Find the Purpose of Your Life in 45 Minutes This whole exercise ought to take somewhere from 45 minutes to an hour. I will add that in a few years the purpose you figure out, i.e. your calling, may very well change or you might fulfill it. It is also possible that you will figure out your calling for the rest of your life (which would be nice). Finally, if you are not able to clear out 45 minutes of your life to figure out what to do with the rest of your life, then this really isn’t the place for you. Prerequisites The first prerequisite is to ask yourself whether YOU REALLY WANT TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE . Once you figure out your purpose there are no excuses left. The second prerequisite is to realize that you are doing this purely for yourself and that the aim is to find your purpose - something that comes from within you, and is based on your unique aptitudes, passions and experiences. To be able to do this it is necessary to get rid of all the external influences (others’ expectations and demands) and internal influences (your desires and needs that are extrinsic to your true purpose) that are clouding your clarity and vision and preventing you from being able to see what your true purpose is. This is only for you and you should let go of everyone’s expectations and not worry about others’ judgements of you.   The third Prerequisite is that for each of these steps you have to write down what comes into your mind as quickly as you can and without thinking about it. This is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL as the only way to succeed is TO WRITE WHAT YOU FEEL IMMEDIATELY without letting your conscious brain get in the way. There is still time to turn back - My heartfelt request to you would be to only do this exercise if you are 100% sure YOU TRULY WANT TO KNOW YOUR PURPOSE. Once you know what you are meant to do, you cannot undo this knowledge, and there is no turning back.   Commit to Determining The Purpose of Your Life Step 1: Make the Commitment - ‘I am committed to determining the purpose of my life i.e. my calling and am committing 45 minutes of my life to this exercise (and whatever additional time is required - i promise that it won’t be very long).’   Intersection of Passions and Abilities Step 2: What are my unique abilities, aptitudes and skills? What can I be one of the best in the world at? List down all the things you can think of. Step 3: What are the things that I’m truly passionate about? What are the things that I get a real kick out of and love to the point that doing them, even all the time, would be amazing fun? List down all the things you can think of. Optional Step: It is useful at this point to also write down those of your experiences that had a very strong impact on you. List down what these moments showed you or what they were. At this point, take the intersection of your passions and abilities and add-on things that you are 100% sure you could be one of the best in the world at and any things that you loved doing and you feel you could be very good at based on your experiences. This is your first list.   The Things you Really Want from Life Step 4: Close your eyes and imagine that you are about to die and your life to this point is all that you have. What are the things you really really wish you had done? What are the things that if you had done you would die happy (or happier)? List down the 3 to 5 things that really stand out. Step 5: Imagine that you have just 1 to 3 years to live. You might have as much as 3 years or as little as 1 year. List down the top 3 to 5 things you would do with your life if you had this short period of time and unlimited resources in terms of money and people willing to help you?  At this point write down the most critical things from your last two steps - this should be a list of 3 to 10 items (Please make this a list of the most critical items). This is your second list. Steve Pavlina Exercise Step 6: Go to Steve Pavlina’s website, read his ‘Find the Purpose of your life in 20 minutes’ and then do the exercise. Remember to keep digging through the levels of external expectations and your internal unfulfilled needs and get to what you truly believe your purpose is.  Please note that this exercise can take longer than 20 minutes - the key thing is that you should not stop writing things until you find 1 or 2 or more things that make you cry and you feel at a deep gut level that these things are your purpose and the entirety of your purpose. After doing this exercise, you should have a third list. Putting It All Together Step 7:  At this point you should have 3 lists i.e. The Intersection of Your Interests and Abilities The Things You Really want from Life The Purpose of Your Life The groundwork you did in coming up with the first two lists will show in the third list. At this point there will be a single thing that has the strongest pull on you and that you feel, with 100% confidence, is the Purpose of Your Life. Depending on your personal situation there will probably be one or more items that are strong enough to have their own place right behind your Purpose. If you feel any doubt about your Purpose, then it is almost certainly NOT your purpose and you must go back to Step 5 and continue with the exercise until you find what your purpose truly is. You have had years and years of society and other people influence and brainwash you and it should not surprise you if you have to put in some amount of effort to cut through to your true purpose. Do not delude yourself - If after looking at the three lists, there is not a single item that is so important that it takes precedence over everything else in your life, then you have not really found your purpose.  Congratulations !!! You now know what the Purpose of Your Life is. I’m adding some additional things that’ll help you with your Purpose.  Becoming Congruent with Your Purpose Step 8: Once you are absolutely certain about your purpose the next essential step is to become congruent with it. It is likely that this is the first time that your conscious mind and your subconscious mind are on the exact same page with regards to what you should be doing with your life. However, there are also numerous things , both at the conscious level and the subconscious level, that are getting in the way of you attaining your purpose. So, quite simply, the critical thing here is to become 100% congruent with your purpose and not self sabotage yourself.  Strengthening Your Purpose by Removing External and Internal Influences Step 9: Are any of my needs (based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) not being met to the point that they are stopping me from focusing on what I’m meant to do (or as Maslow would put it, my self-actualization) ?  You can still find and follow your purpose - however realize that until your needs are not being met, your focus on your purpose will always be distracted by your unmet needs. List down all the needs (below Self Actualization) that are not met Step 10: Are there any demands that society is putting on me or any beliefs that society has programmed into me that are getting in my way? There are almost always a myriad of beliefs and programming that you MUST remove before you can truly focus and strive towards your purpose. List down all the demands that you feel you should fulfill that are holding you back. Step 11: Go through all the things you are being asked to do with your life by your parents, your friends, your lover, your partner, etc. Are there things that the people close to you are asking you to do that are coming in the way of your purpose? List down all the things you are being asked to do by or you feel you have to do for your parents, friends, family and others close to you.