Re-defining purpose completely

To help others X, so they Y.

Do we have a single purpose, or many?

Does it born with us, like the color of our hair?

Is it shaped by our experiences?

How many purposes can we have at a given time?

Is purpose just a task, a project, an identity?

I believe the ability to have a purpose distinguishes us humans from other species and likely appeared during the cognitive revolution, a few millennia ago

With that comes the possibility of properly planning for the future, have goals, and built the so called immortality projects: stuff that will last after our death

But let’s start by answering questions…

I think purpose is actively shaped with time and our experiences, which shape our identity and makes us pursue goals accordingly with a set of priorities.

I also believe certain pursuits arise more biological reactions from within us, tapping into our primal biochemistry, making some purposes already imprinted in our DNA.

The best example is having kids.

Purpose involves sacrifice and any parent experiences a drop in priority at all other task when a kid is in the equation. You start living for someone.

But what about purpose related to self-formulated goals? Besides multiplication of the human race and raising another human beings… what other “Why”s can we have?

I believe we can easily find our why — not going into all the details now, as it would fill a full book — by looking at our most important life experiences and identifying emotional patterns of how we thrived in the past.

We can combine this with the natural need of contributing to the community and formulate something like “to help others do X so they do Y” (insight from Simon Sinek). Mine was to help others face their fears so they live the life they want and pursue the dreams that matter to them.

This is what we do with our lives, what we are proud to be. This is part of our identity.

A lot of people misunderstand this by focusing on HOWs and WHATs instead of WHYs.

We have to figure out how we are going to make our purpose into reality by leveraging our skills and natural interests. Passion is a myth.

So think about something that, even if it feels shitty sometimes, you are willing to do. That is the sweet spot. This won’t be a walk in the park, by the way.

I can think about how I would fulfil my purpose — by showing people that fears are rooted in limiting beliefs, increasing their confidence and self-esteem, improving their mental health, boosting their physical health overall, and getting people on self-improvement strategies.

Then, what specifically should I do? What real tasks should I act on?

For me: writing online about health and mindset related topics, creating products around it, working as a neuroscientist in research or as a psychologist, and so on.

Now, what you want to do? Whatever it is, God has a plan for you, you are not reading this by chance. You haven’t got this far to give up now.

Find out what personal experiences shaped your identity, what are you naturally inclined to do, how can you contribute to the community.

Then become obsessed and optimist to the point you are delusional that your vision will work out.