One mean solar day, when my brother was 18, he waltzed into the living room and proudly announced to my female parent and me that i twenty-four hour period he was going to be a senator. My mom probably gave him the "That's nice, dear," treatment while I'm sure I was distracted by a basin of Cheerios or something.

Only for 15 years, this purpose informed all of my blood brother'south life decisions: what he studied in school, where he chose to live, who he connected with, and fifty-fifty what he did with many of his vacations and weekends.

After about half a lifetime of work later, he's the chairman of a major party and a judge. He also ran for country congress in his 30s and barely lost.

Don't go me wrong. My brother is a freak. This basically never happens.

Near of us accept no inkling what we desire to do with our lives. Even later on we cease schoolhouse. Fifty-fifty later we get a chore. Even after we're making money. Betwixt ages 18 and 25, I inverse career aspirations more often than I inverse my underwear. And even after I had a business, it took another 4 years to conspicuously ascertain what I wanted for my life.

Chances are yous're more like me and have no clue what you want to do. It'southward a struggle almost every developed goes through. "What do I want to practice with my life?" "What am I passionate about?" "What practise I non suck at?" I oftentimes receive emails from people in their 40s and 50s who still take no clue what they want to do with themselves.

Part of the problem is the concept of "life purpose" itself. The idea that we were each born for some college purpose and it'due south now our cosmic mission to find information technology. This is the same kind of shitty logic used to justify things like spirit crystals or that your lucky number is 34 (but only on Tuesdays or during full moons).

Here's the truth. We exist on this earth for some undetermined period of fourth dimension. During that time we do things. Some of these things are important. Some of them are unimportant. And those important things give our lives meaning and happiness. The unimportant ones basically merely impale time.

And then when people say, "What should I exercise with my life?" or "What is my life purpose?" what they're actually asking is:

This is an infinitely ameliorate question to ask. It's far more manageable and it doesn't have all of the ridiculous luggage that the "life purpose" question does. There's no reason for you to exist contemplating the cosmic significance of your life while sitting on your couch all solar day eating Doritos. Rather, you should be getting off your ass and discovering what feels important to you.

One of the most common email questions I go is people asking me what they should do with their lives, what their "life purpose" is. This is an incommunicable question for me to answer. After all, for all I know, this person is really into knitting sweaters for kittens or filming gay bondage porn in their basement. I have no clue. Who am I to say what's right or what's of import to them?

But after some inquiry, I have put together a series of questions to help you figure out for yourself what is important to you and what tin can add more pregnant to your life.

These questions are by no ways exhaustive or definitive. In fact, they're a little bit ridiculous. But I fabricated them that manner because discovering purpose in our lives should be something that's fun and interesting, not a job.

So whether y'all're looking for your dream task, thinking about starting a second career, or you simply don't desire to spend your unabridged life wondering "what if…", hopefully you lot detect some meaningful answers to these ridiculous—but kind of thought-provoking—questions.

What's Your Favorite Flavor of Shit Sandwich and Does It Come With an Olive?

What shit sandwich do you want to eat? Considering eventually, we all go served one.

Ah, yeah. The all-important question. What flavor of shit sandwich would y'all like to eat? Because hither's the gummy piddling truth most life that they don't tell you at high schoolhouse pep rallies:

Everything sucks, some of the time.

Now, that probably sounds incredibly pessimistic. And you may be thinking, "Hey Mr. Manson, turn that pout upside down." But I actually retrieve this is a liberating thought.

Everything involves cede. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or uplifting all of the time. And then, the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we intendance about is our power to handle the crude patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days.

If yous want to exist a bright tech entrepreneur, but y'all can't handle failure, then you're non going to brand information technology far. If you want to exist a professional artist, but you lot aren't willing to see your work rejected hundreds, if not thousands of times, then yous're washed before you offset. If y'all want to exist a hotshot court lawyer, but can't stand the 80-hour workweeks, then I've got bad news for you.

Finding your life purpose involves eating a shit sandwich or twoWhat unpleasant experiences are you able to handle? Are you able to stay upwards all night coding? Are you able to put off starting a family for 10 years? Are you able to accept people laugh you off the stage over and over again until yous get it right?

What shit sandwich do you desire to eat? Because nosotros all go served one eventually.

And your favorite shit sandwich is your competitive advantage. By definition, anything that you're willing to practise (that yous enjoy doing) that about people are not willing to practice gives you a huge leg-up.

So, notice your favorite shit sandwich. And you might too pick 1 with an olive.

The Answer to This Question Volition Tell Y'all:

  • What struggles y'all are willing to tolerate to go what you want
  • What you will likely be better than other people at

Something near the social pressures of adolescence and professional pressures of young adulthood squeezes the passion out of us. We're taught that the only reason to do something is if we're somehow rewarded for it. And the transactional nature of the world inevitably stifles us and makes the states experience lost or stuck.

When I was a child, I used to write stories. I used to sit in my room for hours by myself, writing abroad, about aliens, about superheroes, near smashing warriors, about my friends and family. Non because I wanted anyone to read it. Not because I wanted to impress my parents or teachers. Just for the sheer joy of information technology.

And and so, for some reason, I stopped. And I don't remember why.

We all have a tendency to lose touch with what we loved every bit a child. Something nigh the social pressures of adolescence and professional pressures of immature machismo squeezes the passion out of us. Nosotros're taught that the only reason to do something is if we're somehow rewarded for it. And the transactional nature of the world inevitably stifles us and makes united states of america feel lost or stuck.

Information technology wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I rediscovered how much I loved writing. And information technology wasn't until I started my business that I remembered how much I enjoyed edifice websites—something I did in my early teens, simply for fun.

The funny thing though, is that if my 8-twelvemonth-old cocky asked my 20-year-old self, "Why don't you write anymore?" and I replied, "Because I'm non adept at it," or "Because nobody would read what I write," or "Because yous can't make coin doing that," not only would I have been completely wrong, only that eight-year-old-boy version of me would have probably started crying. That eight-year-quondam boy didn't care nigh Google traffic or social media virality or book advances. He merely wanted to play. And that's where passion always begins: with a sense of play.

The Answer to This Question Will Tell You:

  • What childhood passion you lot lost to machismo
  • What activity yous should revisit, just for the fun of it

Look at the activities that keep you upward all night, but expect at the cognitive principles behind those activities that enthrall you. Considering they tin can easily be applied elsewhere.

We've all had that experience where we get so wrapped up in something that minutes plow into hours and hours turn into "Holy crap, I forgot to have dinner."

Supposedly, in his prime, Isaac Newton's mother had to regularly come in and remind him to eat considering he would spend entire days and so absorbed in his work that he would forget.

I used to exist similar that with video games. This probably wasn't a good matter. In fact, for many years it was kind of a trouble. I would sit down and play video games instead of doing more of import things similar studying for an exam, or showering regularly, or speaking to other humans contiguous.

It wasn't until I gave up the games that I realized my passion wasn't for the games themselves (although I do dearest them). My passion is for improvement, being expert at something and then trying to get meliorate. The games themselves—the graphics, the stories—they were absurd, but I can easily live without them. It'south the competition with others and with myself that I thrive on.

And when I practical that obsessiveness for self-improvement and contest to my own business and to my writing, well, things took off in a large style.

Maybe for y'all, it's something else. Maybe it's organizing things efficiently, or getting lost in a fantasy world, or teaching somebody something, or solving technical problems. Whatever information technology is, don't just look at the activities that keep y'all upwardly all night, but wait at the cerebral principles backside those activities that enthrall you. Because they can easily be applied elsewhere.

The Reply to This Question Volition Tell You lot:

  • What you lot truly enjoy doing
  • What other activities to check out that y'all might also enjoy

Embrace embarrassment. Feeling foolish is role of the path to achieving something important, something meaningful. The more than a major life decision scares you, chances are the more than yous demand to exist doing it.

Before you are able to be good at something and exercise something important, y'all must first suck at something and have no inkling what you're doing. That'due south pretty obvious. And in order to suck at something and have no clue what you're doing, you lot must embarrass yourself in some shape or form, often repeatedly. And nigh people try to avoid embarrassing themselves, namely because information technology sucks.

Ergo, due to the transitive property of awesomeness, if you avoid anything that could potentially embarrass you, and so you lot will never end up doing something that feels important.

Yes, it seems that once once more, it all comes back to vulnerability.

Right at present, there's something yous want to do, something you retrieve well-nigh doing, something you lot daydream about doing, withal you don't exercise information technology. You have your reasons, no doubt. And yous repeat these reasons to yourself advertising infinitum.

Merely what are those reasons? Because I tin tell you right now that if those reasons are based on what others would call up, then y'all're screwing yourself over large time.

If your reasons are something like, "I can't start a business concern considering spending time with my kids is more important to me," or "Playing Starcraft all day would probably interfere with my music, and music is more important to me," then OK. Sounds adept.

But if your reasons are, "My parents would hate information technology," or "My friends would make fun of me," or "If I failed, I'd look similar an idiot," then chances are, you're actually avoiding something you truly care well-nigh because caring nearly that affair is what scares the shit out of you, non what mom thinks or what Timmy next door says.

Nifty things are, by their very nature, unique and unconventional. Therefore, to accomplish them, nosotros must go confronting the herd mentality. And to practise that is scary.

Embrace embarrassment. Feeling foolish is function of the path to achieving something important, something meaningful. The more a major life decision scares you, chances are the more you need to be doing it.

The Answer to This Question Will Tell You:

  • What scares the shit out of you… for adept reason
  • That you should stop making lousy excuses and start doing something

You're not going to prepare the globe's issues by yourself. But yous can contribute and make a difference. And that feeling of making a difference is ultimately what'southward most important for your own happiness and fulfillment.

In case you haven't seen the news lately, the world has a few problems. And by "a few bug," what I really hateful is, "everything is fucked and nosotros're all going to die."

I've harped on this before, and the inquiry also bears it out, only to live a happy and healthy life, nosotros must hold on to values that are greater than our own pleasance or satisfaction.1

So pick a problem and start saving the globe. There are plenty to cull from. Our screwed up education systems, economic development, domestic violence, mental health care, governmental corruption. Hell, I just saw an article this morning on sex trafficking in the The states and it got me all riled upward and wishing I could exercise something. It also ruined my breakfast.

Detect a trouble y'all care most and start solving it. Manifestly, you're not going to gear up the world's issues past yourself. But you can contribute and brand a difference. And that feeling of making a departure is ultimately what's near important for your own happiness and fulfillment. And importance equals purpose.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Gee Mark, I read all of this horrible stuff and I get all pissed off too, but that doesn't translate to activity, much less a new career path."

Glad you asked…

The Answer to This Question Volition Tell You lot:

  • What problem y'all care about that'south larger than you
  • How you can make a difference

Discovering what you lot're passionate about in life and what matters to yous is a full-contact sport, a trial-past-fire procedure. None of the states know exactly how we feel nearly an activity until we actually practise the activity.

For many of united states, the enemy is but old-fashioned complacency. We get into our routines. We distract ourselves. The burrow is comfortable. The Doritos are cheesy. And aught new happens.

This is a problem.

What nearly people don't empathize is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of information technology. ii , 3

Discovering what you're passionate about in life and what matters to y'all is a full-contact sport, a trial-by-fire process. None of the states know exactly how we feel about an action until we actually do the activity.

So ask yourself, if someone put a gun to your head and forced you to leave your house every solar day for everything except for sleep, how would y'all cull to occupy yourself? And no, you can't but get sit down in a coffee store and scan Facebook. You probably already exercise that. Let'due south pretend at that place are no useless websites, no video games, no Boob tube. Take yourself back to the ninety'south when Facebook, Instagram, all this social media clusterfuck near of us spend half our lives on had yet to exist invented. You have to be outside of the house all twenty-four hours every solar day actively doing something until it'south time to become to bed—where would you go and what would yous practice?

Sign upward for a dance form? Join a book order? Go get another degree? Invent a new class of irrigation system that can save the thousands of children's lives in rural Africa? Learn to hang glide?

What would you lot exercise with all of that fourth dimension? What activity would y'all choose above all others? We all have just 24 hours in a day, and so nosotros're back to the earth-shaking question that we all should be asking ourselves:

If it strikes your fancy, write down a few answers and then, you know, go out and really do them. Bonus points if information technology involves embarrassing yourself.

The Answer to This Question Will Tell Yous:

  • What you lot were passionate about all along
  • How you should spend your time

Ultimately, death is the only thing that gives u.s.a. perspective on the value of our lives. Because it'southward simply by imagining your non-existence that yous tin get a sense of what is about of import virtually your existence.

Most of us don't like thinking about death. It freaks us out. But thinking about our ain death surprisingly has a lot of practical advantages. One of those advantages is that it forces us to zero in on what's really important in our lives and what'southward just frivolous and distracting.

When I was in college, I used to walk effectually and ask people, "If you had a year to live, what would y'all do?" As you can imagine, I was a huge hit at parties. A lot of people gave vague and boring answers. A few drinks were nearly spat on me. But information technology did cause people to really call up almost their lives in a different style and re-evaluate what their priorities were.

Ultimately, death is the simply thing that gives us perspective on the value of our lives. Considering it's only by imagining your non-existence that y'all can become a sense of what is most important well-nigh your beingness. What is your legacy going to be? What are the stories people are going to tell when you're gone? What is your obituary going to say? Is in that location annihilation to say at all? If not, what would you similar information technology to say? How can you start working towards that today?

And again, if you lot fantasize almost your obituary saying a agglomeration of badass shit that impresses a agglomeration of random other people, then once more, you're failing hither.

When people experience like they have no sense of direction, no purpose in their life, it's because they don't know what's important to them, they don't know what their values are.

And when you don't know what your values are, so y'all're essentially taking on other people's values and living other people'due south priorities instead of your ain. This is a one-way ticket to unhealthy relationships and eventual misery.

Discovering ane's "purpose" in life essentially boils down to finding those one or two things that are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around y'all, values that will determine your priorities and guide your actions. It's non nearly some great achievement, but just finding a style to spend your limited corporeality of time well. And to do that you must go off your couch and act, and take the time to think beyond yourself, to remember greater than yourself, and paradoxically, to imagine a earth without yourself.

The Respond to This Question Will Tell Yous:

  • What is nearly important to you
  • What values should guide your deportment

Ready to discover your purpose in life?

If you enjoyed this and y'all're fix to get your shit together, check out my form, Find Your Life Purpose . Nosotros'll get deep to figure out what actually drives you. Then you'll come up with a pace-by-step plan to get off your ass and start going subsequently what you want in life.

Information technology's function of The Subtle Fine art School, a collection of courses and tons of other content that teach y'all to give less of a fuck and live a fuller, more than meaningful life.