From Rudderless to Having Sails: 4 Questions to Ask To Find Your Purpose

My friend Joseph Bakalchuck (an exceptional nature photographer) once said, “I have moved from being rudderless to not only having a rudder, but having SAILS.”

What a beautiful thing – and such a cool way to describe it! But it’s not always easy.

“Finding Your Purpose” is brought up time and time again – at least in the worlds of self-help/personal growth and spirituality. But what if you can’t figure out what that is? Some people feel lost, uninspired, and stuck.

Here are some questions to help you start figuring it out. The first three are for you to ask other people about you. You can type up an email and BCC it to your friends and family members (those who know you best) with the following three questions and see what response you get:

1. What am I great at?

2. You call on different people for different things. If you need a favor from someone, what type of favor would you ask me for?

3. What is the first thing you think of when you think of me?

The answers to these questions will help you start honing in on what you’re good at, your special talents, and what makes you unique.

And here’s a question to ask yourself:

4. If you were to check out a blog post, article, watch a documentary, or read a book, what types of things do you find yourself drawn to learning more about?

Follow your interests!

It’s all about self-discovery. If nothing comes to mind, it’s time to start trying a whole bunch of different things and deciding if you like them or not. You can take a community college course, online workshops, watch youtube videos. There is a whole sea of information out there to be explored! (like how I tied that back it there? haha!) Dive deeper into the ones that you like and you’ll be on the right track.

It’s always best (at least people report the most satisfaction) if you can tie your interests and your special skill set together for your career. If you’re trying to figure out what career you’d like to explore, come up with your top five options. See if you can follow someone around for a day who is doing something on your list. Reach out to friends and family, or if you’re on Facebook, post something like this, “I’m thinking of learning more about a career in __________. Does anyone know someone in my area who does something in the field that I could possibly follow around for a day to observe what it’s like?”

Happy exploration my friends. Let me know how it goes.