How To Find your Purpose in Life – 7 Ways

Are you struggling with how to find your purpose in life? Here’s how you can overcome this problem with these 7 important ways.

Anyway, before I go ahead, I’d like to ask you a question: If you knew that you were going to die one year from today, what would you do and how would you want to be remembered?

Most of us have no clue what we want to do with our lives. 

We all face this question at some point in our lives – “What is the purpose of my life?”

The hunt is basically to do something meaningful and find a distinct path for ourselves – that would make us shine bright and fill us with happiness.

When I was trying to figure this out for myself, a friend helped me by asking – “What’s that one thing that makes you forget to eat or poop?”

It was quite a helpful question for setting my perspective, as I realized that it’s writing which makes me forget time.

If I am trying to weave something out of words, I’m the happiest and nothing in the world bothers me.

To add to that, I also came to know that traveling and exploring new places gives me a solace which I seldom find in other things.

It took me quite some time to curve the path and conjoin my love for writing with the desire of explorations – until I finally settled to be a travel blogger and choose to share my stories of adventures with a bigger audience. 

Ways to find the purpose of your life:

1. It’s all about ‘Trial & Error’.

There are times when people ask me, ‘Oh, so you’re into travel blogging. How’s that related to your academic profile?’

Well, it’s in no way related and often, it gets a tad bit difficult for me to explain that my educational qualifications have nothing to do with my professional life!

To be honest, I’m glad (and lucky) to have pursued a profession that syncs with my passion.

I did my Masters in International Relations, after which I was chosen to be a part of the Gandhi Fellowship that allowed me to work for social development projects in the rural areas of Rajasthan, India.

While most of my friends opted to study further, enrolled for M.Phil and later Ph.D., I figured out that I was much better in narrating my own stories rather than drafting papers on Public Policies.

After the fellowship, I worked for a media agency for a couple of years, and then, I was a part of a volunteering organization.

In between all of these, I was often taking breaks and going for high altitude treks in the Himalayas, and it took me a couple of years to figure out that it was writing about my own adventures that made me feel the happiest.

I realized that the roads have taught me way more than my classrooms could ever teach me!

It was a point where I was sure that I feel alive when I’m traveling, and that my words are like the colors that can paint a picture of what I experience!

And thus, I ended up being a travel blogger, living life in my own terms, and dreaming of exploring this wide & beautiful world.

The reason I shared my story is that I want you to understand that it’s all about ‘Trial & Error’.

You won’t wake up one day to find what you want from life – rather, it’s a slow process, that’ll unfold with time.

You need to keep moving, keep doing various things, keep indulging in diverse opportunities until you come to that one thing which makes you the happiest. 

2. Listen to your heart.

We’ve all been there – stuck in a decision making dilemma where our heart wants one thing, while the mind keeps pushing us towards another.

These are two totally different directions – where one feels right and the other is logical.

But sometimes, beyond logic & explanations, we should just do what feels right, even if that’s the riskiest thing ever!

As Mark Twain said, “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.”

Sometimes, finding the answer to the question – “Why am I here?” is the solution to all the problems in life – and it’s only you who can find the real answer to this.

Sometimes, all we need to do is listen to our hearts. The magic happens when you actually end up finding the answer and do what your heart calls for.

Everything else automatically falls in place. 

3. Be okay with failing.

A friend once told me that we don’t try half the things in life because we fear we’d fail – but how would we know if we’d fail or not until we try?

He made absolute sense to me – and I accepted that I’ve not been any different. It’s usually the fear of failure that’s far greater than the failure itself, which stops us from moving towards our goals.

When we think about engaging in the pursuit of trying to live the life of our dreams, we begin to picture cataclysmic failure and everything starts getting blurred from that point.

But when you’re on a quest to find the purpose of your life – know that it’s okay to fail.

You’ll fail once, you’ll fail twice, you might fail for 5 times or more – but every time, you’ll learn something new.

And then there would be a time when you’ll succeed – or you’d just figure out that it’s not the correct path for you.

While failure might hurt and people might talk, making us feel like specks of dust, it’s an inherent part of any successful person.

People can only succeed through failure. It’s a platform for growth. It’s the driving force for all things in life big and small.

Related:

25 Principles to become successful in life

4. Make a priority list.

The problem with most of us is that we barely categorize our priorities and ignore the simplest of learnings, thinking that they aren’t much important.

For a minute, take a pause and sit down with a notebook – make a list of things that you’ve achieved – no matter how small it is!

From learning to cook your first meal to making a perfect PPT presentation that everyone appreciated; from dreaming of things that looked impossible to taking a step towards it – write about all of that.

And then, on days when you feel low and disoriented, go through this list and look back for that shot of confidence & sense of accomplishment.

Pick out the ones that make you feel happy and ignite a spark in your mind. Note them down on a fresh sheet of paper.

Knowing your priorities will help you in strategizing your goals & means of achieving them.

You’d know what should be the first step and what should be the following ones. It’s something that only you can do best and none can fix it for you.

5. Step out of your comfort zone.

I shall be as honest as I can be and accept that it took a lot of courage to take that one step into the bigger world.

Back in 2016, when I decided to quit my first job and travel solo, my mother told me – ” Do all that you want to, ‘coz I don’t want you to blame me for not letting you do something that you believe you can.”

I’ve been lucky enough to have her support all throughout, even when I was myself not sure enough & pretty scared.

After traveling for 5 months at a stretch, meeting people from various walks of life, experiencing the good – bad – worst, having free meals at restaurants and befriending cab drivers – I realized that this is what I’ve always wanted to do.

If I would have chosen to live an otherwise mediocre life, sitting in the office cubicle and running around the same corporate chores – I would have missed out so much that life had in store for me.

I realized that by taking a step outside your comfort zone, you might be surprised by how much you end up liking something that you never in a million years imagined you would.

Maybe you don’t know what you want to do because you haven’t tried what you’re meant to do yet.

And you won’t know if that is true or not until you step out of your comfort zone and embrace what lies ahead.

6. Be prepared for a long journey.

To put it in the words of Andrei Palskoi – “Expect that it is going to take a while and involve several iterations, or so-called “life crises” to figure it out. For most people, it’s a long and often unfinished journey.”

It’s not gonna be a miracle. You won’t wake up one fine morning to know what you want from life or what’s the purpose of your being.

To be honest, it’s a huge misconception about figuring out what you want to do with your life – that you will have a sudden, magical moment of extreme clarity and then have your entire life planned.

In actuality, our lives are constantly shifting and you’ll need to regroup and reconsider your journey as you go along.

So instead of being surprised when you have to make new decisions, anticipate them, and dare I say it, be excited for them.

And once you have found what you really wanna do in life, try taking smaller steps towards your goal rather than one big leap.

Go slow, understand your moves, enjoy the journey ‘coz it’s gonna be a long one until you make it to the finishing point, and see the lights of success!

7. Practise self-awareness.

In order to understand the purpose of life, to hone your skills, and to drive your life towards achieving your goals, you need to be self-aware.

While it might sound to be simple, it actually needs a lot of practice. Before acting on a decision, ask yourself “Why?”

Follow up your response with another “Why?” And then, for a third time. If you can find three good reasons to pursue something, you’ll have clarity and be more confident in your actions.

Being self-aware means knowing your motives and determining whether they’re reasonable.

An African proverb says, “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside can do you no harm.”

If you’re sure of what you want from life, why you want it, and how you think it’ll make you a better person – then nothing really can stop you!

Going back to the question I asked you in the beginning, would you like to share your answer with me?

Leave a comment below, ‘coz I’d love to hear back from you.