This may sound funny coming from the purpose-driven career lady, but I don’t believe that you have a Purpose.
Objects have a purpose.
A hammer is for putting nails in. That weird fishtail side is for taking nails out.
A couch is for sitting. It can also be for building a fort or holding a pile of of clothes, but it’s made for sitting.
These are objects. They were created to solve a problem. They have a purpose.
You are a person. You were created because biology. Possibly because love. You don’t have a capital P purpose.
Can we agree that you are more complex than a hammer? Than a couch?
When you put the pressure on yourself to define your Purpose, you give yourself an impossible task.
You attempt to reduce you, beautiful, kind, hideous, fearful, generous you, to the likes of a hammer.
So don’t worry about trying to find your Purpose.
You can claim a sense of purpose. You can want to make a difference. You can have themes that run throughout your life and motivate you.
But you don’t have a Purpose like you keep looking for. No, you can’t be summed up in a tidy tagline or one sentence zinger. Objects can. Brands can. But you can’t.
If you stopped spending your energy on finding your Purpose, what would you spend it on instead?
Who would you be if you didn’t think of yourself as lost because you haven’t found your Purpose?
And would you believe that you don’t have to have a Purpose to have a career or life you love?
Laura Simms is the Founder of Your Career Homecoming and a Certified Equity-Centered Coach (IECC) with 15 years of experience guiding high-achievers through meaningful career transitions. She has helped over 400 professionals choose careers with both meaning and money, and her clients have come and gone from places like Google, OWN, NPR, Fortune 500 companies, the FBI, Broadway, and HarperCollins. As the pioneer of the WHOLE Method—a holistic career change strategy—Laura brings a unique approach that integrates purpose with practicality. Her expertise has been featured in US News & World Report. She holds degrees from Furman University and The University of California, Irvine, and has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Based in Atlanta, Laura enjoys thrifting, interior design, and walks in the woods.
