How to Find Your Life Purpose by Method of Approximation

Have you been stuck trying to figure out your life purpose?

In math, there’s a method of solving for the solution of a problem by method of approximation. What this means is, if you don’t have an easy way of finding the solution, you can figure it out by a series of guesses. You start by taking a reasonable guess. Once you’ve committed to this guess, you’ll receive feedback as to how close you got, and this will help you make a second guess that’s closer to the solution than the first. Through successive rounds of guessing, you get closer and closer until you eventually arrive at the solution. If you’re familiar with calculus, you might recognize the example as Newton’s Method.

You can apply this same method of approximation to figuring out your life purpose. The basic idea is the following:

1. You can find your life purpose through making an educated or intuitive guesses.
2. Once you’ve made a guess, commit to it and experiment with it.
3. Every new experience gives you more information about what your true life purpose is. At the very least it tells you what it’s not.
4. Finding your life purpose can take many attempts (“guesses”). But every attempt gets you closer.

Start by taking a reasonable guess. You'll get feedback that will help you make a second guess that's closer to the solution than the first. Successive rounds of guessing will get you to the solution.

This may seem like an inefficient “brute force” method, and you might wonder if there’s an easier way to do it. The fact is that while it may be possible to discover your purpose through methods such as journaling, I’ve heard of very few cases of people who’ve received a definitive answer about what they’re supposed to do for the rest of their life in one journaling session. Your life purpose is as much a product of your own conscious creation as it is written on your soul’s blueprint somewhere in the ether.

In other words, it takes conscious and courageous action to discover and create your life purpose, and on the way there you’ll likely do a fair bit of guessing and experimentation. Of course, if you have clues as to where your life purpose may lie, you can make a more accurate guess of what your life purpose is than if you start with a rough, uneducated guess. This is a good place to consult your intuition. Your level of courage and your ability to make decisions and follow through on them also help to determine how quickly you find your life purpose – bold, courageous steps and experiments can yield the most helpful information and experiences.

Here’s How to Find Your Life Purpose by Method of Approximation:

1. Assess your natural gifts and talents. It’s okay if you’re not 100% certain about these. Even an inkling or hunch about your gifts is a good place to start.
2. Devise a way to use one or more of your gifts to deliver value to other people, even if initially you’re doing it for free.
3. Develop this method of delivering value and become experienced at it.
4. Assess your results. Do you enjoy what you’re doing? Is it sustainable? Are you helping people?
5. Use this information to refine your method of delivering value and make adjustments or take a new approach.

Assess your natural gifts and talents. Your life purpose will take advantage of your natural gifts and talents, many of which are apparent from a young age. You’re most likely to enjoy doing things that make use of your natural gifts and talents.

You probably already have an idea as to what these are. You can ask someone who knows you well and that you trust to shed light on these gifts. Ask them what you’re good at, and what they appreciate about you. Or just sit down and brain storm. Jot down at least three of your natural gifts. Your gifts may include:

• Teaching
• Mentoring
• Motivating/Inspiring
• Communicating
• Empathy
• Relating to others
• Protecting others
• Humor
• Counseling/Advising
• Story-telling
• Having positive expectations/Optimism
• Problem-solving
• Managing/Organizing
• Exploring
• Cause-fighting
• Seeking, protecting and upholding the truth
• Analyzing
• Improving systems/things
• Discovering and pointing out other people’s gifts

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the huge spectrum of gifts out there. Anything that you’re naturally good at, or spend a lot of time doing in your spare time (often without realizing it), can be a gift that you harness to provide value for other people.

You’re probably using your gifts in many ways you don’t realize. For example, you may work in a cubicle analyzing tax data, but your colleagues often come to you to discuss personal issues because you’re good at counseling and relating to them.

It’s ok if you’re not 100% sure what your gifts are. If you have an inkling that you have a certain gift, especially if others are also saying that you have it, you probably have that gift! If you’re still not sure, an intuitive reading can shed light on your natural gifts as well as how you could use them to deliver value to others.

Devise a way to use one or more of your gifts to deliver value to other people. The key is that you directly harness at least one of your gifts in providing value to others. Choose intelligently here – start by doing something that you have a reasonable expectation you will enjoy, and has believable income potential to you. Things that you’ve enjoyed in the past are good places to start – these may have been hobbies or someone may have once commented that you had gift “x” while you were growing up. If teaching is one of your gifts, you could start out by teaching in an area where you already have expertise, for example, piano, tae-kwon-do or math.

At first you may have to provide your service for free or as a volunteer, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience using your gifts in this kind of context. As you become experienced and more skilled, you’ll be in a better position to charge money for what you do.

I started my first business a few years ago tutoring college students in economics – it made good use of my gifts in teaching, communicating and relating to other people, as well as existing skills I already had (I majored in economics in college). Teaching others was something I’d always done in small ways growing up – I taught my parents how to program our first VCR at the age of six.

Develop this method of delivering value and become experienced at it. In a matter of weeks, you’ll gain experience and confidence delivering value directly using one or more of your gifts. Find ways to deliver value more efficiently. Maybe you’ll rent a bigger space outside your home, design a more streamlined website or develop a more formal approach to scheduling and managing your growing base of clients. If appropriate, transition to providing your service for money. It might feel awkward at first to charge for the value you provide. You can always start with a lower price and raise it over time.

Assess your results. It’s important to be honest here. The truth may be that you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, or that your method of delivering value isn’t truly your forte. Or maybe you haven’t been committed enough to know for sure, and you need to exercise more courage

• Do you enjoy what you do? If you don’t enjoy providing your service, it won’t be sustainable. Give it a fair chance – you could have off-days and even off-weeks, but if overall you don’t look forward to it, it’s not for you.
• Is it sustainable? Are you earning an income, and is that income growing? Is there potential to grow and expand your services? It can take some time to get a good idea of whether your service is sustainable when you’re just getting started, so allow a reasonable amount of time to build up and experiment with different marketing and pricing strategies.
• Are you providing value to people? Are you getting referrals from your clients? Are your clients willing to provide you with positive testimonials?

Use this information to refine your method of delivering value. You may make adjustments and continue on your current path. Or you may scrap your approach and move to something different altogether. Even if your initial attempt turns out to be a failure or non-starter, you’ve gained experience and information that can point you in the direction of your true life purpose. It’s much better to approach life with the mindset of experimenting and accumulating new experiences than to remain stuck, because you’ll gain confidence, courage and connections with new people.

You may have to make many guesses and attempts at finding your life purpose before you build a career that brings you joy, one where you’re enjoying what you do, you’re good at it, it’s sustainable, and you’re helping people. But you learn something and get closer to that sweet spot with every attempt.

The whole process could take years. Even when it seems you’ve hit the “target” of your life purpose, there’s no guarantee that won’t change or evolve over time – in fact, quite the opposite. Your life purpose is a constantly moving target. Experimenting and re-adjusting is a fact of life, even for those who’ve spent years on the path of following their life purpose. But at the end of the day, no one regrets chasing their dreams.

Happy experimenting.

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