaker, self-help guru, and life coach out there. Over time it has become more of a cliché, “Find your purpose and your life will be complete. Find your purpose and all your problems will disappear.” We’ve all heard it before, and they are right, at least to some extent. Research has shown that a life lived with purpose has benefits linked with health and longevity. On the other hand, a life without purpose drains us of our full potential.
Inherently we are purpose-seeking mammals. Purpose is what gets you out of bed in the morning, it’s what pushes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you to reach your full potential. However, we live in an era where it is more important to impress others than it is to live a life meaningful to us. In today's world, we are constantly bombarded by social media and societal expectations, making it difficult to find the time to discover our true purpose.
The Solution
Philosophers have long identified the search for purpose with attendance to a moral cause, community, country or God. Many different areas that have one key similarity, acknowledgment of a world beyond the self. In today’s world, everything is about financial gain, careers, a big house and a fancy holiday but you will never find purpose in these materialistic fields. To find purpose in life you need to look beyond yourself to change your mindset from the closed perspective of yourself to the open perspective of the world around you. In essence, the most purposeful goals you will pursue in life will involve serving others and working towards a better world for the future.
A person with purpose does not live in the moment, they live in the future made possible by the present. This is the key to finding purpose, to work towards a better world for the future made possible by your action in the present to imagine a world that has not yet been but one, by your own actions, can be achieved. To find your purpose there is one question you need to ask yourself…
How am I going to leave my mark?