What is Purpose and Why its So Important to Life and Career

What is Purpose?

Purpose  noun:  The end for which something is done, is made or exists.

There are different levels to purpose. For the purpose of this blog we’ll be exploring purpose as it relates to the feeling of being stuck in life or career.

My definition of purpose is having understanding of the reason behind the actions you take.

Its basically the ‘why?’ behind everything you do.

The reason you’ve grown up into a functional adult is because you’ve been asking ‘why, why, why’ since your childhood days of being put to bed by your parents.

But by the time you reach adulthood it feels like there are no more ‘whys’ left to ask.

Why is this?

Because you’ve grown up to believe that every adult knows what they are doing in life. And you want to appear as if you do as well. You don’t want to be perceived as that annoyingly little 5 year old that keeps asking why.

The majority of people are therefore given a purpose by what society tells them they should do.

They internalise this and act as if it were their own. This soothes the discomfort from not having an answer to the big questions in life.

When I say ‘discomfort’ its kind of like when you’re trying to remember the name of an actor you recognize or the movie you’ve seen them in before… But like 1000x worse.

Imagine having to live in that state but being unable to look up the answer because you’ll be judged by other people for ‘being lost’ or ‘not having your shit together.’

So the socially acceptable relief is taken gratefully and the big questions are put to bed.

Why do humans need purpose?

Humans can’t live without purpose, we would go insane without having some kind of meaning for our existence. As far back as history goes humans have always made sense of the world and their existence through some kind of higher power. We need something with the ability to explain the unfathomable chaos that is the universe.

Buddah said ‘Life is Suffering’ and no one wants to suffer for no reason. Everyone needs something that makes life worth living when we’re at our lowest points. Why else would Dads take their daughters to Taylor Swift concerts? (assuming they aren’t fans themselves of course)

Love is at the root of pretty much every purpose in some way or another. It’s many peoples reason for living whether its romantic, family, friendship, spiritual.

I remember when I worked as a junior doctor in the mental health crisis team assessing suicidal patients. I gained a surprisingly high threshold for panicking that people were actually going to follow through. But without fail if I saw a recently divorced, socially isolated male with low mood I'd be full of anxiety.

When people have lost their sole reason for living before having time to find a new one – the big question of existence is left unanswered and it can literally end ones life.

That’s why humans need purpose and why its so important to life.

How does purpose affect life?

Purpose is the reason that you’re stuck in a job that you don’t love.

Lets think about this statement from different perspectives:

1) Your job is purposeless but you’re getting purpose from somewhere outside your job.

• The job allows you to support your family financially. The love for your family is your purpose.
• The job allows you to fund expensive hobbies. The hobby is your purpose.
• The job allows you to buy experiences like travel and holidays. Those experiences are your purpose.

The main thing to ask yourself in this situation is, are you actually stuck? Or are you choosing to remain in the job because your true purpose is being met outside of it.

2)Your job provides some purpose, but it drains you of the resources you need to engage in your higher purpose outside of it.

• What good is supporting your family financially if you don’t get to spend any time with them?
• What good is having all the best equipment for your hobby if you don’t have any free time to do it?
• What good is having the money to go on holiday if you don’t have the freedom to pack your bags and go whenever you want for as long as you want to?

You may actually enjoy your job but you still resent the fact it prevents you from your higher purpose.

3) Your job provides no direct or indirect purpose

You’re simply surviving, you don’t make enough money to do the things you really want to in life.

 And

 You don’t have enough time for the things which money can’t buy.

The most important thing is being aware of where your heads at. Bare in mind things will change over time related to your personal and work life.

Are you in the first, second or third situation?

Because if it’s the third you need to take action now like your life depends on it.

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

- Robert Byrne

How to live a career of purpose

Here's 2 simple tasks you can do to begin with. If you need any help at any point feel free to check out my life coaching service and reach out to me.

1) The Ends

Set an epic goal, not just any goal, but the ‘one goal to rule them all’

• Realise that you are living in your own biopic right now.
• Maybe the plot was stale for a while, maybe there’s been a dramatic misfortune but that was all a set up for next twist.
• Write the ending you want, let your imagination run wild, don’t be afraid to be ‘unrealistic'.

The one goal to rule them all should not be limited by barriers from your current reality.

2) The Means

What're the steps that you'll have to take to get to the end of your story? What are the different chapters?

Now you need to break down the one goal to rule them all into slightly less epic or even mundane goals and tasks.

You don’t have to know the exact step by step play now, just think of as many as you can.

Try and work backwards from the one goal to rule them all until you get to the present.

It might even look something like this:

One goal to rule them all = Run my own wellness retreat in Jamaica

• Research running wellness retreat
• Make X amount of money to purchase land and build retreat
• Research buying land in Jamaica
• Grow business
• Start own business
• Research starting a business
• Complete any required training
• Research alternative health and wellness careers

Remember keep it simple, don’t get bogged down in all the details and logistics, that will all come later. People tend to overestimate what can be done in a week and underestimate what can be done in a year.

Summary

• Purpose is the why behind everything that you do
• Without purpose life is meaningless suffering
• Your career is a massive part of your life. Therefore to live a life of purpose you need to live a career of purpose.
• Decide what gives you purpose in life and then plan your career around it.

Stay Healthy

Lewis