“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”
Viktor E. Frankl
Talking about purpose is complicated because it’s different for everyone. Determining what you want to do with your limited time on this planet is difficult and some philosophers argue that there’s no meaning to life. Nevertheless, we humans need to find some kind of meaning. As Carl Jung once said, “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” Similarly, Nietzche believed that “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
Simply put, there are numerous advantages to having a purpose, chief among them the fact that it serves as a compass to guide you in a complex world. Your sense of purpose can come from different things and it doesn’t have to be that important. You could find meaning in life by reading books, analyzing films, going on runs, interacting with members of your family, or doing work. Regardless of what you choose, you must choose something.
When talking about happiness, Nixon once said something that stuck with me for a long time. He said “The unhappiest people of the world are those in the international watering places like the south coast of France, and Newport, and Palm Springs, and Palm Beach. Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon. Drinking too much. Talking too much. Thinking too little. Retired. No Purpose. So while there are those that would disagree with this and say ‘Gee, if I could just be a millionaire. That would be the most wonderful thing in the world’ – They don’t know life. Because what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. The battle. The struggle – Even if you don’t win it”.
But what if you haven’t found your purpose yet? Here’s Jung again: “What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your early pursuits.” And if you want a guide that helps you find the activity in question, you can read Robert Greene’s Mastery. Similarly, Kevin Kelly wrote the following in Excellent Advice for Living “The only productive way to answer ‘What should I do now?’ is to first take the questions of ‘Who should I become?’”
Finally, never ignore the fact that you’ll change. James Clear once wrote, “ The important thing isn’t to achieve all your dreams, but to keep dreaming. Your desires change as you learn and grow. Old dreams will spawn new dreams. And eventually, one of these newer, more defined visions will find their moment and become reality.”