The source of your purpose

Where do you find your purpose? Is it internal or external? 

Early in my career, I rarely thought about my purpose – I just followed the path in front of me. That is what many of us do, I think. So at that time, my purpose was taken from my external environment. It was based on the mission of the organizations where I worked. There was a part of me that wanted to have a positive impact on the world, so when I had a choice, I tended to choose mission-based organizations that aligned with my values. But I did not have a sense of my particular reason for being in the world. And that was fine.

Until it wasn’t. There came a time when it wasn’t enough. While I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself that was inspiring, I also wanted to be seen for my uniqueness. I wanted to have a sense of my own purpose. For that I turned inside. I thought I had to figure out my purpose, isolated from external influences. To some extent, I was right, in that I needed to listen to myself more and external voices less. The external voices were noisy, with messages about what I was good at, what I should want, what success looked like. It took some time to get quiet enough to hear myself.  My purpose bubbled up from within. 

But I also discovered that purpose is not developed in isolation. Nor is it static. It emerges and evolves, in dialogue between yourself and the world. David Whyte wrote, “Work is where the self meets the world.” I think your purpose, your “why”, is also at that boundary. You bring qualities, skills, and gifts into the world. The world has needs. Your purpose is the unique way in which your gifts contribute to the world.