How do I focus on my purpose?

Focusing on your purpose involves discovering and living your values, reflecting on what matters most in your life and career, and aligning your activities with these values.

How do I pursue my purpose?

To pursue your purpose, begin by identifying your contribution to the world, align your daily activities with your core values, and take steps to integrate these values into your personal life and career.

What does focus on your goals mean?

Focusing on your goals means directing your attention and efforts towards achieving specific objectives that are aligned with your overall purpose and values.

What is the power of having a purpose?

Having a purpose provides a sense of stability, continuity, and meaning in life, boosts resilience, and is linked to higher satisfaction and longer life, as evidenced by various studies.

What does it mean to pursue your purpose?

Pursuing your purpose means actively engaging in activities and making choices that are in harmony with your fundamental values and the contributions you wish to make in the world.

Focus on your purpose: Picture of compass with tag saying 'Purpose'

How to Focus on Your Purpose

July 23, 2022

Career Themes

In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, an effective strategy for being resilient is by staying focused on your purpose.

Why Focus on your Purpose

Focusing on life’s purpose is your internal compass. It defines the direction in which you would like to see your career and life move. It gives you a framework in which to make choices one step at a time that lead you to your best career fit in the long term.

Purpose also gives meaning to your life and provides a sense of stability and continuity in changing circumstances; in other words, it boosts your resilience and prevents burnout. I have observed that my clients who have the highest career satisfaction and engagement levels know their purpose and set goals.

Purpose is not just about career satisfaction:

A study of more than seventy-three thousand Japanese men and women in 2009 found that those who had a strong connection to their sense of purpose, which they call ikigai, tended to live longer than those who didn’t.
Dan Buettner, in his study of “Blue Zones”—communities in which people are more likely to live past one hundred years—found the same connection. Buettner identified factors that most centenarians share, and one of them is a laser focus on purpose.
In 2014, researchers used data that tracked adults over fourteen years and found that “finding a purpose in life appears to widely buffer against mortality risk across the adult years.”

So, what is purpose? Think of your purpose as the contribution you want to make to the world. You can begin exploring your purpose by answering these questions: