7 Common Questions About Finding Your Purpose
Thinking about finding your purpose in life? Wondering what you’re meant to do, but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you think you found your purpose, but you’re not really sure.
If this sounds like you, you’re in good company!
These are the same questions I’m constantly asked by women like you, who are looking for more meaning and fulfillment in their lives.
Finding your purpose can feel like a daunting task. It’s overwhelming to think about the one thing you’re meant to do with your life and how you’re going to get there.
Trust me when I say, it’s not as difficult as it seems to find your life purpose. You might just need some reassurance.
Here, I’m breaking down the answers to 7 common questions about finding your purpose:
1. How do I know when I’ve found my purpose?
Because your life purpose is a deeply personal part of who you are, only you will be able to know when you’ve found it. And that feeling or knowing will look different for everyone. Some people may live their whole life knowing their purpose, others may take years to discover their purpose, and still others may never find their purpose. If you put in the work to think about what you love to do and how you can contribute to serving the world, you’re on the right track.
One way to know if you’ve found your life purpose is to deepen your inner wisdom or intuition. Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Think about what they’re telling you. Do you notice a “gut” reaction? When you meditate, do you receive whispers from the Universe? Pay attention to these messages. If your intuition is strong, you may have an “ah-ha” moment when you discover your life purpose. You might also feel you’re being guided by Spirit. These are signs you’re on the right path, that you’re in flow. If something feels forced, or like you’re taking too much control in making something happen, that’s probably not your true purpose, and it helps to take a step back and ask yourself why you’re forcing this path.
The truth is, clarity comes from taking action, so if you think you’ve found your purpose, it’s important to take time to explore it. Read books related to your purpose, sign up to volunteer in that field or start a side-hustle where you can “try it on.” You might even take a job in that field or talk to people who are already doing that work. When you explore your purpose, does it light you up, or does it feel like a chore? If it energizes you and you feel like you could spend your entire day learning about and acting on your purpose, you just may have found it!
2. How do I know if I’ll like living my purpose?
If you follow the steps in my free 30-Day Life Purpose Challenge, you’ll learn about an ancient Japanese philosophy, the Ikigai. Ikigai is loosely translated to a “reason for being.” One of the questions you’ll ask yourself is, “What do I love to do?” If you truly answer with things you already love to do, you’re halfway there.
Your life purpose is what you’re meant to do on this Earth. It’s why you’re here. And it’s not necessarily something you decide for yourself. It’s your Universal assignment. And sometimes, we don’t like the assignments we’re given. At least not at first. At first, living your purpose may feel like a duty or obligation. You may also have feelings of impostor syndrome, feeling like you’re not qualified to handle your purpose.
Know that you will not be led to a purpose that isn’t right for you. You wouldn’t have certain skills or strengths or experiences if you weren’t meant to. You wouldn’t have hopes and dreams on your heart if you weren’t meant to explore them. And it’s important to explore your purpose with action, like I mentioned above. Take time to try on your purpose. If it doesn’t fit, it’s likely not meant for you. Once you know that, you can go back to the ikigai and go deeper in your self-reflection to find your right path.
3. How do I choose between two paths or options?
Sometimes, when working through the exercises to find your life purpose, you’ll end up with more than one option to explore. Especially if you’re a multi-passionate person! This is perfectly normal.
If you’re weighing two options, it may be a call to creativity. How might you combine the two options into a single life purpose? Could you easily integrate both paths into your life? It’s an opportunity to get curious about how each piece could fit together, or how you can innovate on a current field or skill.
If you’re really at a crossroads and need to make a decision about which path to take, there are a few spiritual practices I recommend to help you decide:
Pray: Ask the Universe for guidance
Meditate: Listen for messages from your spiritual guides
Tarot/Oracle cards: Use the wisdom in the cards to help you make connections or deepen your intuition
Jack Canfield’s Sway Test: In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield introduces the Sway Test, where you can ask a question and see how your body responds to give your answer. Learn more here!
The last thing I’ll say on decision-making is: there is only one path. The path may be meandering. It may have switchbacks or loops or dead ends, but it’s still the same path. There are always lessons to be learned and experiences that prepare us for our next step. You can’t really make a “wrong” decision, because decisions are neither right nor wrong. It’s our own thinking about our choices that lead us to regret or worry that we’ve made a bad decision. Shifting that thought to a learning opportunity will help you see how that decision still moved you forward.
4. What if my life purpose changes?
If you live long enough, it probably will! You likely have many “mini” purposes that still lead to your overall reason for being.
When I was in high school, my purpose at the time was to break a cycle in my family by being the first person to go to college. I was also the first person to get a Master’s degree. I had to fulfill that mini purpose before I could move forward to my next phase, which was helping hospital leaders grow and improve through continuous improvement and lean transformation. I needed that experience to find my passion for helping women grow and improve. I also needed that experience to show me the realities women face in the workplace, the gender pay gap, and gender discrimination. Those experiences and my passion led me to my purpose of helping women find their purpose so we can close the gender pay gap together. See how it was all connected to being the first person in my family to go to college?
Your life purpose may change over time, and that’s okay! You have many lessons to learn, many people to help, and many experiences that shape who you are. If you’re open to change, you can expand your worldview to make room for multiple purposes. Major life events often force us to shift our perspectives and our path. Think about who you were before a life event and who you are now, and how that might shape or shift your life purpose.
5. How can I make time for my life purpose?
Like any other goal you have for your life, it’s important to prioritize your time to make room for what’s most important to you. To start, consider how you’re currently spending your time. Does your purpose align with anything you’re already doing? Do you have space to easily add in a daily action or habit that will get you closer to living your purpose each day?
If you’re like most busy professionals, finding the time to add in one more daily task can seem overwhelming. It’s important to take stock not only of how you spend your time, but where you expend your energy. We’re all given a certain amount of willpower at the beginning of each day. Things at work like stress, decision-making, or solving problems can easily drain your willpower tank and leave you with little energy at the end of the day.
One thing you can do to overcome this is to consider starting a morning routine where you do something that fills your energy tank with things you enjoy. When you start your day with positive energy, it’s easier to take that energy with you throughout your day. And when you have more energy, you’ll feel like you have more time available to explore your life purpose or add daily actions that help you get closer to living your purpose.
6. How do you know when you’ve mastered your purpose?
This will look different for everyone, because we’re all on different phases of our life purpose journey. Mastery is something that comes with practice and time. So, the more you can take actions toward living your purpose, and the more time you dedicate to these actions, the more masterful you’ll become in general.
Remember that your purpose is the deepest expression of who you are. It’s your reason for being, your calling. And if that’s the case, then what you really need to master is yourself. You can do this with a strong foundation of self-awareness. Continue to learn about yourself, pay attention to the thoughts and emotions you experience, think about how you interact with the world and those around you. Understanding your thoughts and emotions can really tell you a lot about yourself. And, taking personality assessments like Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, or my Feminine Leadership Styles Quiz, can give you a common language to describe yourself.
7. Where do I start? How do I find my purpose?
The best way I’ve found to start taking steps toward finding your purpose is to commit to consistent, daily action. Step-by-step guidance and direction is also helpful if you’re feeling stuck. That’s why I created my free 30-Day Life Purpose Challenge! The challenge is designed to walk you through the steps of the ikigai, so you can learn more about yourself, what you love, what you’re good at, and how you can serve the world.
Each day, you’ll complete journal prompts that help you look deeply within yourself for answers. This is the important work that makes a huge difference. Instead of wondering what to do next or wondering what questions to ask, you’ll have the questions in front of you. You’ll also get emails from me throughout the challenge, encouraging you and providing additional tips and examples for answering the questions.
I deeply honor the ikigai and believe it is one of the best ways to understand who you are and discover your life purpose. It’s a powerful tool for finding your reason for being. Ready get started? Click here to join the free 30-Day Life Purpose Challenge!
The Takeaway
Finding your purpose doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. As with most personal growth topics, discovering how to find your purpose is an individual exercise. No one can give you the answers to your deepest life questions. It’s up to you to put in the work to explore your most authentic self.
Take action now: Think about your most burning question around your life purpose. Grab your journal and write down anything that comes to mind around that question, stream-of-consciousness-style. Read over your writing and see what themes or answers pop out at you.
If you want step-by-step guidance in finding your life purpose, join the free 30-Day Life Purpose Challenge! Here, you’ll get daily journal prompts to help you build self-awareness, plus emails from me with additional tips and encouragement to help you find your purpose. Join the thousands of women who are already on their way to finding purpose. Sign up for free today!
