Personal Thought: On the Importance of Purpose
This is a topic I have thought a lot about and taken action to discover for well over >10 years now. Having a purpose in life is something that’s so rare to find, and when a person finds it, it changes everything. I’ve read many books, watched many interviews, talked to many people, as well as tried multiple jobs and volunteering opportunities to discover the secrets. Purpose is really an inner belief that you know exactly what you’ve been put here on Earth to do. There’s no mystery, there’s no hesitation, there’s no equivocation. It’s crystal clear. Not everyone gets this feeling and sadly some people never discover their true purpose. I wanted to write this post because as someone who lived a life devoid of purpose and now lives a purpose-driven existence, maybe there’s some lessons here.
The first question to ask is: Why is this even important? Who cares about purpose? Let me just live my life. You follow the script that society sets out for you: Go to school, go to college, go to work, get married, buy a house, save for retirement, and that’s the way that it’s supposed to go. This trajectory is stable and safe, yet on the flip side, it’s also limiting. This trajectory often leaves someone fulfilled financially and materially, but often not spiritually alive and content. How could someone that has everything on paper (i.e. the family, the house, the cars, the career, etc.) not be content? That’s the big question, no? There’s got to be something else here and deeper questions and another reality that we are not examining. I used to also think that this was the way: achieve career success, make lots of money, get influential if not famous, and then just keep going. I’ve realized this is a very flat way of looking at things, whereas reality is probably more round. Just like we experience the Earth as flat in our everyday lives, we only learn the truth and find out that the Earth is actually round, not flat, when we go to outer space. There’s a higher plane and another dimension that we have not accessed. That higher plane is living with purpose. Here are the hacks that will help someone go down the path to find true purpose and a true calling.
Purpose ultimately comes from having a belief system, whatever that belief system is: Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Agnostic, Atheist/Non-Believer, etc. one has to trust in something. The cardinal mistake is: to trust in yourself and yourself alone. Having a belief system and knowing that we need fortuitous breaks frees us from the mental trap that we control our futures and our lives exclusively. The core change to having purpose is unintuitively the following: only by surrendering ourselves and letting our belief system take over will a person walk on the path towards purpose. Practically speaking, this becomes trying to control our environments less and letting things play out however they may, and trusting that it will all work out. Having a belief system will help someone in good times, bad times, and anything in between. The power of prayer is extremely potent and it’s really a secret weapon. As someone who grew back into the Christian faith as an adult, I’ve personally experienced how growing closer in faith has given me a renewed sense of purpose and an eye for discerning the truth.
Purpose starts with inner character development in order to become better people: I’ve realized that character development is something that so few people do. Character development to me is becoming someone who others would look at and say: he or she is a true role model. It takes a lot of inner work, and it’s about eliminating bad habits and character traits that don’t serve other people nor one’s own self. The Greek historian Plutarch said it best: “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality”. The best way to develop character is to find someone who you look up to (whether that person is someone you know or someone you’ve read about) and try to emulate their traits. Character development will not result in someone always making the right decisions and doing the right things; we are all people and imperfect after all. But the good thing about having a strong character is the ability to quickly catch mistakes and course correct. Each mistake actually makes someone with good character even stronger because it’s a new lesson from which something can be learned. The failures become a source of strength and there’s an even stronger resolve to become better.
Purpose must involve other people, not just yourself and your wants and needs: Look at the people who have made an impact across the dimensions of time and space. They all had very strong visions and that vision involved other people. Examples would include: bringing people together to start a company or business, leading a country through a war or major event, spreading teachings to others in a way that it resonates, being so passionate about one’s vocation that it inspires others, raising a good family with children that go on to do big things, etc. It’s never just about ourselves and our wants and needs. Yes we should look out for our wants and needs, but that’s not all there is to it. There’s a higher dimension to living and that ultimately starts with asking the following questions in every situation: What can I do to help? How can I add value? How generous can I be? I used to also think mostly just about myself and what I was trying to do; but you realize as you get older that: there are so many ways to help, whether it’s in a small, medium, or large way. A person also has so many ways to help out on different scales too: whether that’s locally, regionally, nationally, or even globally. One has to have the courage to act, which is a good segway into the last point!
Purpose in action is service: I was always taught that volunteering and service was important as a young person, but never took it seriously until probably my late 20s and early 30s. Service is where the rubber meets the road. Service means actually putting your time, money, and energy into something that benefits another person beyond just yourself or your family, even though it may cost you something in return. A lot of people virtue signal and do noble acts for the reels, likes, clout, and ultimately ego. Don’t do that because it’s disingenuous. Rather find a way to serve or donate your money to a noble cause and do it in a quiet manner. That’s the right way because a noble act should be between you and the recipient alone to enjoy, not for the whole world on Instagram or LinkedIn. Service is ultimately what moves our communities, our nation, human society at large forward and into the future. Service gives someone incredible drive to keep going because you know you are doing the right thing and others depend on you. It’s not for the external validation, rather the process itself is worth it because you genuinely enjoy seeing others benefit from the things that you’ve done.
Anyway, these are my personal thoughts on having purpose. I’m sure I’m going to update these thoughts in the future, but these are my thoughts about it from the past few years or so. :)