Finding Your Purpose And Doing What You Love

BookSummaryClub Blog Finding Your Purpose And Doing What You Love

How To Figure Out What You Want In Life

“Figure out who you are and do it on purpose” – Dolly Parton

Did you know that your success and happiness are largely in your control? The question we ask is ‘how to figure out what you want in life?’

You can come to this realization only if you find your purpose in life and do what you are genuinely passionate about. Unfortunately, many of us don’t realize that we have unique talents. We choose to do what everyone is doing. What’s the result?

You will feel lost, experience disillusionment, and get frustrated. You will start wondering why the gods have ganged up on you, that nothing seems to work for you.

Knowing your life purpose is the foundation of a life well lived. In his book, ‘The Power of Purpose,’ Richard Leider wrote:

“If our purpose is genuine enough, it involves us deeply and orders all areas of our life. We begin to eliminate what is irrelevant and what is so much clutter. A simplification takes place, and we achieve a clarity as to what we’re about. We don’t need to pretend to be what we’re not. What is of real importance stands out more clearly.” – Richard J Leider

You should start living a life inspired by purpose. By the time you finish reading this piece, you will have known how to find your life purpose and do what you love.

The Importance of doing what you love in the words of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple,

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

When you don’t know what you’re passionate about and aren’t doing what you love, your life lacks a deeper meaning. There are several other reasons why you need to do what you love:

1. You Will Know No Stress

People enjoy indulging in their hobbies mainly because it helps them ease stress and pressure. A hobby is an activity an individual has a real passion for doing. Hence, there’s no performance pressure, not targets, no stress whatsoever. This is effective in relaxing the mind.

At times, the things that you enjoy doing can also be done at a professional level. You should be confident that you truly love what you are doing. If counting money at the bank excites you, then you are the perfect candidate for the job. Otherwise, you had better evaluate your options and make a better decision.

2. Your Productivity Will Increase

When you are doing what you love, you will be more engaged and devoted to your work. In fact, you’ll be zealous in undertaking those activities. This will translate to increased productivity.

When you genuinely love your work, you will never feel tired. Furthermore, it will always be enjoyable doing those things. Consequently, you will end up being more productive.

3. You Will Remain Motivated

If you do what you love, your work will never feel like a chore to you. You will always be motivated to work as hard as you can to achieve the best. Namely, if you focus on doing the things that are driven by your passion, you will never feel bored. It will always be fun doing them, and you will always find it easy even to weather the hardships.

4. Your Work Will Have A Touch Of Passion

Passion is what differentiates good work and great work. Any sane person can tell if you did something with passion or not. Anything done with passion will not only be of premium quality but will also have emotional value attached to it. The love will flow out of your work and touch the hearts of its end consumers.

5. You Will Push Yourself To Be More Successful

If you are doing what you are genuinely passionate about, you will always strive to be better every day. This, eventually, will make you achieve more success in your life’s goals.

Also, you will never need any external driving force, which will push you to work. Then you will always be ready to face the tasks.

6. You Will Enjoy A Gratifying Life

This is perhaps the most important reason of all. When you love what you do, gratification comes in automatically. This is because you are following what your heart tells you, and you are living your purpose.

When doing what you love, factors like money and incentives become less critical. Your mind is focused merely on innovating and developing, thanks to your undying passion and love of life that is fulfilling.

So, follow your heart, do what you love, and you will enjoy a fulfilling life.

7. You Will Always Be Ready To Face New Challenges

While challenges are there to make us stronger, many of us do all we can to avoid them. However, if you do what you love and passionately work with all your heart, you will never avoid any challenges.

In fact, the new challenges will always fascinate you. The reason being, obstacles are usually inspiring, and they will make you even stronger over time.

8. You Will Always Be Learning

If you do what you love, there are high chances you will be interested in learning everything about it. In light of that, you will always find yourself learning and refining your skills every day. This is undoubtedly a good thing for your overall success.

9. Procrastination Won’t Be Your Cup Of Tea

Do you know why people procrastinate? It is mostly because they don’t feel like doing the tasks at hand. They don’t have sufficient motivation to do the work.

When you do the things you love, procrastination will never be one of your choices. Furthermore, you will have the drive to work extra hard to reach your targets.

10. You Will Be An Efficient Leader

Do you know the role of a leader? He leads the team and takes bold decisions.

When you do what you love, and are genuinely passionate about your work, you will inspire people. They will see you working, love how you work, and will certainly follow you.

Without passion and genuine belief in what you do, it will be difficult to convince anybody to join your team. Therefore, you need to find what you love, be engaged in it, and you will become an effective leader.

Having seen how you can draw immense benefits from doing what you love, it’s time to find out what you are good at and do what you love. Do you have any idea on how to find out what you are good at?

Don’t worry if you don’t or if you feel you’re not good enough. In the next section, we are going to outline how to find out what you’re good at; your passion, and your purpose in life.

How To Find Your Purpose In Life Doing What You Love

If you’ve never lived a fulfilling life, you probably have been doing what you don’t genuinely love. However, it is not too late to turn your life around. From the following tips, you will learn how to find out what you really want to do and live your life purpose.

Keep Inventory Of What You Love

There’s no way you can manage to live your purpose if you have no idea of what you want or what you truly love. If you are confused about what you love, then you are like many others struggling to find their purpose.

Get a pen and a piece of paper, and then find a quiet place with no distractions. Think about what you genuinely love, deep in your heart. Write it down, line for line. It may be an abstract object or something tangible. Whatever it is, just write it down. Otherwise, you will get lost.

If you have nothing to document, don’t stop thinking. Do you know why?

It is because there’s something in you that you positively love. You have to find it and document it.

Try To Remember What You Loved Doing As A Child

This is perhaps the simplest way to find out what you are genuinely passionate about and what you want to do.

According to various studies and experts, most of our childhood dreams and passion point to our life’s purpose. However, many of us are oblivious of that. Some of us, on the other hand, had no one to encourage us to pursue our childhood dreams and passion.

Consequently, we usually don’t discover where our passion indeed lies until we are grownups. While you cannot rewind time, you can make a list of the things you loved and enjoyed doing as a child:

  • What did you do that attracted the most compliments?
  • Were you enthusiastic about anything?
  • What were you great at?

After you’ve answered these questions, evaluate which areas or things that excite you today. That is what you truly love. In fact, getting back in touch with your childhood passions is a significant step in finding your purpose in life.

Lead From Your Heart And Not Your Head

When it comes to assessing our real passion and purpose, the heart is the most effective tool. Therefore, you need to lead from your heart. In this way, you will be naturally more ecstatic and enthused to explore.

Moreover, when you are motivated and connected to you ecstatic self, inspiration fills your heart. In the same breath, doing what you love gives you more insights into what makes you happy.

Money Shouldn’t Be Your Main Driving Force

If you really want to find your life purpose and do what you love, it is advisable to consider financial concerns as secondary. Namely, if the amount of money you earn from doing what you do is the primary determining factor, then finding what you love won’t be easy. This is primarily because it will limit your choices. When you want something, it’s never easy.

Conversely, if you focus on pursuing your interests, you will end up being an influential person, and ultimately, in a position that will earn you the money you desire. Therefore, get money out of the equation. Find what you love, pursue your interests, and money will follow.

Focus On Building Bridges

Note that we are referring to proverbial bridges here. If you are an artist, for instance, building a bridge could mean volunteering at the art museums. Likewise, if you love books, why not go to the library and help others learn how to read?

We love seeing people living a happy and fulfilling life. For that reason, we are teaching you how to find your purpose in life. This article is our bridge to connect with you.

By building a bridge, you will be able to connect with the outside world. It doesn’t matter whether someone is there or not. At times, just venturing into the outside world can help you meet somebody that will give you the push you so much need to live your purpose. Most often, we become holed up in separate universes, with no one to connect with. What does this mean?

You are like an island, feeling lonely and outcast. When the wind comes, it blows away the purpose into oblivion. You don’t want to be an island. Therefore, build bridges and connect with the world around you.

Focus On Your Strengths

You probably have realized that, from your early childhood, the society tends to focus on your weaknesses. No one recognizes your strengths.

If not stopped early in our childhood, this subconscious habit typically roots itself into our adult life never to fade. Some of us discover this and strive to turn our life around. Unfortunately, other people end up living unhappy and unfulfilling lives.

Therefore, it is imperative that you focus on your strengths and work to make them even stronger. You can achieve this by finding out and following what you love to do. Do not struggle to catch up in other areas, which don’t interest you. In fact, our real passion and purpose lay in our strengths.

Be Selfish

Do you always sacrifice your time and aspirations for other people?

If you answered in the affirmative, then that’s why you can’t find exactly what you want to do with your life. You should always put yourself first.

Try to answer this question: If you were not engaged in your job, friends, family, etc., then what would you be doing with your time?

You may think it is wrong to put yourself first, but it is very much okay. If you don’t, then who will?

Think About The People Who Inspire You

Some people are already where you would want to be. These can be historical figures, world leaders, business moguls, or individuals personally known to you. Study them and get to know how they managed to be successful in the area in which you have interests.

Consider documenting how these people inspire you, as well specific traits they possess that you would like to emulate. However, you don’t have to live up to every aspect of a person. You should use the person to identify specific traits that you would also want to have, which will contribute to the pursuit of living your purpose.

See some truly inspiring stories of successful people who failed in life here.

Eliminate What You Don’t Love Doing

There are, undoubtedly, things and tasks that you abhor. Note them down and eliminate them. Once you do that, your real passion will come out apparent. In the same breath, you can identify the people you envy for the work they do.

By making a list of the individuals you are jealous of, and trying to do the work they do then you may discover your real passion.

Identify The Things You Are Poor At

Many of us don’t have excellent skills at any one thing, but we can perform reasonably good in a lot of things.

Figure out what you’re good at and what your weaknesses are.

If you can merge your average skills, you may discover what you are genuinely passionate about. For instance, you can be a mediocre artist with an excellent sense of humour.

In this case, you may not excel in an art degree. Unfortunately, you cannot study humor as a subject. However, you can make a great cartoonist.

Another good example is an average business student, with excellent marketing skills, and some programming knowledge. This person has good potential of becoming the boss of other individuals who were better than he was in any of the three areas.

Often, people that are most passionate about what they do and excel at it are usually not defined by a single expertise. They typically possess a combination of skills, which are typically not even exceptional skills. They have just managed to make the combinations unique.

Take Steve Jobs, for example. He wasn’t the best engineer, businessperson, or salesperson in the world. However, he had some skills in each of the fields, which he fused together to make something exceptional.

Document Your Progress

When it comes to the process of finding what you love, it is imperative that you document your progress at every step of the way. This is probably the smartest thing you can do. Consider taking photos, writing notes, and drawing sketches.

Be sure to document your feelings, your observations, as well as where you have been. In this way, you will be able to remember things like this more vividly, which will play a significant role in finding your purpose.

You will be elated when you think about that great piece of art. You will also remember that warthog running after you in the park. Then you will come across moments that make you happy. Those moments will stimulate the synapses in your brain and give you purpose.

Your life’s purpose is unearthed when you find joy in the progress that you are making. It is found when you document every single thing along the way. Remember, you don’t have to write down everything. You can take photos, videos, anything with which you can communicate, share, and express your thoughts and feelings.

Always Be Positive

You should realize that life does not always go according to our expectations. You should not feel distraught when things go contrary to your plans. Take control. Try the best you can to adapt to the changes. Someday, you will achieve what you want. It is just a small break. At times, a positive attitude goes a long way in the pursuit of life’s purpose. It may also help manifest what you truly want in life.

Final Thoughts

Nothing can be more frustrating than when you work so hard, but nothing seems to go according to your wishes. Sometimes you feel lost and dissatisfied. If you don’t feel satisfied with or happy with your life, you may be doing things that were just not cut for you. You need to re-evaluate your life purpose and start doing what you love. That’s how to figure out what you want in life.

While many people find it challenging, finding your life purpose could be easier than you think. The problem is that many of us don’t realise that we possess unique talents and abilities. We usually follow the masses and get engrossed in what everyone else is doing. The result of this is mostly frustration, disillusionment, and an unfulfilling life.

With this article, you will learn how to find your purpose and do what you love. Knowing your purpose and doing what you love is among the most important aspects of living.

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