How To Discover Your Life Purpose In About 17 ½ Minutes

July 5, 2010

Nothing is more important than discovering your purpose of life. So if you go to the Great Electronic Oracle (Google) to seek an answer, what will you find? Well, a Google search about how to find your purpose will reveal an interesting list of titles. One of the first entries you’ll find promises that you can discover your life purpose in 20 minutes by repeatedly asking what your life purpose is and writing down your answers until you cry. And to quote the article, “That’s it.” I guess you cry because you’ve gotten in touch with something that’s really important to you? Other titles provide the “Three quick steps,” a test that will immediately reveal your purpose, and numerous other magical solutions to the question of what to do with your life.

To be fair, some of these quick-and-easy approaches do provide a nugget or two worth pondering. However, I believe their search engine success reveals more about many of us than it reflects these entries’ value for finding our life’s purpose. The popularity of these articles shows that most of the time we want easy answers, even to the big life questions. Here’s another example.

In a few weeks we will launch an online program to help you discover your Calling, find your life purpose, and live a life of passion. Now before you stop reading because you think this blog is about to become an ad for the program, please hang for a few more sentences. There really is a much larger point I’m going to make—I promise! As I’ve invited people to participate in a pilot of this program, we’ve had no problem finding lots of people who report that they’re dissatisfied with their current life path and many have told me that, “I really need this stuff.” However, I’ve noticed something interesting as they begin to sign up for the program. A few of these folks want to know, “How much of my time will this program take?” before they’ll get commit to getting started. This question strikes me as strange because it seems to me to be an irrelevant question. Let me explain

Most of the people participating in the program’s pilot are in their 30s and 40s with many years ahead of them. If they can answer, “How do I find my purpose?” they have a lot of time to live out their purpose in a way that will bring them passion for life and even joy. But their first concern was how much time and effort the program might take. Why weren’t these folks asking, “Will this program give me more insight into my life?” or “At the end of the experience, will I have a better idea of what I should do with my life?” While I strongly believe the answer to these questions is “yes,” that’s not my point. Instead it’s another example demonstrating that many of us are programmed to want a quick fix, even with the big questions of life. Perhaps this tendency is why so many go through life without discovering the real answer to, “What is my life purpose?”

So, I thought I’d top the 20-minute solution by giving you a genuine approach to finding your life’s purpose in just 17½ minutes (oh and by the way, there are only three steps). Here you go: First, read this article (5½ minutes). Second, I suggest you walk around your house once to get the blood flowing (4 ½ minutes). Third (and this step is the one that can actually make a big difference in you life), find a quiet spot where you can reflect and ask yourself two questions: “Am I willing to do whatever it takes to find out what I should do with my life?” and “When I do find out what it is, am I willing to really do it?” (7½ minutes). If the answer is “Yes” to both questions, you’re well on your way to genuinely finding your life purpose.