What is the difference between having a career vs having a life purpose?

[NightHawkBuzz]

I am on the journey right now of finding my life purpose. I would like to know what the difference is between a career and a life purpose. When I do find the thing that I want to be my life purpose I want to know what is the difference between just having it be my career and having it be my life purpose. I am wondering what defines and makes something be your life purpose vs just having a career. What are the things that clearly define something as being your life purpose. 

[BipolarGrowth]

I sit at home and smoke legal THC while helplessly obsessed with the insight discovery process and teach dharma for free getting more payment of more lasting effect than when I would work for money. Eventually I’ll have to figure out some relatively lucrative schemes, but I see no need to worry to any extent I used to about money, power, status in anything but living dharma by being an honest idiot rather than a dishonest idiot. I attach to the dharma as safety which is guaranteed to bring me eventually to all of the most unsafe waters. 
 

Eventually charging for teaching will make more sense, but I get to hone and perfect my worthiness to receive payment for dharma and insight in the future by stumbling through as an idiot who knows something now. 

[RendHeaven]

25 minutes ago, BipolarGrowth said:

but I see no need to worry to any extent I used to about money, power, status in anything

Haha remember the good old days when you were so sure of yourself that Leo should be turning actualized.org into a corporate empire.

Glad to see things come full circle

[NightHawkBuzz]

@BipolarGrowth I'm gonna be honest I'm kind of confused how this relates to my question?

Edited July 30, 2021 by NightHawkBuzz

[yetineti]

The answer is relative to you. What do you think when you imagine your life purpose?

Career?

To me, it’s the difference between self ignited discipline and freedom, a life purpose, and wage slavery and dependence, a career.

A career will get me some security and certainly cash (nothing wrong with that) but leave me dependent and mechanical.

A life purpose, done effectively with patience, could hypothetically (because I’m not there yet) provide a comparable amount of cash and security while leaving room for creativity and perhaps more importantly, purpose.

 

The difference between just surviving and truly living.

Of course it’s easier to just keep the job I have now. 

[Nobody_Here]

@NightHawkBuzz You might find the following attached graphics helpful. Fill in each section and you will get your life purpose or “ikigai.” As you can see in the diagram, a profession/career is part of the ikigai but they are not one and the same. 

I filled out a similar diagram as an example and got “enterprise architect” as my ikigai. An enterprise architect shapes an enterprise’s people, systems, and technology so they can optimize. A common example today of a challenge enterprise architects tackle is digital transformation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_transformation

Don’t feel bad if you don’t come up with the most amazing career right away, as my journey took years to figure out what I wanted to do, and you may need to take time and gather life experience also before you make a decision.

Also keep in mind that life purpose and career can change as you do, and there is nothing fixed about either.

Hope that helps you some. 
 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Nobody_Here

[RuthLew]

The Ikigai system is truly unique. I read a lot about her and in the case of the topic of the post it is very suitable.

[Goldzilla]

The only LIFE PURPOSE is to LIVE. 

All other things in life are PLAY.