A reframe to help you understand your purpose

Similar to “passion”, purpose is a word we throw around like confetti in personal and professional development circles. Like most words that pass through the cycle of first being popular buzz words to eventually being overused and despised, mentioning purpose can create more confusion than clarity. Even in the very moment that a person is nodding their head to agree to the importance of “knowing your purpose”, on the inside they’re often screaming “what in the world does this even mean?!!”

Is my purpose a hidden treasure I must dig for in order to find? If so, how will I know when I find it?

Is it someone I must become?

Is it a mission I must complete in the future?

Is it something that will only be revealed once I die?

It all seems so complicated and mysterious. 

Like many of you I’ve wrestled with these questions and wondered if there was a special hack to help me crack the code on “knowing my purpose”. I’ve probably read more books, articles and watched more videos on the topic than most in this quest. I even left a career in search of work that I described as “being more aligned with my purpose”. What this looked like at the time was unclear and definitely fell into the nebulous realm of “I’ll know it when I see it”. 

Now, years later as a practicing coach I realize I was asking the wrong question. By asking “what’s my purpose” I made the mistake of assuming that 1) there was one thing I could do that would embody my purpose 2) that my purpose could be found outside of me in some other place and time after a long journey. 

I’ve come to find that the better question to ask is “In this moment, am I purposeful? On any given day am I operating in my natural gifts in a way that leads me to make contributions that reflect my deepest values and greatest strengths?

When I ask these questions I’m challenging myself to move beneath the surface of things down to the deeper level of “being”. 

These questions can help you realize that an understanding of your purpose is inextricably linked with an understanding of your nature. This is because your purpose is you.

Too simple?

Let’s use a cell in your own body as an example to understand this better. Think of a heart cell. What if it wanted to discover its purpose? How would it go about doing that? Would it need to pack its bag (think long wooden pole with a large handkerchief of goods tied on the end and slung over its shoulder) and go on a long journey to another part of the body to uncover it? Would it need to come to the end of its life before this great mystery would be revealed?

Absolutely not! The purpose of a heart cell is not a mystery. Its purpose is revealed through its gifts and the contribution it naturally makes to the body. A heart cell doesn’t have to go anywhere to uncover its purpose because its natural ability to support the beating function of a heart reveals its purpose. 

In the same vein, your purpose is revealed by your natural gifts and contributions. 

Your purpose is you at any given moment when you are fully in touch with your gifts, expressing them and offering them in service. That’s it. No more. No less.

Those gifts are the things that naturally surface over and over again no matter how much or how long you suppress and neglect them. Those gifts that are a joy to give as much as they are joyfully received.   

This means that your purpose will always transcend your current job or any position you hold in life. Your purpose will never be limited, defined by or need permission from any role you play in your personal or professional life—whether that role is given or chosen. These roles (mother, father, boss, employee, lawyer, doctor, king) may serve your purpose but they are not your purpose. 

To be full of purpose you must simply know your gifts and offer them in service. Exactly where you are. Right now.   

You can do this with or without a job. You can do this with or without a marriage. You can do this with or without children. You can do it with or without money. You can do this with or without fame.

You don’t have to wait for any future moment, condition or person.

You can live purposefully and be full of purpose right now.