How to Find Your Purpose in Life

By John Millen
It’s summertime here in the U.S., when work slows down a bit.
It’s a good time to reflect on your life. In fact, this might be the perfect time to consider your purpose in life.
Are you finding value in your work? Does it deeply resonate with you?
The Power of Purpose
Working as a trusted advisor, I’ve been lucky enough to find my purpose in helping leaders connect with their truth and become great communicators.
I stay excited about my work because I thrive on seeing people experience personal growth. The feeling that I’m helping to change lives allows me to tap into the power of my purpose.
Speaking at a conference in Las Vegas a few years ago, I witnessed the emotional resonance of purpose. In one exercise, I asked attendees to share with a partner their life or business purpose.
As I handed the microphone to audience members, they gave powerful answers that brought tears to themselves and others in the room.
The Most Important Days in Your Life
Richard Leider is an executive life coach and bestselling author of 11 books, includingThe Power of Purpose: Find Meaning, Live Longer, and Better. In his TED Talk, How to Unlock the Power of Purpose, Leider describes leading walking tours in Africa for decades, during which he interviewed tribal leaders.
He recounts the story of a wise elder who, becoming frustrated with too many questions around the fire, posed his own question to Leider:
“Do you know the two most important days in your life?”
Leider replied, “The day you are born and the day you die.”
The elder countered, “The two most important days are the day you are born and the day you know why.”
Leider cites research showing that having a clear purpose in life—particularly as we age—can help ward off mental decline and increase life expectancy by up to seven years.
The Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl, shortly after surviving Nazi concentration camps, wrote the seminal book Man’s Search for Meaning. He noted similar insights, observing that when fellow prisoners lost their sense of purpose, they were more likely to become ill and die.
Finding Your Purpose
Leider, the executive life coach, offers a couple of simple methods for discovering your calling.
First, ask yourself these questions and rate your answers on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest):
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Do you love what you do?
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Is there any part of your day where you love what you do?
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Are there any people you love serving more than others?
Your answers to these questions will give you clues about the areas that spark passion in your life. If you rated your job poorly but love coaching soccer or mentoring students, it may be a hint that you should be teaching or coaching.
If you enjoy working with certain clients more than others—perhaps seniors or recent graduates—you might have identified a niche that inspires you.
The Napkin Test
Second, here is Leider’s “Napkin Test,” which he calls the Purpose Formula:
G + P + V = C, or Gifts + Passions + Values = Calling.
It’s a simple and elegant formula, but it requires introspection and effort to identify and align your gifts, passions and values.
Leider says you can be fundamentally happier, more fulfilled, and more productive if you bring more of yourself to what you do. From my experience—in my own life and with my clients—I wholeheartedly agree.
Finding your purpose can be a long journey, but it’s a road worth traveling.
And you can start that journey right now. The slower pace of Summer is an ideal time to consider the most important question of your life: What is your purpose?
Will you reflect on that as you enjoy this season?