Finding your purpose

It takes inner exploration, action and … time

By Antoine Laganiere

Older generations often faced strong cultural and societal expectations about how to live. They had less choice about where to go to school, what occupation to pursue and even whether to marry and have children. That’s because following tradition played a more significant role in decision making. And, in a way, it also often helped make the decisions easier and more comfortable.

Today, however, we’re inundated with choice and potential paths, and there’s no one cultural or traditional expectation of how to live. Instead, we’re often left to decide on our own which path will give us purpose. And because there’s no inherent roadmap to support these decisions, we often question if we’re doing the right thing.

The wealth of choice can be a significant challenge to finding and living your purpose. But rather than contemplate, what’s the right thing to do? Think, what’s right for me?

It requires going out on a limb, taking a chance, braving a decision that’s based on what you want. There’s still wisdom in considering what society, culture and tradition value, but doing so deliberately and with understanding, rather than blindly following them.

Exploring your inner world is key to uncovering your purpose

To truly discover what you want to do, it’s important to spend time exploring your inner world. This could include journaling, reflecting, or talking to a coach or friend to help you zero in on what you really want out of your life. It helps give you clarity and confidence to take action to bring your dream to life.

This inner exploration is never ending, so it’s something you can expect to do throughout your life. Finding purpose also continually evolves, so it’s also important to realize that it can change – and likely will.

And it’s critical to understand that your career doesn’t have to check every single box – purpose, fulfilment, money, enjoyment, challenge, passion. That’s an impossible mountain to climb. Instead, you can look to your career to satisfy some of what you want to achieve, while other aspects of your life – community work, family, hobbies and interests, self-care – can help you accomplish the rest.

You can have multiple opportunities to achieve a sense of purpose – each equally fulfilling

So rather than think your job has to be everything to you, imagine creating your own approach to a fulfilling life from multiple perspectives. You might not find meaning in your career, but that’s ok as long as you understand what your career does do for you. It could fund your passion, support your family, or be something you enjoy doing with people you admire and respect.

Because we’ve allowed options to manifest, there’s the impression that the choice we make has to be perfect. But we can’t conflate having options with finding the perfect answer.

Your job doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s ok to work at something and balance that off with everything and everyone else in your life the best way you can.

As well, finding purpose suggests an ending. Finding the one thing you do in your life. But that’s misleading – because you could have one purpose for a few years and then that purpose could change. And if you pursue it appropriately and you take all the other aspects of your life into consideration, you can pursue your next purpose with equal passion and enjoyment, and find it just as fulfilling.

Putting your ideas about purpose into action gives you tangible steps to follow

After reflecting and exploring your inner world to uncover what you’d like to do, the next step is putting your ideas into action. Even just taking  few steps in the direction you’ve selected can help you gain even more confidence and clarity. This could involve:

• Talking to someone in the career you’re considering and learn about their experiences.
• Researching the skills and resources you might need to help you achieve your goal.
• Creating a tangible timeline or plan for moving into your new career.
• Sharing your plan with your partner, family or friends to talk about what the change will look like, what it will mean for you, and what support you need from them to make it more real.

Each of these steps give you more information and a tangible roadmap to follow. It’s also critical to be realistically optimistic throughout this journey – otherwise the dream can seem too impossible to achieve, demotivating you.

And pursuing your purpose doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It can be just a slight shift toward building something new. Deepening your understanding of and confidence in your new direction can take time. Just as everything in life that’s worth pursuing does.