A Brief Guide to Finding Your Purpose

You might be chasing a “false” purpose

Throughout history, people were often born into the job they would do for life. A carpenter’s kid would also be a carpenter. A farmer’s kid would later work on the land too.

But ever since the industrial revolution, and as more people have gotten educated, most of us now have the power and opportunity to shape our own lives and careers. We’re no longer bound by what our parents did.

This has been an amazing development in human history. On a macro scale, our lives are getting better. However, all this opportunity has a downside.

There are now so many paths in life that many of us don’t know what to do. In fact, every single person who has signed up for 1-on-1 coaching with me over the past six years did so because they lacked direction.

I’ve been there too, so I know how frustrating it is to wake up every day without a sense of purpose. And even if we have purpose, how do we know it’s worth it?

In his book The Laws Of Human Nature, Robert Greene calls that the Law of Aimlessness. In addition to not having a purpose, he argues that we also tend to chase “false purposes.” Here are some examples.

• The Pursuit of Pleasure — Sex, stimulants, entertainment, games, you name it. When you chase something that eventually feels empty afterward, it’s a false purpose.
• Causes and Cults — People always need to have something to believe in. Ideally, it would be something internal, like a personal mission or goal. But when that’s missing, some people may blindly follow cults or causes so they at least feel like they belong somewhere.
• Money and success — You don’t need a lot of money to survive. But people chase money for appearances and ego. This leads nowhere in the long run.
• Attention — Some people want to be social media stars because they chase likes and views. Attention and approval can turn into an addiction.
• Cynicism — Cynicism is the feeling that there’s no meaning or purpose in life. Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Man would rather have the void as a purpose than be void of purpose.” People who claim that life is meaningless and never try to improve are…