How to find your life purpose
How to find your life purpose
A practical 3-step guide to find your thing and start living your dream life
EXACTLY 2 years ago, the idea that would evolve into Karisma was born. Karisma is more than just a business for me; it’s my purpose. I feel blessed to do what I love and I’ve never been more fulfilled.
The truth is that finding my path didn’t just happen from one day to the next. A lot of time and energy were spent to get to that 1 aha moment.
Looking back at the past years, I genuinely believe that having a purpose is one of the keys to a happy life and that everyone can find his/her thing.
I’ve laid out the 3 steps I (unconsciously) took so you can find your path and start living the life of your dreams. Each step is paramount so make sure you read until the end.
Ready
Aim
Fire
I considered leaving parts out and making it shorter. However, I really want this to be an in-depth and practical step by step guide you can always go back to and not just another shallow motivational post.
I dedicate this to all the dreamers out there who’ll never settle until they make the one life they have their masterpiece.
Step 1: Ready
Before you can find your thing, you first need to know what options are really out there.
The more you step out of your comfort zone, the more things you try and the more things you say yes to, the more confident you’ll be in your final decision.
The goal is to expand your number of options from this…
… to this.
From my experience and that of many other people I’ve met who’ve found their purpose, changing your environment is the best thing you can do for this.
Particularly, I recommend traveling and, if possible, by yourself. Traveling not only puts you in a totally different environment but also gives you an opportunity to meet so many different people and to get to know yourself.
Every single person has so many diverse perspectives and life experiences that we can learn from. To make the most of your interactions, it’s an absolute must to keep an open mind and never ever judge a book by its cover.
Here are some other things you can do:
Work in different industries
Get a mentor
Read lots of books
Listen to podcasts
Join a club or an online community
Step out of your comfort zone
Say yes to things that come your way
“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”
— Max Depree
Step 2: Aim
Once you’ve explored what’s out there and opened up your mind, it’s time to identify what your ideal lifestyle (aka destination) looks like based on what you like and don’t like.
Why does it matter? Well, a purpose is “an object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.” In other words, we gain a sense of purpose when we have a destination we’re moving towards.
To find your target, keep it super simple and forget about whether it’s possible or not. When I returned from my world travels, these were the 7 criteria I came up with:
I want to constantly meet interesting and diverse people
I want to have lots of variety and adventures in my life
I want to constantly grow and strive to become the best version of myself
I want to live on my own terms and be free to make my own decisions
I want to be able to live and work wherever I desire, whenever I desire
I don’t want money to be any of my issues
I love architecture and interior design
Once you’ve set these boundaries and clarified what your destination should look like, it will give you a sense of direction. Now you’re ready to pick the vehicle — a job, career or what you do — that will take you to your dream life.
As you can see, being a coliving entrepreneur (the vehicle) checks all of my boxes. However, someone else seeking stability, no stress and to be in one specific location would absolutely hate what I do.
This may seem very obvious at first, but the reality is that the large majority of people only pick between a limited number of vehicles and think that what they’ve chosen is the destination. I don’t blame them because this is how we’ve been conditioned to think since we were kids.
It starts in university with the degree we’d like to pursue, which makes it feel like this is what we’re destined to do for the rest of our lives. During my business studies, it felt like all I could pick once I graduated was a career in consulting, accounting, sales, finance, etc.
If living your dream life and finding your purpose is what you truly desire, you need to think outside the box and not succumb to the expectations of society, your family or others.
There have never been sooo many cool alternative paths out there that schools and universities never even mention. Don’t limit yourself, get creative and think big.
Had I not listened to myself and looked beyond the typical career options, I would have NEVER come across coliving (vehicle option 1) and most likely gotten a job in consulting (vehicle option 2), which would have only fit with 2 out of my 7 criteria.
Remember: Start with the things you like and don’t like, what you’re good and bad at and what you want your ideal life to look like. ONLY THEN consider the vehicle that will take you there. Never the other way around.
“Somewhere between college graduation and your second job, a chorus enters your internal dialogue: Be realistic and stop pretending. Life isn’t like the movies.”
— Tim Ferris
Step 3: Fire
By now, you should have a vague sense of direction. You’ve reduced the number of potential options and know that your purpose is somewhere in the green area.
It’s time to take action and figure out the rest on the go. Don’t wait to have everything figured out to take action. This is exactly what keeps so many people from reaching their dreams.
The perfect plan or idea will NEVER EVER come knocking at your door. If you really want to live your dream, don’t wait for “one day.” Take action now.
In case you still feel lost and don’t know where to start, this is the process you have to follow:
Pick 1 thing within the green area — your hypothesis
Test your hypothesis
Gather feedback
Repeat until you find it
It doesn’t matter if your hypothesis is taking you in the wrong direction or isn’t your final thing. You’re in the process of figuring it out and even negative feedback is valuable.
It’s better to go in the wrong direction than in no direction at all.
The more you repeat the process, the more you’ll reduce the number of final outcomes. This process requires both patience and agility. You want to wait for the right thing but also not get stuck on the wrong thing forever.
Be ready to get slapped in the face and to pivot quickly. Every failure and obstacle you encounter is an opportunity to learn and grow.
Before I came up with the idea of Karisma, I knew I wanted something that incorporated experiences, real estate, community, travel and growth.
In October 2020, I decided to explore the idea of opening a surf camp in Portugal. I knew pretty much nothing about Portugal or surfing but I kept an open mind and constantly set new hypothesis.
After 2 months of talking to every person I could and learning as much as possible, I set 1 key hypothesis: “what if I include an office in the surf camp so remote workers can stay and surf longer?”
That same week I came across coliving. I felt like I had found a gold mine. If you follow this process, you will get to that aha moment too.
It’s also very likely that you may come across multiple things you’d like to pursue. It’s not like there’s just “the one” purpose out there waiting for you. It’s about finding the things that excite you, which will evolve over time.
Here’s the crazy and beautiful thing: even if you find it, you will never stop figuring your purpose and yourself out. Once I committed to coliving, it felt like the bar returned to green so that I could find my place within the industry I had chosen.
Life is an endless journey, in which the only constant is change.
“We learn the way on the way.”
— Shannon Kaiser
Alright, enough for today. I hope this added some value to your journey of self-discovery and motivated you to take action.
Remember to:
Step out of your comfort zone and explore the world around you with an open mind
Focus on finding your destination and what you love doing, instead of the vehicle
Take action, pivot quickly and patiently figure it all out as you go
Please be patient; you don’t need to find your purpose tomorrow. If you don’t give up and just keep going, you’re 99% guaranteed to find it.
The most important thing, however, is to be present and to enjoy the journey. That’s what it’s all about.
I’m already working on the continuation of this post “How to go from idea to reality” to help you not only find but also create your dream life.
See you soon and have a wonderful day!