By Kent Johnson


One of the most important things you can do in career discovery is to determine your life purpose, or your mission in life. Your life purpose is central to who you are as a person, and if you want to find a career that’s truly rewarding, you need to find one that’s in alignment with your core beliefs and values. People who are the happiest and most fulfilled usually live their lives as if they are on a mission, as if every day is a wonderful adventure and they can’t wait to get started in the morning.

What is a life purpose? It’s a mission, a calling, a theme for your life that goes beyond your daily work activities. It’s the things that tug at your heart, get your blood pumping, and give you joy and fulfillment. Life purpose is what gives your life meaning. It’s more than just a job or career, it is the fabric, the “blueprint” of your entire life. 

If your career matches your life purpose, then you’re engaging in activities that are most important to you in life, not just the most lucrative. Many people have given up high-paying corporate jobs in order to start their own business, work with under-privileged kids, or to pursue other work that they find more rewarding. Especially in mid-career, workers often begin to examine what they’re doing and how it fits into their value structure.

So many people spend their entire lives working in jobs and careers that leave them feeling restless, confused and de-motivated. They chose their career in high school or college, often before they really knew what their core values are, and they follow that same path until they retire. They never work at a job or career that gives them the enjoyment and fulfillment that’s truly possible for them. They spend their days going through a monotonous routine, collecting their paychecks and counting their days until retirement.

People could do so much more, have so much more in their lives, if they would just take the time to sit down and identify what really matters to them. Once people know what really matters, they can begin the process of finding a career that matches those core beliefs and values. 


Discovering your Life Purpose 


The first step in this process is to grab a notebook or journal and find a quiet place to sit where you’ll be undisturbed for an hour or so. I have a hardbound journal (purchased at a stationary store) that I write all of my goals and mission statements in. Then you’ll want to answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Remember, this isn’t a test. There are no right or wrong answers.

First, ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s the purpose of my life?

If you’re not sure, what would you wish your life purpose to be if you could choose anything in the world? (Remember, there’s no wrong answer here. Think about this carefully. And don’t choose your life purpose, not one that was choosen for you by a parent or spouse)

If you come up with more than one life purpose, that’s okay, write them all down, then circle the one that seems the most important to you.

If you’re stuck on this question, don’t get discouraged. Uncovering one’s life purpose is not easy, and many people go through their entire lives never knowing what their true purpose was. Here are some questions to help jump start your thought process:

• What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? 
  

• Where do your talents lie? What are you good at doing?
  

• What activities in your present job or career do you enjoy?
  

• Is there a cause that you feel strongly about? 
  

• What would you say have been the top 5 successes in your life?
  

• What have you always dreamed about doing, even as a child? 

As you’re answering these questions, just cut loose and don’t worry about what anyone else would think of your answers. This is a process of self discovery, and you don’t need to share any of it with others if you don’t want to. Sometimes people mean well, but they can stifle your creativity if they’re too critical of your decisions in life, especially career decisions. Too often parents do this to their children, and the child grows up with limiting beliefs that can stay with them for their entire lives.

Also, don’t discount your life purpose just because it’s not unique or different from everyone else’s. There’s nothing wrong with sharing the same life theme and career goals with other people. In fact, I’ve found that often several members of the same family will come up with the similar answers to these life purpose questions. 

Once you’ve identified the overall theme or mission of your life, it’s time to distill it down to a single paragraph. Take everything you’ve written down, and see if you can’t condense it into several tight sentences, something like:

“My life purpose is to bring value to my work, find a career that feeds my passion, and co-exist in harmony with my fellow workers. I also want to parent my children to have good values and strong morals, and I want to spend time every week volunteering to work in my local community.” 


Implementing your Life Purpose

Now that you’ve begun the process of discovering your life purpose, it’s time to integrate that knowledge into your life.
The first step I would suggest is to draft a personal life mission statement for yourself.

Here are some other things you can do on a daily basis:

• Review your life purpose first thing in the morning, when your mind is fresh and free of distractions. This can be as simple as reading your paragraph once or twice before breakfast.
  

• When you face an important decision, always weigh the options and choose the one that will take you closer to your life purpose. This is especially important when making career or other work decisions. 
  

• Always be open to change. Change is the essence of our lives here on Earth, so don’t be afraid of it. If you’re truly committed to following the path to the life and career of your dreams, you have to be willing to change anything that’s not taking you there. This means breaking old habits and patterns of behavior, which can be hard at first. We all like patterns and order in our lives. But I think you’ll find that with practice, making significant changes in your life becomes easer and easier.
  

• Once you've identified your life purpose, you'll probably want to write a personal life mission statement to set your future career and life goals.

Take these important steps, and before long you too will be living the life and working in the career of your dreams.

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