The Best Way to Narrow Down Passions to Find Your Pathway to Purpose
One of the most common reasons people struggle to define their purpose is they’re both passionate and good at multiple things. People who have multiple talents as well as an interest to pursue those talents have a gift and a curse. What’s more, defining a life purpose is the best cure for this curse, which is a classic catch 22.
The best way to resolve this catch 22 is to approach purpose using the context Viktor Frankl defines in his pioneering book Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl argues that purpose is like a radio station and you can only hear that station if you tune in. In addition, Frankl suggest that in order for a purpose to be meaningful it must have an impact bigger than just you. Or to put it another way, a meaningful purpose can’t be completely self-serving.
With this in mind, the best way to narrow down passions to find your pathway to purpose is to evaluate your goals for each of your passions. For each of your passions, write down the goals that allow you to express yourself in a way in which the impact goes beyond just you.
Non Self-Serving Goals Are The Pathway to Purpose
In order to narrow down your passions by finding non self-serving goals, ask yourself questions similar to the following:
- Does a goal related to a passion help you emotionally connect with something related to a family member, friend, or your community?
- Do one of the goals relate to mentoring, coaching, or teaching?
- Will one of the goals help others overcome or triumph over something?
- Will achieving one of the goals inspire someone you know or those in a similar situation as you?
Now you can start narrowing down your passions by being brutally honest with yourself. If you don’t have a non self-serving goal for a particular passion, eliminate that passion as a pathway to purpose. To clarify, I’m not saying eliminate that passion from your life completely. I’m only saying if a passion is 100% self-serving, then eliminate that passion as a pathway to your purpose.
Generally speaking, after narrowing down your passions like this, you should be left with things that are highly meaningful. At this point it’s up to you to measure how much that meaning motivates you. Then once you know what truly motivates you, turn that motivation into purposeful action.