4 Tips for Finding Purpose in Your Work
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you’re meant for something more, but you’re just not sure what it is? You’re not alone. Finding your purpose can feel like a big, daunting question, especially when you’re juggling work, family, and everything else life throws your way.
Your purpose is about more than just what you do—it’s about tapping into what lights you up, what you’re naturally great at, and how you can use those gifts to make a difference. But figuring that out? It’s easier said than done.
I’ve been there, too, wondering where to start and how to make sense of all the possibilities. That’s why I’ve put together four simple tips to help you uncover your purpose and start taking steps toward meaningful and fulfilling work—whether that means starting something new or reinventing what you already have.
Let’s dive in and get you closer to the work (and life) that truly lights you up!
#1 - Don’t Confuse Finding a Purpose with Picking a Niche
Let me start by saying that finding your purpose is not the same as picking a niche for your business. Finding your purpose is a larger, broader concept of knowing your place in the world and what you’re meant to do. Picking a niche, on the other hand, is a marketing strategy for ensuring you have an edge in the marketplace.
So, finding your purpose and picking your niche are very different things—even though they’re often presented hand-in-hand.
Many people start their entrepreneurial journey knowing they want to do something but aren’t sure exactly what it should be. There is pressure associated with picking a direction for your life’s work, as if you have to pick one thing, and it better be the right thing.
Adding to this noise is all the “expert” advice that says before you do anything with your business, you should “pick a niche.” But what does picking a niche even mean?
Often, picking a niche simply means choosing a particular audience you want to serve with a product, service, or business. What the “gurus” are saying is you need to focus on just one area to build your business and sell your talents. To them, finding your purpose is deciding who you want to sell to.
That works for some people, and often it’s great advice. But if you’re like me, focusing just on a niche takes the human element out of finding a purpose for your life and business. It focuses on the what, not the who—and to me, that starts to feel gross when building and marketing your business. I don’t like thinking about my life’s purpose as marketing to a niche. That just feels inauthentic and, well… ew.
Instead of thinking as a marketer, think of yourself as a teacher or mentor. Think about your life’s purpose in the sense of who you want to serve, how you want to help people, and how you can share your knowledge and skills with them—and that may very well cover more than one “niche.” Focusing on the people rather than the bottom line will get you closer to finding your purpose.
Besides, picking a niche before finding your purpose is next to impossible, especially if you are passionate about multiple things. If you have multiple interests or skills, how can you be expected to pick just one thing as your sole purpose in life? It’s not possible. Because picking one thing to focus on feels like ignoring the other sides of you that contribute to what makes you special.
For some people, picking a niche seems easy, but it gets in the way for many people, especially those with multiple interests. It can seem so overwhelming that you end up not picking anything at all. Sometimes, the issue is having too many ideas for your business, and you become completely overwhelmed. Other times, you think you have a good business idea but aren’t sure if it’s the “right” one. You look to others for validation and fall into old patterns of fear, insecurity, or self-sabotage.
In all cases, focusing on the niche first keeps you from finding your purpose. You can’t choose just one thing and expect it to shape the rest of your life. You can’t pick your life’s purpose from a list of ranking marketing keywords. You also can’t turn to others to tell you your purpose. You must find it yourself. You have to find the strength within to trust yourself, make good decisions, and follow your intuition.
Easier said than done, though, right? Those things take time and practice, which we don’t often have as new business owners.
So, how do you find your purpose? How do you know what business is right for you and whether your chosen one is right?
Great question. Let’s break it down.
#2 - Put Yourself First
Aside from my objections above, I don’t necessarily have a problem with picking a niche. I have a problem with how experts often claim it’s the first and only way to business success.
It’s true that picking a niche can work for many people, but if you’re looking for more out of your business than just a paycheck, focusing on a singular niche can leave you feeling hollow. That’s because picking a niche is often focused on keywords, market research, and data analysis that excludes the human impact of your business. These are all necessary when building a business, but if your heart leads you toward finding your purpose, it can’t be the first thing you focus on.
Instead, if you want to find your purpose—the magic that you and only you can bring into the world—you will likely want to focus on more than one thing. You will want to share the many skills and talents that make up the amazing and ever-changing person you are.
So, there’s nothing wrong with picking a niche (I’ve even written another post about it; although I do have some problems with how some experts frame the niche discussion), but if you’re interested in finding your purpose, picking a niche is the wrong place to start. If you want to start a successful, sustainable business, you shouldn’t base it around keywords you find on the internet or the needs of a particular audience. You need to base it on yourself.
Yep, I said it. You need to be selfish and think of yourself first.
You know that adage that says you can’t be a good partner until you learn to love yourself? Well, the same is true for your business. It doesn’t matter how good your keywords are or how well you’ve niched down to a particular audience if your business doesn’t fill you up and fuel your soul. Finding your purpose is about finding what makes your heart sing and sharing it with the world. So, the first step to a successful business is to focus on you.
As you consider this, ask yourself:
What lights you up?
What are you good at?
What do others tend to ask you to help with or ask your advice for?
What do you most love to do?
What skills do you have?
What is your dream job?
What would you be happy doing every single day?
Figure out your strengths, your passions, and your areas of expertise. Then, start building your business ideas around those honest answers rather than a set of keywords you’ve researched online. Follow your heart, and it will lead you to your purpose.
#3 - Look at the Big Picture
Once you start prioritizing what you want from your business, look at the big picture. Similarly to how you want to avoid picking just one niche to start, try not to overthink your life’s purpose as some significant, overarching, singular thing that will have all the answers.
Finding your purpose isn’t about just proclaiming one thing you want to do for the rest of your life. (How boring would that be?) It’s instead about the big picture.
Think about your previous answers about your skills and passions. Then ask yourself:
How do you want to contribute to making the world a better place?
Why do you want to find your purpose?
What impact can you make on the world?
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Do your answers to any of the above questions lead you to the big answer to the question: What do you want to do with your life? If not, that’s okay. That’s a pretty big question to answer at this stage in the game, but trying to understand the bigger picture is a good idea.
Don’t focus on the details right now. Finding your purpose is more about exploration, discovery, and looking at the big picture to discover what lights you up and gives you a sense of direction.
It may not seem like it initially, but once you start answering these questions about the big picture, your business goals and strategy will fall into place. You’ll already have some of the bigger questions answered, such as why you’re starting your business and where you hope to be ultimately.
Most importantly, your business will be successful. This is because you will have chosen a path that will allow you to work hard even on the things you don’t want to do. After all, you believe in the bigger purpose behind it all.
#4 - Get Comfortable with Change
There often feels like a ton of pressure to find that one thing that will be your life’s purpose. But the complexities of who we are as humans mean we’ll always be changing, evolving, meeting new people, and learning new things, so our ultimate purpose may shift, too. That’s okay.
Get comfortable with the idea of change and know that if you stick with the overall patterns of what fills you up and how you can bring light into the world, you will be on the right track. Even if it’s not the “final” thing you do in this life, it will be the best thing right now, and it will move you closer to where you need to be.
It’s okay to be multi-passionate and want to do many things… and we can. We must shift and adjust our lenses to focus on the right audiences and goals at the right time.
For now, start getting comfortable with the idea of change. Let’s start with the changes you’ve already gone through in your life.
Think back to when you were a kid. What did you want to be when you grew up? For most of us, those things change, but not necessarily a lot from when we were children. What were your childhood dreams for your career? And what are your dreams now? I bet they’ve shifted, but if you zoom out and look at the big picture, what parts of what you wanted to do then also call to you now? What similarities can you find, and is it enough of a theme where you can zoom out and see the strengths, skills, and talents you’re meant to share with the world?
Specific career paths may change, as does everything in life. But in my experience, the core foundations of who we are and what we are meant to be rarely shift drastically.
I have been a student, engineer, writer, editor, publication manager, graphic designer, teacher, professor, corporate executive, and business coach… and who knows what I will be in the future? But those things don’t define me; my purpose does. And my purpose is to help people, teach people, and use my voice to amplify the power of others. Whether I am writing, teaching, or coaching, I use my purpose as a foundation for all that I do. How and what you do may shift and change. But once you find your purpose, the rest makes sense.
Because my purpose isn’t my job title; my purpose is how I bring light into the world.
With that in mind, the first step to finding your purpose is searching your life for patterns you may not have initially recognized. What fuels your fire? What fills you up? What burns you out or wears you down?
As an example, I’ve noticed the following patterns in every career I’ve ever had:
I enjoy mentoring, teaching, and encouraging others to be the best versions of themselves.
I love research (especially if I can share that research with others), problem-solving, writing, and design. Those activities fill me up, and I could do them for days.
I have natural strengths of leadership, strategic thinking, and empathy.
I speak up for underdogs and get fired up by issues of justice vs. injustice and standing up for what is right.
I value authenticity, trust, communication, empathy, and honesty.
I get burned out by negative energy and unnecessary conflicts.
I get overwhelmed by (and now avoid) narcissistic, disingenuous, and egotistical personalities, as they trigger unhealthy patterns from my childhood.
My purpose is to stand up, speak up, and teach. My purpose is to help others discover their strengths, learn new things, stand up for themselves, leave toxic work relationships, and build businesses that give them the slow-living lifestyles they deserve. I have created a career that speaks to each bullet point above, allowing me to follow my intuition and get the closest to my true soul’s path.
If you were to write a similar list of all the similarities you’ve had over your careers and experiences, what would that look like for you?
Final Thoughts
I won’t sugarcoat it for you. Starting a business is hard. But it’s a lot easier when you know your purpose.
Once you can nail down the answers to what you’re good at and why you want to do it, once you learn to put yourself first and get comfortable with change, you can choose a business direction and life’s purpose without putting so much pressure on yourself. You realize that your life’s purpose can and will change while you do as a person. It’s okay if your purpose in life shifts as your priorities and circumstances shift, too.
The idea is that you stay true to the person deep inside of you, your main goals and aspirations, which I truly believe don’t change too much from who we are at our core. What you do as a job may shift and change, but your true purpose has always been there and is ready to come out and shine whenever you’re ready.
So, what is your purpose?
What would happen if you gave yourself time to review the above questions and write down your answers? How much closer could you get to finding your purpose? And how good would it feel to finally have that breakthrough?
If you’ve made it this far in this post, I bet you’re ready to step up. I challenge you to put it all down on paper. Let yourself think about your purpose. Consider the questions in this blog post and sit with your answers without judgment. Then consider what your life will be like once you finally find your purpose and start bringing your gifts into the world.
When you’re ready, let me know because I can hardly wait to see what you decide to share with all of us.
Because knowing your purpose also means attracting the right people to you: clients, customers, mentors, and supporters. It’s amazing what kind of magic happens once you discover your soul’s path and the others there to join, support, and encourage you along the way.
And that’s what I’m here for!
If you’re overwhelmed and unsure where to start finding your purpose, I’m here to help. Sign up for my Own Your Strengths Starter Kit when you’re ready to dive in and nail down the specific strengths, talents, and skills you can bring into the world. Reach out to me with any questions, or leave a comment below.
Your purpose is waiting!
