Do you have a sense of purpose?

If you had to describe the purpose of your life in a sentence, what would you say? If that’s too overwhelming, how about this: How would you describe your sense of purpose in one area of your life? – your work, your family, your education, your primary relationship, or your hobby or volunteer work, whatever you like.

Do you have a strong sense of purpose, or is it more vague and flexible? Does it seem to you that you consciously chose your purpose, or that you stumbled upon it, or that it was forced on you? And if you are older, how has your sense of purpose changed through your life?

There is some debate about the relationship between meaning and purpose and it’s not uncommon for these two words to be used interchangeably. I see purpose as an outcome of meaning: 1) We have meaning systems (as individuals and social groups) that we use to, 2) mediate and interpret the world (giving rise to our world view), and in this context, we create our individual sense of purpose or mission (which includes specific goals):

Importantly, our sense of purpose can often be hidden from our awareness because we inherit so much of our meaning system from our family and our culture, which typically tell us, implicitly, what our purpose is. For example, in modern societies, many of us have accepted that one of our primary purposes is to get a good education, so we can get a good job so we can be “productive” members of society. 

If you haven’t given much thought to your purpose, but feel generally satisfied with your life, it probably indicates that the meaning system you were born into is working for you: You know who you are, how to navigate your world and what you want to accomplish. For some people (perhaps many people?) the question of purpose only comes up when things break down, for example, we lose our job, have a serious illness, end a marriage, etc. Perhaps you can easily summarize your personal statement of purpose, but it no longer feels as deeply meaningful as it once did.

However you arrive at the point of wondering about your purpose, the question you may be asking is, What now? 

One appealing approach is to the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which can be translated as “life purpose” or “reason for being.” Here’s how I’ve used the Ikigai diagram below: For your current sense of purpose in your work or other endeavor, 1) rate each of the four primary (outer) circles on a scale of 1-5 (5 is high), 2) reflect on which are the highest and lowest areas, 3) decide which of the lower areas you want to improve on. For example, perhaps your current work earns you a good salary and you’re good at it, but you don’t feel it’s contributing much to the world and you don’t love it. Could you modify your work to address these weaknesses in purpose, or do you need to contemplate a new career?

Diagram Source

From a practical meaning perspective, I suggest that questioning our purpose is actually a great opportunity to engage in conscious meaning making. Here are some questions that might be useful to contemplate or journal on:

1. When you consider what, or whom, you love, have you viewed this through the lens of meaningfulness? What are the most meaningful experiences and people in your life?

2. What meanings have been passed to you from your family or culture about what a “good job” is? Have these meanings provided a wide or a narrow range of jobs from which to choose? 

3. When you consider what you are “good at,” how much of this is based on intellectual meaning (book smarts)? In other words, did you make your decision simply based on which subjects you were best at in school? Is it possible that there are important and overlooked non-academic subjects at which you might excel?

4. The world’s needs have changed in recent decades with the advancement of climate change – have you  reconsidered your purpose in relationship to this critical crisis?