7 Questions To Figure Out Your Life’s Purpose

7 Questions To Figure Out Your Life’s Purpose

The question “What is my life’s purpose?” has inadvertently stolen so much time and passion from those who are unfortunate to ask it.

On the surface, it seems like such an innocent, well-meaning question. But when you get lost in the depths of all the possible answers, it can be difficult to pull yourself back out of the question satisfied with the choice you made.

The answer to this question might be a worthy pursuit, but only if you have around 20 years, a quiet mountainside, and are prepared to have your mind go round and round in circles until you finally reach a state of enlightenment. Or insanity. Or both.

The problem with the principle of “life’s purpose” is that there isn’t one.

That isn’t to say we don’t have a purpose in life, rather that it isn’t singular.

Think about it when you were a child, what was your “purpose”? It was to have as much fun as possible, learn as quickly as you could, and generally tread the fine line of driving your parents crazy without crossing the line where they stopped giving you presents and taking you to the cake shop for a treat.

Fast forward twenty or so years, was this still your purpose?

The Red Thread

As a kid, did you ever play dot to dot?

Often in magazines or puzzle books, dot to dot had a seemingly random collection of dots with a number next to it. The point of the puzzle was to connect the dots in the correct order. So, starting with dot 1, you put your pen on the paper and drew a line to dot number 2, then number 3, and so on and so on until all the dots were connected.

Once you stepped back, you saw the masterpiece.

After joining the dots, you could see something that wasn’t there before. That isn’t to say it wasn’t there before, just that you couldn’t see it because you hadn’t joined the dots.

It wasn’t until all the dots had been connected that all the connections made sense. As you were drawing the lines, you didn’t really know where you were going. There were probably times where you questioned why one particular dot was so far away from the others, or why that line seemed to go back to almost the same place as the other dot.

All you knew is that you had to connect the dots in order, and that if you continued to connect the dots, you would be rewarded.

That is kind of what our life’s purpose looks like.

Rather than being a set point, your life’s purpose is a series of dots that connect together to form the masterpiece that is your life.

Our job in life is to simply find a way to connect to the next dot in the series.

7 Questions To Figure Out Your Life’s Purpose

So, rather than simply asking one question to figure out what you will be doing for the rest of your days, we are going to use the following seven questions to identify the different aspects of our life we want to pull together that will create a future we are inspired to move towards.

Take some time and think about each of the questions below, right out everything that comes into your mind, and see if there are any read threads that present themselves in your answers.

Question 1: What is something that makes you lose track of time and forget to eat?

This question is about identifying elements that put you in a state of Flow.

Flow is that feeling when you are completely lost in the moment, doing something you love to do in such a way that it feels as though everything you touch turns to gold. You are free from distractions, challenging yourself in a context that is a perfect match for your skills and experience, allowing you to win, but still having to earn it, resulting in an even greater feeling of accomplishment and success.

If we can find something to channel ourselves into that gives us this incredible feeling of being completely present in the moment, we won’t ever need to complain about being stuck again.

Question 2: What training did you focus on in your Rocky training montage?

This question is about identifying your unique Strengths.

If you imagine your life as a training montage, complete with the Eye of the Tiger soundtrack, you will realise it isn’t just Liam Neeson who has a particular set of skills. Your studies, training and life experiences have developed your strengths over time and now it is time to put those talents to good use.

What are you uniquely good at? What are you better than most at? Where have you developed your experience and expertise to the levels that others turn to you for advice?

(We’ll spend some more time on figuring out your strengths in a chapter of the new book for those of you who struggle with being a little modest.)

Question 3: How do you want to save the world?

This question is about helping you figure out your Mission.

This is the idea that you are here for a reason, to solve a problem that only you can solve. If your life was a Mission: Impossible movie, how would you save the world? Knowing that your effort will make a difference will help you step up and dig deep to make the contribution you know you can make.

We all want to know that our life means something and that we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, so figure out what that mission and calling could be, and attach yourself to it.

Question 4: What could you talk for hours about without getting bored?

This question is about helping you figure out your Passion.

These are the topics that make you come alive. What are the things that make you jump out of bed without needing to set an alarm clock? Where are the areas you spend time, money and energy without even thinking about it? What are the areas you bond with people immediately when you find out you have them in common?

These are often the things that are truly important to you. Your values drive all of your decisions, so figure out what is important to you in each context of your life, and figure out how to satisfy those in as many ways as possible.

Question 5: What is something you find both scary and exciting?

This question is about figuring out goals where you need to be Courageous.

Our most important pursuits are often close to, if not just beyond, the edge of our comfort zone. What is something that fills you with goosebumps (the good kind) when you think about it? What is something you are nervous about doing, but you know if you do it, will cause you to giggle like a schoolgirl for hours after?

Sure, there is a chance you could fail, but this pursuit is so important to you that you would keep pushing through the failure regardless.

Question 6: What message do you want to send your kids?

This question is about how you want your life to set an Example.

Our words and our actions often don’t align. Kids pick up on this immediately, and are more likely to act the way you act rather than do what you tell them to do. What are some of the things you say people should do, but haven’t always followed through with?

We all have role models we admire because of what they stand for and how the embody those values. Time for you to become the role model for a change.

Question 7: What do you want people to say at your funeral?

This question forces you to think about your Legacy.

In Fight Club, Tyler Durden lets go of the steering wheel and asks his passengers “Guys, what do you wish you’d done before you died?”. What would you regret not doing or experiencing? What is something you need to accomplish while you still have the energy and vitality.

We often forget that we won’t live forever and the thin stone line between our birth isn’t very big. Think carefully about what you want to do with your available time, then make sure to act that way as many days as you are gifted with the opportunity.

Summary

So, how did that compare with simply asking “what is my life’s purpose”?

Chances are you came up with lots of great ideas of how you can live a richer, more fulfilling and more exciting life.

Life is for living, and as long as you are doing something that challenges you to grow and learn, stretches you beyond of your comfort zone, tests your patience and persistence, and ultimately does some sort of good in the world, the end result will be one you can be proud of.

So, if you are trying to figure out what your life purpose is, what you should be doing next, or simply how to live a life that is more in line with who you truly are, I hope these questions gave you a few ideas of what your next few steps could look like.