Photographer Remus Tiplea spent three seasons just to find the ideal camera settings to capture the life of the damselfly in his back garden. Which made me think: there is purpose in whatever you choose to devote your time, your energy and your mind to. The point simply is that you devote yourself to it.
A common question on purpose is “what am I here for?” or “where do I fit?”. Maybe by looking for ways we can contribute to the communities that we choose to belong to - or the ones we feel drawn towards, we free ourselves (slightly) from the burden of having to find ourselves first?
A common experience on the quest for purpose or meaningful work is the feeling of being surrounded by fog. Fog happens when the amount of possible options obscures the ability to find the ‘right’ ones. Sometimes I think the quintessential question on purpose is “but what should I do?" Here is an experiment that might help you find out.
Sometimes moving from idea to action is (relatively) easy: there’s something you decide to do and you just go off and do it. Other times it’s not so simple….
The process of finding purposeful work - or work that matches your skills and values that feels somehow meaningful or important to you - can be a long one. At times the way ahead seems clear. At others you can’t see more than a few feet ahead. Somewhat like this diagram…
If what we seek remains resolutely invisible, can we find out more about it by noticing its effect on surrounding bodies?
During a series of interviews with members of creative teams during a work project, the observation emerged that '“creativity is like a set of tools for being you”. Using this as a starting point, I intend to begin a (meandering) exploration of the potential relationships between creativity and the search for a more meaningful life.
What does purpose feel like? From the way her voice cracks as she describes what she was born to do, I think off-road racer and all-round automotive luminary Jessi Combs knows.
Thinking of our legacy as a body of work can be daunting should we dare to compare ourselves to luminaries such as Toni Morrison or David Bowie. But if we consider that the legacy is not the work itself, but the effect it has on those that encounter it, then what previously seemed like an unclimbable peak can instead become a territory for exploration.
We are all, at varying times, explorers, mountaineers, gardeners and philosophers depending on where we are in our lives. Tending and questioning are parts of the process.
A short thought investigating the idea that the purpose journey contains two types of quest: exploring (the challenge of finding a path) and mountaineering (the challenge of following one).
Feelings are not one or the other: joyful or painful, happy or sad. They are complex, blended, tangled. But in the tangle there is depth and if we can feel deeply and live with intensity then that extends to the full spectrum of experience.
Our mindsets - whether self-determining or deterministic - don’t just colour our reality, they shape it. What defines the mindset in which you most commonly exist? And does changing your mindset alter your sense of what is purposeful or meaningful to you?
Trying to set goals for your life can be daunting. How might we describe our purpose using actions or behaviours we can practice now?
Is it helpful to think about guiding lights as the centre point between extremes? And how much sense does it make to think of fixed points when we ourselves flow and change so readily? This is an attempt to locate the points of consistency and balance within ourselves.
Do we need to know our destination before setting out on a purpose journey? I wonder if a more useful question to ask in these circumstances could be ‘how will I navigate’?
The route to fulfilling work is often unconventional and nearly always unpredictable. If you’re making a career change or searching for more fulfilling work you’ve probably spent some time trying to identify your new path. But the problem is that there is no such thing…
This year I spoke to over 100 different people about the work they do and how they find meaning in it. Here are five things I learnt about the ways we find purpose in our work:
