Questions To Ask To Discover Your Purpose

Jason Daly
9 min readMar 10, 2023

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Discovering your purpose and calling in life is a thought-driven process. Watching self-help videos or reading motivational books may lift your spirits and give you some skills, but you’ll be no closer to knowing your purpose in life.

In fact, overloading your mind with extraneous mental clutter might cause more problems. To uncover one’s purpose, you’ll need to simplify things and get to your authentic self.

The key to doing that is to ask yourself crucial questions that help you discover who you really are. So often, we wear masks when out in the world that we never really get in touch with who we really are. The mask is all we know… and we act and think like how we believe we should.

By digging deep and asking yourself the questions that matter, you’ll discover what it is you truly want in life. It’s imperative that you be radically honest with yourself. Forget what the world has told you to believe in.

Go with your heart and answer the questions below:

  • What did you enjoy doing when growing up?
  • What were you naturally good at when young?
  • What do you enjoy talking about?
  • What activities can you easily spend hours on?
  • If you could start over in life, what would you do differently?
  • If money was not an issue, what activities would you engage in?

These questions can help to reveal your innate talents and desires. For example, you may have loved art and crafts — and might have been naturally gifted at them.

But somewhere along the way, your parents or teachers told you that subjects such as math and science were more important for landing a good job in future. So, you ditched the art and listened to them.

Years later, you’re stuck in a job you hate, and it’s related to math or science. But your heart and soul pines for more. Your dissatisfaction with your life cannot be explained.

There is a missing piece — but you don’t know what it is. In this case, you may miss being involved with art.

Getting back to it might bring joy to your heart. You may even wish to pursue it as a career and become a prominent success in this field. You’d never know unless you ask yourself what you truly love doing and if you’re good at it.

Once you know what you love, you can always practice and hone your skills until you master them.

  • What is your ideal life like?
  • How do you want others to see you?

These 2 questions will reveal your heart’s innermost desires. Your ideal life is the best version of you. It’s your dream you.

Your purpose will be wrapped up in this image. You may want to be fit and muscular so that you can inspire others to achieve their dream bodies too.

It’s quite common to see overweight people who have transformed their bodies and went on to become fitness coaches because they found that their purpose in life was helping others become fit and get the body of their dreams too.

Be willing to explore and be imaginative. Forget the limitations you’ve been led to believe. Ask yourself what you’d do if anything was possible. This is what you’d do if you were on purpose.

You’ll find your answers once you still your mind and listen to the voice within. This can be a difficult task and you may wish to start journaling to aid with the process.

Ask yourself the same questions daily and write down your thoughts. Keep digging deeper and give yourself the freedom to answer without restraint. The world has kept your innermost desires buried long enough.

It’s time you dug out your authentic self from underneath the burdening rubble of other people’s beliefs and expectations — and live life according to your true purpose.

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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How To Find Your Purpose By Letting Go

Finding your purpose in life is a process where you dig deep within yourself to discover what makes you happy. You’ll need to look at your talents, skills, desires and what you really want.

The process requires you to clear the clutter in your mind and also in your heart and soul. Like the author, Deepak Chopra, says, “In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.”

That’s exactly what you must do — let go.

Don’t Let Your Past Drag You Down

All human beings have regrets, mistakes we wish we could undo, past memories of instances where people did us wrong and so on.

Millions of people relive these bad memories and experience the same negative feelings over and over. They’re in a vicious cycle that just doesn’t seem to end.

It’s impossible to discover your purpose if your mind and heart is filled with repressed anger and other negative emotions. In most cases, one will not be able to undo the mistakes of the past.

Holding on to baggage from years ago will only burden you. This excess weight will drag you down day by day and life will feel like a struggle.

The key to finding your purpose and putting a spring in your step will be to let go of the unwanted baggage you’re carrying. This could be memories, negative habits, toxic people and so on.

Benefits Of Letting Go

There are several benefits that can be accrued by letting go of past grievances and bad memories. It’s a cathartic process that will make you happier and feel a sense of ‘lightness’.

If you’ve made mistakes in the past, the first step is to forgive yourself. Regretting the same mistakes over and over is just self-punishment that will prevent you from redeeming yourself. Let these regrets go and strive to do better from here on out.

If others have done you wrong, the best thing you can do is forgive them. You don’t have to tell them a word, and you’re not doing it for them. You’re doing it for you.

As long as you have anger, sadness and hate in your heart for wrongs done by others, you’re robbing yourself of happiness that you could be having right now. Don’t let them live rent-free in your head and heart. Let it all go… for your sanity and well-being.

What Should You Let Go Of?

What one needs to let go of will depend on them. It varies from individual to individual. Here is a common list of things you should let go of

  • Any grudges, gossip, grievances.
  • Regrets because of mistakes you made in the past
  • Bad habits that have plagued you for years
  • A job that makes you hate your life
  • Fear of failure and the unknown
  • Jealousy and comparing yourself with others
  • Demanding partners
  • Toxic ‘friends’ and family members
  • Poor financial habits
  • Perfectionism
  • Trying to please everyone
  • A poor diet and a bad body image
  • Procrastination
  • Possessions that you no longer need

This list is just a starting point. You may have other things in your life that you need to let go of. A rule of thumb is that if it doesn’t make you feel good or serve you well, then you need to let it go.

Once you’ve rid yourself of what’s holding you down and holding you back, you can focus on what you want and how you can feel happy and fulfilled. That’s how you discover your purpose.

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — André Gid

4 Important Factors That Determine If Purpose Can Lead To Profit

Most of us would have seen the quote — “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” This quote has been around so long that some people attribute it to Confucius, while others say it’s Mark Twain who said it.

Whatever the case may be, there is a fallacy in this quote. You could love knitting and spend hours on the task. Yet, that does not necessarily mean you could make a living from it.

There are 4 important factors to consider when ascertaining if your purpose in life can derive profit for you. By finding a way to make a living while living your purpose-driven life, you’ll not only find happiness, but will also be able to generate an income that sustains a comfortable life.

The Task Makes You Happy

This is the litmus test of finding your purpose. If the task you’re engaged in makes you happy and you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll naturally be inclined to do more of it without any ‘forcing’ on your part.

People drag themselves to work because they dislike their jobs. They get no satisfaction from what they do, and the mundane tasks they’re engaged in saps their energy and soul.

A part of finding your purpose is to engage in work that brings you pleasure. It could be writing, painting, dancing, construction, training animals, etc. As long as it makes you happy, you’re on the right track.

You’re Naturally Good At What You Do

If you were good at art since young and you loved it, that’s a sign it could be your true calling. So often, the world tries to shape and mould us into what we’re not.

Parents try to impose their wishes on their children and stifle their kids’ natural talents. A kid who loves telling jokes is often told to stop ‘playing around’ and focus on his/her studies.

The child’s natural talent at comedy is never given room to grow — and the world loses a talented comedian. The same applies to other arts such as dancing, painting, etc.

People measure talents based on the jobs they can get in future. This is myopic.

The key to finding purpose in life is to focus on your natural talents and hone your innate skills until you’re very good at what you do.

The World Needs You

To get paid for what you do, you MUST bring value to the marketplace. Your natural talents and skills must be needed by other people.

A good writer must be able to write books that people crave to read. An exquisite dancer should have moves that awes the audience. The talented artist should create works of art that captures people’s imagination.

Your success in the marketplace is directly linked to the demand for your work. Being good at what you do and loving the process is just half the equation. The other half is that people must want what you have to provide.

You Must Get Paid For It

As obvious as this sounds, many people tend to forget about it. You can only profit from your work if people pay you for it. So, if you wish to make a living doing what you love, you’ll have to find a way to market yourself and your products/services.

This is the key to living life with purpose without going to a job you detest. Initially, it may be a struggle when you’re learning the ropes and trying to get your name out there.

However, if you stay the course — success will inevitably be yours. Always make sure you love doing what you do and you’re great at it. Then check if the world needs what you do and if they’re willing to pay you for it.

Satisfy these 4 factors and the world will be your oyster.

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