Ask the right questions to discover who you are and what to do

What can you do that you couldn’t do a year ago? If you seek to find out more about who you are and what you are called to do, you will be more fulfilled. Sure, there are different seasons in life. You may wear various hats along the way, but the essence of who you are and why you are here now is essentially the same.

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

Galatians 6:4–5 (MSG)

Finding out who you are and what you are to do in life is essential to finding greater purpose — a reason for living. Jordan Ring responded to Finding Your Purpose with these words:

“I like the idea that comes from the Japanese word Ikigai for discovering purpose:

1) What do you love?

2) What can you do for others?

3) How will it make you money?

4) What am I really good at?

I was pleased as punch to find another person out there in the blogosphere that is trying to help Christians with these important questions. Just because we know where we are going for eternity doesn’t mean the here and now isn’t important. There is lots to do and lots that God wants from us! At least, that’s what I think.

Jordan Ring

More questions to ask to discover your purpose

These 5 questions help to center your focus. Adam Leipzig asks his audience on a TedTalk to respond to these quickly, shouting out responses at once. From there he helps them to create a sentence that becomes a clearer picture of life purpose for them.

1. Who are you?
   
2. What do you do?
   
3. Who do you do it for?
   
4. What do they want or need?
   
5. How do they change or transform as a result of what you give them?

Analysis

• Questions #1 and #2 are about yourself.
• Questions #3–4–5 are about other people. Who are “they” and what do they want or need that will transform them?

Happier people make it a point to make other people happy, and do things that make them feel well taken care of and secure. If you make other people happy, life teaches us, we will be taken care of, too. So, when somebody asks you a question like “What do you do?” say the very last thing you called out — how what you do changes the people you do it for.

Adam Leipzig

Examples

Sometimes you might not catch how to do this for yourself. Try to replace your 1–5 responses with what he suggests from these examples.

Start with #5: “I give kids awesome dreams.”
Life Purpose: “I (1) write books (2) for children (3), so they can fall asleep at night (4), so they can have awesome dreams (5).”

Start with #5:”I help people look and feel their best.”
Life Purpose: “I (1) design apparel (2) for men and women (3) who need affordable choices (4), so they can look and feel their best (5).”

Start with #5:”I help people get great work into the world.”
Life Purpose: “I (1) train entrepreneurs and creative people (2) to take decisive actions (3) so they can get their greatest work into the world (5).”

That little snippet that you just said becomes your personal elevator pitch.

Adam Leipzig

And it will always start a conversation because the person that you were just talking to has to ask you a question,

“How do you give kids great dreams?”
“How do you help people look and feel their best?”
“Can people really get their greatest work into the world?”

And then you get to tell them, and you get to share your life purpose. And you get to share how they may come to learn theirs, too.

Adam Leipzig

From theory to practice, you can create your own life purpose. Try answering these questions for yourself. Formulate a sentence. Draw diagrams. Take time to examine your life and sink yourself into that. Experiment with words. Ask others to reflect what you do so that you can become more objective about formulating concepts that are practical and give you direction.