Finding Your Purpose Is More Selfless Than You Realize
What Is A Good Purpose?
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Before talking about having a “good” purpose, it’s important to note that calling it “good” isn’t about judging it. At the end of this, finding your purpose will help you achieve your goals. So don’t worry: this doesn’t end with the advice that you just live under a coconut tree, removed from society.
A good purpose does two things: 1) It empowers you to feel joy and meaning every day and every hour – not just “someday” and 2) It provides an endless source of energy. Purposes like wealth and power really aren’t all that energizing. That’s because they’re attached to something you might get, in a very long time. And even then – you only might get it. Meanwhile, a good purpose connects you to something you can achieve and feel every single day. Some examples are:
- Making people happy
- Being of service to others
- Making others’ lives better
- Making the world a better place
- Inspiring others
When things like those listed above are your purpose, you’re in a great position because you can achieve those every single day. You can find ways to make people happy or brighten your corner of the world every single day, even in seemingly boring tasks. It doesn’t only happen once you’ve made X amount of money or once you’ve gained X amount of followers.
You’re probably noticing that good purposes have a lot to do with other people and little to do with your personal gains. That’s intentional. The feeling of being of service is energizing. On the other hand, when you’re only in your goals for yourself, you’ll run out of fuel quickly. And that’s because, you won’t get daily bursts of…whatever you’re looking for. Ego boost. Power. A million dollars. That stuff happens in isolated moments, far in the future, and sometimes not at all. Those are not energy sources you can tap into daily. Your purpose is what drives you – not just what you’re driven towards.
If you need a few final morsels of evidence that giving back is more fulfilling than taking what you can, consider this: research shows that people who volunteer are significantly happier (Journal of Happiness) than those who don’t and – here’s the real kicker – poor people are more likely to volunteer than the wealthy (NPR). It goes against all logic, right? At least, capitalist logic. You’d think poor people would be more concerned with improving their own circumstances than helping others, and that the wealthy would be the most generous. In reality, people with minimal financial resources who give back experience more joy than wealthy people who don’t give back. If that doesn’t emphasize the importance of a service-focused life being central to happiness, we don’t know what does.
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