Too Many Life Purpose Options

[stephenkettley]

Hi everyone,

I have struggled with life purpose ever since first going to college and it has been my major source of depressive energy up until now at age 27. I have contemplated deeply around this topic and am in the middle of the life purpose course. My main issue is now that I have about 8 things I feel connected to and I can't decide what to pursue for my life purpose. All I do know for sure is that the 9-5 job I have now as a data scientist is just NOT my deep purpose. But I get overwhelmed when thinking of the other options and what to choose. I have previously done videography which I enjoyed, I have a self-actualisation blog, I love the idea of doing what Leo does, I love music deeply and spend lots of time so music production seems like a potential option, I have an idea for a book, I deeply love preaching and helping others with self-actualisation so life coach has been a consideration. So the problem is that I am not sure which option to pursue and in some sense I start to question if any of them are it because surely I would know deep down which one I am inclined to do? I feel like I am a very engaged person when it comes to reality and so have developed many passions but it seems to be a slight disadvantage now. I end up trying to pursue too many things at once as I am not sure which one is THE MAIN PURPOSE.

Any advice from @Leo Gura or anyone else.

Thank you!

[Jannes]

You don't have to be done yet when you are still in the middle of the life purpose. 

Then again I told myself the same thing and end up wasn't really satisfied with my answer but I did get a lot closer to it from what was possible I think. 

[The Renaissance Man]

@stephenkettley Maybe this could help. I have two ideas:

1. Gain clarity over each possible path. Make it explicit, write it down if needed. Then, think of how you would get to make a living off of it. Think of the actual lifestyle during the grind, and after. Some options will be more unpleasant than others, while some will be very inspiring. Sometimes the idea is good, but the reality of doing it as a job sucks.

2. Think of what the best outcome would be, considering all your paths. What would a dream life (keep it minimalistic in terms of money). Maybe a combination of all of them, maybe of some of them, maybe a different business structure comes to mind. You can apply point 1 to the different combinations. THEN, SERIOUSLY (IMPORTANT, DO IT FOR REAL), LOOK FOR A SOLUTION TO ACHIEVE THAT. Your mindset needs to be: there must be a way. You have no idea of the opportunities around you. This is because of business ignorance. Seriously keep this thought in mind, and make your mind run day after day. Instead of thinking: these are my resources, and with these I can't see a way, think: this is the way I want, now let's make my gears work to find a way to make it happen.

 

Let's make it real with an example. I had a job full of menial tasks. I didn't make much, but I thought of delegating. Too expensive. Fuck. I needed a result, but with my current knowledge or resources there wasn't a solution, if not to continue doing the tasks myself and wasting hours every week. And then BOOM, I discover no-code automation, and with one click I do 40 minutes of work.

In my case, necessity forced an innovation. Without necessity I was doing the dumb work myself. When it became a problem, and my mind started to think, a solution came pretty quick. I suggest you shortcut this by taking the pursuit of finding a way to get there even without the pressing need I had.

Another example:

I want to work 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. And then I start to reverse-engineer how I can achieve that. But for this to be successful (and you'd be surprised how often there is a solution (I'd seriously say 99% of the time, not exaggerating), you need:

1. A resonating, ambitious goal
2. Confidence in the fact you can get there.

If you have both, the result is the actual thing that gets you there: A SERIOUS EFFORT TO FIND A SOLUTION.

 

Hopefully this helps. Internalizing this notion is changing my life. I now think of what I want, and then of how to get there, instead of thinking of what I have, and then of where I can get from that.

[puporing]

If they are all truly weighted equally (well, even if they weren't), I advise picking one (or two) that is the most accessible and practical (as in that you can actually earn money steadily from). Picking things you cannot earn enough money to live off of (unless you already have lots of money), is not good for your overall health and ability to live well.