Have you ever wondered why some are always full of life and energy while others seem to be in a perpetual slump? All else equal, the answer lies in our life purpose.

A life purpose is the driving force behind everything we do. It’s the reason we wake up in the morning or press the snooze button when our alarm goes off. Our purpose will dictate the decision we make personally, professionally, and will give our life meaning.

If you struggle to find that drive, you have come to the right place. In this article, I will share 5 techniques you can use to help you discover or create your life purpose.

Study Thyself

Discovering our life purpose begins with getting to know ourselves more deeply. We are inundated with a gazillion voices every day, projecting their life purposes onto us. If we don’t learn to turn our attention to our inner world of thoughts, feelings and sensations and engage in consistent personal introspection, we will unconsciously adopt someone else’s life purpose.

To determine your life purpose, first, ask yourself: what would I be willing to do if I had a billion dollars in the bank? Make a list of the first twenty ideas that come to mind, no matter what they are. Then, ask yourself: What are my strengths? List as many as you can. And finally, describe as clearly as possible the impact you want to make on society. From this, you can narrow down the list of activities you wrote in step 1 to match your strength and the legacy you want to have.

If the result you find is not satisfactory, you can ask a teacher, a close friend, or a family member to assist you. Ask them to answer all the three questions about you. Compare their answers with yours. That should give you a clear picture of where you stand.

Determine How Your Actions Connect to Your Values

If in the first step, you didn’t come up with your life purpose, you can take this more practical approach. Discovering or creating your life purpose doesn’t mean you will stop existing, so now you will use inputs in your daily activities to discover what gives your life meaning.

Connect your tasks—personal and professional—to your values. Often, we don’t find our life purpose because we are too busy getting by. Understanding the reasons behind what you do will take an extra bit of time and energy, but it will help you determine your purpose.

Take Responsibility

Learning to take responsibility for your life’s results will boost the process. When we know that discovering our life purpose is an active process, we will be more motivated to put forth our best effort.

Don’t Be Hard on Yourself

Finding your life purpose will be chaotic before making sense. Since this activity will require inputs from both your heart and mind, you want to be attuned to the signals you get without judgement.

Be Patient!

The process takes time. Be patient and don’t engage in deprecating talks when you have seen no satisfactory results.

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How did you find your life purpose? Please share your answer with us in the comments section.

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