30 Sep 3 Steps To Finding Your Life’s Purpose (And Dream Job)
via Forbes by Jia Wertz
When Haley Hoffman Smith began creating motivational TikTok content, she didn’t expect the most common question that she gets asked. “How do I find my purpose?” flooded her comments and DM’s. She had created a TikTok video for a popular trend that reflected her growth trajectory from a purpose-less 15-year-old to her now, at 24, as a six figure entrepreneur signed with her dream talent agency in New York City. The video garnered over a million views and counting, spurring hundreds of requests for advice on how to find one’s life purpose.
Finding your purpose is a big question – probably, the biggest question most people ask themselves. Yet, according to a survey of 2000 Americans, only 10% of people are working the job they dreamed of back when they were teenagers. People cited many reasons, including financial limitations, lack of skills, or focusing on family, for this departure from pursuing their dream jobs.
The sense of existential dread that pervades upon the mere contemplation of one’s ‘life purpose’ is enough to fog clarity and spark anxiety. Some would argue that we all have just one purpose, while others, like Liisa Kyle Ph.D., will argue that we have multiple purposes that we fulfill throughout our lives. But one thing’s for sure: a sense of connection to one’s purpose is one of the most important considerations in our work, our passions, and our businesses.
It can even help us live longer. A study by Clearvue Health reported that purpose correlated significantly with mortality in a cohort of 8,419 adults. “Essentially, when you feel like you have something to live for, you actually may just live longer as a result,” the article stated. I spoke with Hoffman Smith to learn more about how she’s helping hundreds of people answer the million dollar question, “How do you find your purpose?”
1. Reflect On Your Excitement
It’s no secret that our answer to this question will come from some level of self-reflection. “When I sat down to create a five-day course, The Purpose Pilot, I knew I had to guide students through the right set of reflection questions to help them really understand themselves,” Hoffman Smith noted. “A major part of this was in seeing where their interests and passions converge.”
Many of us dismiss our real life dream as merely just an ‘interest.’
“We’ve been encouraged to think of our passions as something that’s credible, that can lend itself to a career we feel comfortable in pursuing,” she adds. “But when we allow ourselves to look at our interests, we’re able to see the real dream that may be in our blind spot.”
In assessing these interests, pay close attention to what really excites you. “The course teaches what I call an ‘Energy Test,’ which is where you close your eyes and think through each passion and interest, and feel the energetic response in your body,” she shared. “What I’ve found is that thinking about one’s real dream and sense of purpose will feel akin to taking a few shots of espresso! You have that capacity for renewed energy within you, if you light the flame in the right way.”
… keep reading the full & original article HERE
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