The Pursuit of Purpose

In late December I stumbled onto a series of videos by Chris Do discussing personal branding. In one one of these discussions, he brings up the idea of a personal mission statement which immediately sent me spiraling down a rabbit whole. Over the past few months I’ve asked myself: Who am I? What is my purpose? What am I good at? What can I do to serve others?

While obsessing over these questions I’ve encountered the idea of purpose, in some form or another, over and over.

In “Mastery”, by Robert Greene, he discusses the idea of your “Life’s Task”. Robert argues that this purpose and direction is a “religious-like quest for each of us,” and that finding ones purpose is the key to unlocking your “Mastery”.

In “#487. How (And Why) To Lose Yourself” of the Ten Percent Happier podcast, Jay Garfield talks about living in the “flow” state and the ultimate goal of living a life full of “virtuoso”, in which he describes: “a life lived in expertise rather than as an amateur imitation of who I would like to be.” While he’s not specifically calling out purpose here, it speaks to me as an similar concept, one where we’ve identified our strengths and know why we are pursuing certain goals.

It’s been a few years since I last read “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, but its very much related to all of this. I had to remind myself what exactly Frankl coined as “Logotherapy” - “is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life.”

So what does this all mean? I don’t really know, but one of the things I am appreciating about “Mastery” is that Robert Greene offers practical approaches to finding the answers.