Are you wondering how to find your purpose, passion, and life? Are you feeling a bit stuck when it comes to uncovering your purpose?
Is your day job supposed to be your purpose? Are you supposed to have this one thing that you love so much (and are so good at) that you make your living from it? Should that be the goal?
Do you ever see quotes on Instagram that say things like “Make your career your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life”? Do you get frustrated by the idea that you are supposed to be living out your purpose, but you can’t seem to figure out what that is?
In today’s podcast episode I am going to be answering the question: Does your day job need to be your purpose? You will learn the BIG misunderstanding most people have around “purpose”, what purpose really is, and how to think about purpose differently so you stop spending so much time searching for your purpose and start actually living it in your daily life.
Use the audio player above to listen, or tune in on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND PASSION IN LIFE
To know how to find your purpose and passion in life, first, you must understand what purpose is.
Most people have the misunderstanding of purpose. The purpose is not one job title. It’s not a specific profession or even a specific business. The purpose is the underlying mission you have. It’s answering the question: “why are you here on this planet?”.
Your purpose is your assignment. It’s your mission that your soul accepted. It’s why you were put on this earth. If you aren’t living out your purpose (or trying to figure out what it is) then you are missing the whole point of your life.
WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?
Here is my purpose as I understand it at this time: I am here to teach others how to deeply know, love, and accept themselves, claim their worthiness, and create a life that’s an authentic reflection of their truest self. I get to express this through my work as a career coach. I help my clients deeply know, love, and accept themselves and find or create a career that fits them.
But I don’t just express my purpose through my work, I express it in all aspects of my life. In my interactions with friends, by encouraging them to always show up as their authentic selves. By traveling- which gives me the opportunity to learn more about myself independent of my environment.
My purpose is the underlying theme and mission of my life. It’s what strings each piece of my life together in a way that makes sense. If you are wondering how to find your purpose and passion in life, you must realize it doesn’t just come from your career.
FALSE BELIEFS ABOUT HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND PASSION AND LIFE
Some people who teach about how to find your purpose and passion and life say that it has to strictly come from your career. They teach things like “make your career your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life”.
I don’t believe that to be true. First of all, I don’t like using the word passion at all. This word can be intimidating and daunting. It can make people feel “less than” if they don’t have this one thing calling to them.
Thinking that your purpose HAS to come from your career is limiting. It puts your purpose in a box. In the career box. It makes purpose dependent on one thing external to you.
It also puts way too much pressure on your purpose to be profitable. It puts pressure on you to have one thing you love so much and are so good at that you monetize it and support yourself fully from it. That can feel out of reach. Although it is absolutely true that your purpose can be profitable, it doesn’t feel good to put so much pressure on it.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE A LIVING FROM YOUR PURPOSE?
On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who give up on the idea of purpose altogether. They look at teachings on how to find your purpose and passion in life with so much skepticism. To this group of people, jobs are a way to make a living, purpose is something you pursue in your spare time. They essentially say “there is not a way to make an income doing the things I enjoy. That might be available for other people, but not for me.”
There are also problems with this line of thinking. It’s limiting. It puts your purpose in a box. The extracurriculars box.
It’s inaccurate. It says that there are certain skills you can exchange for monetary value for and other skills that are not valuable. This simply isn’t true. I fully believe that there are ways for everyone to make money doing work that is an expression of their purpose.
It’s dishonest. If you claim that you don’t need to feel a sense of purpose at work, I think you are lying to yourself. Are you really ok with spending hours every day doing something you don’t enjoy for the sake of money? Or do you just believe that is the way life is and are trying to accept it?
WONDERING HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND PASSION IN LIFE?
So if you are wondering how to find your purpose and passion in life. If you are wondering “does your day job need to be your purpose?”. The answer is yes.
Yes, your day job absolutely needs to be an expression of your purpose, because the totality of your life needs to be an expression of your purpose. If you want to live a fulfilling life. If you want to get to the end of your life with no regrets. You do need to be expressing your purpose in all facets of your life.
You feel better and you make a greater impact on the world when you are doing the work you are meant to do.
