‘Life Purpose

The No-Bullshit Guide To Finding Your Passion And Living A Meaningful Life
1. Introduction
a. The harsh truth about life purpose
2. Is Life Purpose “Woo-Woo” And Spiritual, Or Is It Scientific?
a. The spiritual community V.S. the hustler’s mentality
3. What Is Life Purpose? The 8 Fundamental Qualities Of Life Purpose
a. Evolving
b. Intuitive
c. Volatile
d. Life experience
e. Zone of genius
f. Authentic self
g. Fulfillment
h. Emotional labor
4. How To Find Your Life Purpose
a. Look into the past
i. Reminiscence
ii. Releasing your deepest fears
iii. Hidden strengths
iv. Healing
b. Find your area of mastery
c. Letting go of others’ expectations and your past commitments
d. Removing all lower-consciousness motivations
e. Accept the call and burn the boats
5. Putting your life purpose into a concise statement
6. Conclusion
a. Plan of action
b. Additional resources
INTRODUCTION

First of all, congratulations on taking the first step towards a better life. You have

ventured into what 99% of individuals would never dare to venture into. I hope this

comes as no surprise to you that most people have no idea what they want to with

their lives. By the end of this book, you will be part of the 1%. Purchasing this book

was the easiest step. The hardest part is doing the soul-searching and finding your

actual life purpose.

Finding your life purpose is no easy task, and any so-called guru who claims

that you can find it under 5 minutes either doesn’t know what the hell they are talking

about, or they are marketing you some quick-fix bullshit. Before we get started, I’ll

disclose to you that this book only serves as a guiding compass and nothing more.

You will not directly encounter your life purpose in this book. By this, I mean literally

within these pages. No one can tell you what it is for you, because who am I to tell you

what to do with your life? This would be a disservice to you, a violation of your authentic

voice. I guarantee useful guidance, but you will have to make the emotional lifting

yourself. This “no-bullshit” guide will make you confront many truths about yourself

and your environment, which means you will have to give up many cherished beliefs

about the past. This includes giving up on what society and other people expect of

you.

Joseph Campbell calls it “the hero’s journey”, Paulo Coelho calls it your

“personal legend”, Robert Greene calls it your “life’s task”, but I simply call it life

purpose. While this may sound like some epic mission given by God, the Universe or

whatever you believe in, it doesn’t have to be that complicated. Enough vague advice

like “find your passion.” Enough of the compulsive “just do it” attitude that makes us

run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Enough of this new-age, abstract
philosophizing that will only leave us more confused than how we started. There has

been lengthy works dedicated to doing all this, so I promise you none of that. I have

nothing against the spiritual community as I am a member of it myself, but I only point

out that their metaphysical jargon lacks serious practical implications. I’m not here to

talk to you about God. I’m here to talk to you about life purpose.

In this book, all wishful thinking will be kept to a minimum. To be practical, I

outlined several steps, though all you will need is to properly apply one or two

techniques in order to yield maximum results. Let’s begin by demystifying what life

purpose really is.

What Is Life Purpose? The 8 Fundamental Qualities Of Life Purpose

There are no set definitions for “life purpose”. Though, we can separately define “life”

and “purpose” as in how they are assembled together. “Life” entails a lifelong

commitment and indirectly implies your inevitable death in the process. To be engaged

with someone for “life” means that you will stay together until death. According to the

Google dictionary, “purpose” is “the reason for which something is done or created or

for which something exists”. This means that life purpose is the very reason why you

exist. It is the very thing you are meant to do for the rest of your life. If this sounds too

extreme to you, then you are probably only interested in a calling or a passion, which

is entirely fine as well. It’s up to you, but the concept of “life purpose” will tremendously

raise the stakes by giving you more motivation than any other label, which is why I

highly encourage it. Personally, I simply describe life purpose as your personal

mission which makes your life worth living. I do not describe it as a God-given

task, or a specific career goal, but leave the definition open so you can find your own

meaning. This definition is not too vague to confuse you, but not too narrow to confine

you to a specific type of mindset. Before we begin, it is crucial that you have a clear

grasp of what life purpose entails in all its explicit and implicit meanings. Note that

some points may sound contradicting or paradoxical with one another, so make sure

to keep an open mind.

Life purpose is constantly evolving. It shifts and turns according to life

experience, opportunities, circumstances and the positive or negative influences of

your external environment. It changes in accordance to your growing personality,

maturity, tastes, and so on. Perhaps when you were younger your parents made you

try wine and you hated it. Then, alcohol might have become an acquired taste that
grew overtime as you took part in various social gatherings, parties, family dinners,

etc. as you grew older.

When I was 14, I wanted to become a famous film director. It is only a few years

later that I realized it was not really for me. While I liked the idea of it, I did not see

myself directing, managing and dealing with people. The title did not fit very well with

my introverted personality and my “do-it-yourself” attitude. In fact, I hated teamwork.

All along, I ignored the people aspect of the profession entirely, making it really difficult

for me to network. Never in a million years would I have thought to give up on my

cherished dreams. I knew deep down that something was off. At 19 years old, I got

denied entrance to film school. The next year, I was rejected once again. This was the

tipping point that changed the trajectory of my life entirely. I was devastated, but this

did not stop me from making films. I shifted my content entirely by making guerilla-

style documentary films and developed my unique point-of-view style filmmaking. It

wasn’t necessarily better, but it was different. It was amateur, but I didn't care. It was

raw and authentic to me. Thus, I made a YouTube series titled “The Shocking Truth

About Seduction”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eR4grLfOnc&list=PLwlPLaWHmDTb1BF9F3f-

hAbuPI91aUWL3 ) where I freely expressed myself. I later realized that it was not only

the film aspect that I was passionate about, but the impact this could have on others.

This brought me to making self-development videos (insert hyperlink) and writing this

book you are reading right now.

Things will change and you have to let it happen organically. To resist the flow

of change is to resist life itself, and there is no way to exactly determine how things

will pan out. While your life purpose will shift, note that your values will usually stay

consistent. My valuing of art and self-expression did not change, but the medium had
simply shifted from traditional film to making online videos. Embrace the shift and let

it evolve naturally.

Life purpose is intuitive. It starts from the little voice in your head that keeps

nagging at you from the back door. This intuitive voice is the one that says “what if I

could” or “maybe I should”. It’s the childlike passion we have repressed as adults. As

we grew older, we ignored this part of ourselves by labelling our dreams as childish,

naive, and improbable. Our reply to this voice is “it’s not realistic”, “it’s impossible” and

so forth. In consequence, we grow up miserable with no sense of purpose, because

we refused to listen to our inner child when it was screaming for our attention.

Throughout the years, this inner voice became quieter and quieter, making it

barely audible. If we do hear it, we do not even recognize it as our own voice. It only

feels like some faint cry in the distance. We failed to realize the calling for our life

purpose. Doing so, we did not realize that we have disempowered ourselves and have

limited our potential to some “realistic” societal ideal of an average middle-class life. If

this inner child is not attended to, it comes out in the ugliest of ways. Our desire for

meaning manifests in our inability to sit still at an office desk, in our anger towards

those who refuse our love and affection, and as the loneliness we endure in this

virtually connected, yet emotionally disconnected technological age. The need for

a purpose in life has become more important than ever before. It begins with getting

back in touch with our repressed intuition.

Life purpose is volatile, meaning that it cannot be forced upon you. More

grind, hustle and being busy will not necessarily bring it to you. The analogy I have for

you is one of the butterfly. Have you ever tried to catch a butterfly with your bare

hands? I bet it did not work very well, but it is said that if you sit down and relax, it

might just land on your lap. This quality is what the “just believe in it”, law of attraction
community is interested in, but I add that to simply believe in it is not enough, which

brings me to my next point:

Life purpose comes out of life experience. This is where the action-taking

and real world exploration comes into account. If you never played the piano previously

in your life, it would be absurd to start believing that you were destined to become a

concert pianist. Depending on your evolving aspirations and opportunities throughout

life, you might have found yourself gravitate towards one field over another, a particular

domain of mastery. Perhaps, your life experiences reveal so many hobbies that you

do not know which ones to choose from. Maybe, your life experiences depict none at

all. If the former is the case, then the exercises I will show you at the end of this book

will really help you pin it down further. If the latter is the case, you may need the

hustler’s mentality of “just do it”. Develop your curiosity and jump into more life

opportunities.

Life purpose aligns with your zone of genius. This is a concept directly taken

from Gay Hendricks’s The Big Leap (https://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-

Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=nameless0a-

20&linkCode=w00&linkId=8f17f6e54a65cf2fef2e53367db0c110&creativeASIN=0061

735361 ) which, simply put, explains that there are four stages of competence: the

zone of incompetence, the zone of competence, the zone of excellence, and the zone

of genius. The zone of incompetence is whatever you suck at, and the zone of

competence is what you can do but nothing extraordinary, like driving or doing your

laundry. The zone of excellence is the trickiest part, because everyone will reinforce

how good you are at it. For example, I was told by my peers that I was very good in

photography, but deep down there was not much about it that called to me. While it

made for a good side hustle, not much beyond monetary benefits and potentially
photographing hot girls inspired me to keep going with it. My male friends argued that

those were excellent reasons for me to continue, but my intuition said no. This only

diverted my attention away from what truly mattered to me: art, expression, and

personal development. The zone of genius is that which stretches right beyond your

comfort zone. It involves risk whether social, monetary or otherwise. Recognizing you

zone of genius would most probably mean admitting that you wasted your time

pursuing the wrong thing. The sunk cost fallacy is at play where you had invested so

much time and energy in your zone of excellence that you do not want to give it up.

On this note, I sincerely hope that you realize your true, authentic life purpose and

realize where you were faking it all along.

Life purpose aligns with your authentic self. Without getting too spiritual, my

personal definition is that your life purpose exists independently of societal

expectations, of what your family and friends think, and of what brings you quick,

materialistic rewards. While your life purpose may attract great riches in the long-term,

it has nothing to do with fame or materialistic results alone. Your meaning is unique to

you, which is why I emphasized how I cannot directly tell you what it is. If you search

on Amazon for “meaning of life” or “life purpose”, you will find plenty of writers and

philosophers who claim to have found it, but I assert that this meaning is unique to you

and only you. Authenticity is what makes your life purpose your purpose.

Life purpose is the one thing that makes you fulfilled. I describe fulfillment

as the feeling of satisfaction that follows the accomplishment of a difficult task that truly

meant something to you. As an exercise, you may ask this very question: “when was

the last time I truly felt like I had accomplished something meaningful?” Then, reflect

on it. If nothing comes to mind, that’s fine. We will get into more details in later

chapters.
 Finally, life purpose means hard work, most notably emotional labor. What

differentiates emotional labor from the usual labor at the typical middle-class job is the

degree of emotional investment. Because you are wholly invested into your craft, and

any signs of failure or obstacles along the way are more likely to sway you emotionally.

That is simply because you take your calling very seriously. It is not like some day job

where you can get fired and your sense of self still remains intact. The menial, autopilot

labor at a typical job does not necessitate decision-making that is emotional in nature.

In fact, a superior usually makes all the decisions for you, leaving you with no decisions

to take for yourself. With life purpose, the difference is that you are completely on your

own. All decisions are on you and you alone. If your dream was to become an architect

and then you decide to apply to the only university in your city with this one chance

only to get refused entry, this will take an immense toll emotionally. If you have

invested hours of hard work into your book and publish it only to have it flop, this may

be very discouraging. How could the world ignore what you have put your heart and

soul into? This is exactly what I am most worried about as I write these words. Though,

I have made the decision that if I want to live according to my life purpose, then I must

exert emotional labor and tolerate the emotions associated with the possibility of

failure.

Life purpose is no easy task. You must be willing to sacrifice comfort and

security for fulfillment in order to succeed, and do so religiously as if your life depended

on it. The only pain greater than following your passion is an unlived life devoid of the

gift you could have offered to the world, and didn’t. Anyone who had a great impact on

the world went through pain, frustration, doubts and hardships that pushed them to the

edge of wanting to give up. Though, they had the courage and patience to surmount

those obstacles over time. In this book, expect to have to exert emotional labor akin
to what has been described in this chapter. In case you were expecting to avoid hard

work, I am sorry but life purpose is not for you. It is better you quit now before you

invest any more time and energy. But for those who have the courage to face those

obstacles head on, then I have great news for you. Continue reading.

Life purpose can be defined and characterized in various ways. I invite you not

to get hung up on any particular definition and to be willing to think beyond the scope

of this book. I omitted other qualities like contribution, impact, legacy, love and

community which are just as equally important. If those are qualities which concern

you, I invite you to ask these questions:

“What impact would I like to have on the world?”

“What would be the last words of advice I would tell my grandchildren on my

deathbed?”

“What is it about life that I cherish the most and want to share with others?”
Is Life Purpose Something “Woo-Woo” And Spiritual? Or Is It Scientific?

The purpose of life itself been explored extensively throughout centuries of religion

and philosophy. On the other hand, what we are interested in right now is your life

purpose. My emphasis here is on its individualistic quality. We want to throw away

what every guru, philosopher or mystic has said and come back to what is authentic

to you. It does not necessarily have to do with existential questions like “why do we

exist” (unless you’re into this type of thing, then by all means). To make sure it’s about

you, I want you to first understand what others might have tried to teach you.

There are two opposite sides that want to have their say about life purpose.

(Note that I am using stereotypes for the sake of argument here, so take this with a

grain of salt). On one side, we have the spiritual community who believes that humans

have a life purpose akin to God’s greatness, that which is governed by the laws of

synchronicity within the Universe or whatever the hell that means. While this sounds

nice on paper, all we can really do is contemplate and feel slightly better about

ourselves. We are told to “just believe in yourself” in order to manifest what we want

out of life. Though, I’m not gonna lie. People believe in this because there are benefits

to this view. The main benefit of this approach is that it instills hope by laying a spiritual

foundation by inspiring our childhood spirit, giving us the hope that everything is

possible. We then learn to enjoy the process itself, because we know our actions have

meaning in the grand scheme of things. Then, we become detached about achieving

results and feel rejuvenated. Trusting our intuition, we go forward in life while living in

the moment.

While those are magnificent benefits, I believe that intuition alone is not enough.

We must add a sense of intense realism for our life purpose to be grounded in reality.
The main consequence of the spiritual perspective is a lack of practical connections

to the real world. If one stayed at home all day without much contact with the external

world, I doubt that this person’s life purpose would emerge as a result of introspection

or some divine proclamation.

On the other hand, we have the pragmatic - meaning practical rather than

theoretical - side which preaches to “just do it”. Those on this side engage with the

external world as much as humanly possible until one achieves some semblance of

results. This side usually chooses action over emotion and tend to be more

hardworking and stoic than their spiritual counterparts. This concept generally attracts

the aspiring entrepreneur with the hustler’s mentality. There are tremendous success-

oriented benefits to approaching the world in this realistic fashion, as those individuals

are more likely to achieve a real-world, tangible impact. Though, the problem with this

view is its obsession with the external world. This compulsion creates a glass ceiling

where one becomes unable to dream beyond the realistic, making it harder to have an

authentic inner connection to one’s calling. Sadly, disregarding the feeling component

of life purpose cannot possibly create the most fulfilling life possible. The pragmatists

use their own rationality against themselves, limiting their life purpose to the confines

of social conditioning with the specific economic or cultural archetypes that come with

it.

With this in mind, there seems to be less thought given to genuinely finding

what one truly cares about and more weight put on achieving results for the sake of

results, hence sacrificing all higher values that the spiritual community lives by. Of

course, this type-A personality mindset leads to burnout and sacrifices depth for

materialism, but those are other issues entirely. The problem with the “just do it”

attitude is that one may end up exploring too many things at once, trying one scheme
after the other without ever being able to stick to one thing. This inability to focus and

obsession for achieving results is caused mainly from having no intuitive sense of what

one truly wants out of life, the very thing the spiritual community answers in more

detail.

Note that both solutions work for finding one’s life purpose, and this depends

largely on one’s preferred style of teaching. What I propose is a middle ground

between rationality and intuition, logic and emotion. Doing so, we take the best of both

worlds by allowing both our conscious and subconscious minds to work together, not

against each other. This allows us to understand our inside worlds as they relate to

the outside world, and vice-versa. This relationship has to be maintained to combine

art with science, a visionary mindset with an intense sense of realism.

Your life purpose will shine in proportion to the amount authenticity you bring to

it. Depending on your personality and predispositions, you may respond to the spiritual

path over the hustler’s path or vice-versa, or find that both are useful together. The

tricky part is to find the right balance for yourself. In the remainder of this book, we will

explore how to make this distinction. As you read the following pages, feel free to stop

anytime to ask yourself “how does this apply to my life purpose?”, “how does this apply

to my life right now?”, and so on. You may find it instinctively as you read through. If

you do not find it right away, that’s fine too. Make sure you stick to the very end,

because every exercise will make everything clearer.

How To Find Your Life Purpose?

Now that we have outlined the essential characteristics of life purpose, it is time to

explore the realm of what your life purpose could be. This might become difficult at

times, but if you care about taking the most crucial step towards changing your life, do

not succumb to laziness. You have gone too far to give up now.

1. Look Into The Past

First, I will invite you to dive into your past and questions all of your life’s prior

decisions. The main goal is to shine the light on what has been holding you back. This

process includes releasing your deepest fears, tapping into your hidden strengths and

reintegrating your inner child. Ignoring those aspects of your psyche will only limit your

capacity for intuition, the fundamental ability needed to find your life purpose. Hence

we cannot remain in the shadows, as if our past had nothing to do with shaping who

we are today. By denying our fears, we are left unable to do the courageous

exploration needed. By denying our strengths, we play small through a sense of false

humility, unable to give our greatest gift to the world. By denying our inner child, our

eyes grow dim and we lose our sense of wonder.

Note that doing the following exercises on paper will drastically improve the

chances of you finding your life purpose. Merely doing it in your head will make it less

likely to stick. Writing brings an entirely new dimension to intuitive thinking, giving you

the ability to pin down your subconscious mind on paper. I suggest you write down at

least one short answer to each question, but feel free to develop a lengthy paragraph

if you have plenty to say. Please, do not continue unless you commit to writing these

down on paper. Depending on the individual, these will either be very difficult questions

to answer or they will not illicit anything at all. Do not let yourself be discouraged by
this and be willing to let any emotions arise in the process. Often, past pain can be a

revealing sign to what is the missing piece in your life. Once you begin, it is crucial that

you continue all the way to the end. Speak those questions out loud to yourself before

you answer. Write immediately and do not overthink them. Take about 10 minutes and

try not to leave anything blank. No need to write each question, only the answers. If

answers overlap, that is a good sign.

PART 1 - Reminiscence

 “What one thing did I truly want to achieve when I was younger? Why?”

 “What did I enjoy doing as a child that I have stopped doing as I got

older? Why?”

 “What did I enjoy doing as a child that I still love doing now? Why?”

 “What was I told that I could never achieve, but still wanted to achieve

when I was younger?”

 “What was I told not to pursue, but still wanted to pursue when I was

younger?”

 “What things did I enjoy but was made fun of for enjoying when I was

younger?”

 “What was I told would be too unrealistic for me to achieve when I was

younger?”

PART 2 - Releasing Your Deepest Fears

 “What fears held me back when I was younger that prevented me from

doing what I truly wanted?”

 “What are my 3 greatest fears concerning the pursuit of my life purpose?”

  “What is the one fear I try to hide from others?”

 “When was the first time I gave up on what I truly wanted to achieve?

What was this thing about?”

 “When was the last time I felt discouraged about achieving something

that really mattered to me? What was it about? Any correlations to the

first time?”

 “When was the first time I gave up on myself? What was it about?”

 “When was the last time I gave up on myself? What was it about? Any

correlations to the first time?”

 “What was one important turning point that forced me to reconsider what

I wanted to do with my life? What was this decision about?”

 “If I overcame all my fears, would my decision have been different?”

 “If I had the strength to overcome any obstacles in my way, how would

my life be different?”

 “If I had the courage to overcome all my fears, how would my life

be different?” (expand on this one)

PART 3 - Hidden Strengths

 “What was I particularly good at when I was younger?”

 “What things was I good at that I am still good at now?”

 “What skills or talents did others admire about me, even if I found them

to be useless?”

 “In what particular area am I not so good at, but would be motivated to

become an expert at if I knew I could become world-class at it?”

  “What things did I do as a child that I enjoyed so much to the point of

forgetting to eat and sleep? How about things I do now? Any

correlations?”

 “Which person did I meet when I was younger that most profoundly

inspired me? What were they doing exactly?”

 “Who were my idols when I was younger? Who are my idols now? What

were they doing? Which personality traits did I try to emulate?”

PART 4 - Healing

 “If I could tell my past self that he/she could achieve anything in life, what

would my younger self reply with?”

 “What could I do for the rest of my life that would make my inner child

feel loved, happy and fulfilled?”

 “If I accepted all my fears lovingly and did not let them stop me, what

would I have the courage to pursue in life?”

 “If I gave unconditional love to myself, what would I have the courage to

pursue in life?”

 “What advice would I give to my 3-year-old self?”

 “What advice would I give to my 10-year-old self?”

 “What advice would I give to my __ (insert any age) year old self?”

 “If you could start your life all over again, what would you do differently?”

Now that you have done the exercise, you may have noticed that the answers

correspond to the qualities I outlined earlier about life purpose. Your answers were

most likely authentic to you, aligned with you hidden zone of genius and most likely
are the things which would make you most fulfilled in life. You might have not found it

yet, and that’s OK. Sometimes, your past does not have enough relevant life

experience to lead to a specific conclusion right here and now. Even if your answers

were vague, make sure you keep those with you so you can come back to them as

you complete the exercises. I truly hope those questions helped you confront some

obstacles from your past, as those are important blockages to overcome in order to

move forward.

To tell you my story, when I was 17 years old, I was told by my father that I

could never become a public speaker. This is important, because the thing which we

were told not to pursue is very, very often the thing that we must pursue. It is

astonishing how often this happens with successful individuals. Walt Disney was told

by his editor that he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas”, yet he still pursued

to exploit this imagination to the fullest. Albert Einstein was told by his teacher in his

school report that “he will never amount to anything”, yet he lead one of the world’s

greatest discoveries. Socrates was called an “immoral corrupter of youth”, yet he still

went on to become one of the world’s most virtuous people in history. Often this

disapproval is only a projection of other people’s greatest fears and their inability to

overcome them. Luckily, those fears have nothing to do with your capabilities. If those

are your close friends, they are afraid of your greatness because this might mean you

will abandon them on your path. Your friends do not want to feel alone in their

purposelessness, hence why they want you to remain the same.

It hurt to know that my father did not believe in my capabilities, but I did not let

it stop me. A few years later, I channeled this energy into starting my YouTube channel

almost entirely dedicated to speaking (hyperlink:

https://www.youtube.com/user/thenightismyrefuge ). Remember, life purpose is

nothing ordinary. It is risky, seemingly counterintuitive to the outside world and

downright crazy at times. Remember to keep yourself open on this process towards

self-discovery and never set any limits your imagination.

2. Finding Your Area Of Mastery

Now is the time to narrow everything down to a particular field of study, passion,

hobby, craft, art form, medium, etc. This is a crucial step in order to turn your life

purpose into something tangible. Unfortunately, many get stuck on the vague answers

like “my purpose is to be happy” or “my purpose is to change the world” without ever

externalizing what they mean. Without a clear medium, you will have no clear roadmap

for achievement and you will be left to wander around aimlessly. This next section will

help you find your zone of genius. Take the time to reflect on these by forcing yourself

to think beyond surface-level answers. If certain themes overlap, that’s a good thing.

It means you are getting closer to your life purpose.

 “What do I truly want out of life? How would that look like tangibly?”

 “What type of work do I admire most around me?”

 “What instruments or tools do I like to use and why?”

 “What topics or fields of study am I particularly fascinated by?”

 “What am I particularly good at?”

 “Which unique abilities make me stand out from other people?”

 “What activity do I love to do to the point of never being tired of it?”

 “What type of work doesn’t feel like work to me?”

 “How can I realize the things I always wanted to realize as a child?”

 “How can I pursue the things I wanted to pursue but was told I couldn’t

pursue?”

 “What is the one thing I can offer to this world that no one else can offer?”

 “What is the change I want to see in the world?”

 “What is the impact I want to have on the world?”

  “Which domain of mastery would allow me to achieve this impact?”

 “If I could only master 3 things, what would those things be and why?”

 “If I could only master one thing, what would that thing be and why?”

 “What am I most proud of about my life right now? Which activity could

make me feel this way every day of my life?”

 “When was the time I felt the most fulfilled in my life? Which activity could

make me feel this way every day of my life?

 “What things come effortlessly to me?”

 “If anything was possible, what would I do with my life?”

 “If I had all the money, fame and relationships I wanted in the world, what

would I do with my life?”

 “What would my life look like if I lived in accordance to my deepest

desires?”

 “If I were to start a business that would change the world, what would

this business be about and why?”

Feel free to come up with your own questions as these are only examples. Be

as specific as you can and avoid answers too broad (ex: art, give love, live

authentically, change the world, etc.) Then, complete as follows:

My top 3 strengths are…

1.

2.

3.
Possible fields I would like to explore (ex: painting, business, engineering, etc.):

1.

2.

3.

The #1 field of mastery I would like to explore ___________________________

To help you choose between the 3 possible fields, ask yourself “would I rather

have more of #1, or more of #2?”, then “would I rather have more of #1, or more of

#3?” Do this with each field, and you will have a clearer picture of what you truly want

to do. Let go of perfectionism. Even if you are unsure right now, just pick something.

You can change and refine your chosen field as you go along. Now that we have your

chosen area of expertise, let’s continue.

Letting Go Of Others’ Expectations And Your Past Commitments

Understand that you do not owe anything to anyone. Once you embark on this

journey, your only commitment is to your life purpose. Never get attached to a

particular job title or company and do not tolerate anything that robs you of your

independence. Many people who cross your path will use guilt, shame and

manipulation against you in order to keep you stuck in your position. This includes

your boss, your parents, and even close friends. While sometimes it is with bad

intentions, often it is simply because they are afraid to lose you. This might paint a

gloomy picture of reality, but you must confront reality and let go of fantasy if you want

your life purpose to be grounded in the real world.

Look at the world for what it really is, not for what you wished it was. As you

answer the following questions, allow any emotions to arise. If you are one of the rare

few that have their life together, this section might not arise as much emotion in you.

If that is the case, feel free to skip to the next section. For everyone else, use your

feelings of anger, sadness and frustration as a last push to let of go all that restrains

you from achieving what you want in life.

 “What is holding me back from achieving what I want out of life?”

 “Which people are holding me back from achieving what I want out of

life?”

 “Which circumstances are holding me back from achieving what I want

out of life?”

 “Which people have discouraged me from achieving what I truly want?”

 “Which commitments that I hold right now that bring more misery than

joy? How can I let go of them?”

  “If all my friends were like minded and supporting people, how would my

life be different?”

Now that you have answered these, here’s an interesting reversal of perspective. All

those external circumstances or people you thought were holding you back aren’t

actually holding you back. You are holding yourself back. No one else is. This

frustration about the external world is only a reflection onto yourself. It was your

responsibility to live authentically and to not let your decisions be influenced by

circumstances. Now, let go of what impedes your path and be willing do so at any cost.

For negative people, here’s what you can do. You can either cut them out of

your life, slowly fade to black, see them less often, become less close to them or simply

avoid the topic of life purpose when around them. Whether you want to confront them

directly about it or not is up to you. Then, commit to making better friends and growing

a support circle of like-minded people. There are many support groups you can find

online or even in your city if you are willing to do some research, but this latter step is

up to you.

Remember when I talked about how the external world plays a role into what

happens internally and vice-versa. Getting too hung up on yourself might put blinders

on, giving you the delusional confidence that you can achieve anything regardless of

the circumstances around you. If you think you can live a fulfilling life surrounded by

unfulfilled people, think again. Please consider who you must let go of immediately

and start with them. Keep in sight the goal of finding fulfillment. Never get suck on

negative energy and move on. Before we move to the next step, complete the following

sentence. Immediately write the first 10 things that come to mind. This should take no

longer than 2 minutes.

“If I took 100% responsibility of my life and life purpose right now, I would…”
Removing All Lower-Consciousness Motivations

By now, we should have a much clearer picture of your life purpose. Next, we have to

release all unproductive, avoidance-based goals that will not guarantee you

satisfaction in the long run.

First of all, what exactly does lower consciousness mean? I will avoid spiritual

jargon here and simply define it as the direction our minds take while driven by

pain. Such pain include shame, guilt, anger, frustration, revenge, loneliness, fear, and

so on. I do not condemn those emotions as they have their time and place when

appropriate, but in the case of life purpose, we want to avoid them at all costs. Note

that temporary pain is normal on the path towards achieving your life purpose, though

it should never become the primary driving force. Here are some examples of

avoidance-based goals and lower-consciousness motivations:

1. To prove my parents wrong

2. To take revenge on my ex-partner, boss, etc.

3. To become popular

4. To never be poor ever again

5. To never get rejected ever again

6. To not have a bad job

7. To make more money than anyone else around me

8. To prove to myself that I am not a bad person

9. To show all those who rejected me that I am attractive

10. To never be fat ever again

11. To stop hating myself

 12. To never be alone ever again

13. etc.

Achieving any of these would only create a short-term high, leaving you empty

as soon as done with. These most likely motivate the typical success-driven person.

There is nothing wrong with the hustler’s mentality as I implement many aspects of it

myself, but if done for the wrong reasons, your life purpose will not create lasting

fulfillment. Your life will sway depending on the external world’s influence on you,

external validation and how you are being perceived. Remember the importance of

authenticity in this process. Your life purpose cannot be defined by what others have

done to you, what the world has imposed on you or any other recurring, avoidance-

driven themes in your life. Here are questions to ask yourself that avoid lower-

consciousness motivations:

 “If I were to be the last human left on earth, what would I do with my life?

And why?”

 “If there was only 1000 people on earth, what would I do with my life?

And why?”

 “If there was only 5 people on earth, what would I do with my life? And

why?”

 “If everyone had the same salary regardless of what they did, what would

I do with my life? And why?”

 “If I stopped caring about what other people think, what would I do with

my life? And why?”

 “If I had all the love and approval from the world, what would I do with

my life?”
  “If I had all the toys, gadgets, cars, girls, fame, money that I wanted and

also was the most popular person on earth, what would be left for me to

do with my life?”

 “If I were to live on a deserted island for the next month with nothing to

do but write in a journal, what would I write about and why?”

 “If I were the most attractive person on earth and already had the perfect

romantic or sexual partner(s), what would I do with my life?”

 “If both my parents were dead and I was free from their expectations,

what would I do with my life?”

This type of outside-the-box thinking will stretch you beyond what is expected

from society, reconnecting you with what truly matters to you. Here is a last, more

advanced question for those who are ready:

“If I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve in life and the world was

already perfect, what else would be left for me to do with my life?”

Let’s say you ended world hunger, cured cancer, created the spaceship that

could transport humans to another galaxy, prevented the last world war, reversed

global warming, or did whatever incredible, meaningful thing you always wanted to do.

On top of that, let’s suppose the world was a utopia that needed no more solving.

Then, what would be left for you to do? If you can answer this one, this might be it.
Accept The Call And Burn The Boats

This last section will add a life-or-death constraint to your life purpose to give it

tremendously more power. From life comes your inevitable death and if you aren’t

willing to confront this fact, then your life purpose will lose its strength. Without this

wisdom, you might not have the courage to follow through on your dreams when the

going gets tough. Answer these with verve and enthusiasm. Picture yourself as a hero

on an epic quest as if this were your last chance to accept the call.

 “If I could only do one thing for the rest of my life, what would that thing

be?”

 “What one thing would make me willing to give up everything in my life

right now in order to achieve it?”

 “What type of pain am I willing to sustain on a consistent basis?” (credits:

Mark Manson)

 “If there was one thing in my life that would be worth dying for, what

would that be?”

 “If I had 30 days left on earth, what would I pursue and why?”

 “If this were my last day on earth, what would I do and why?”

 “What could I commit my entire life to doing?”

 “If life was utterly meaningless, what else would be left for me to do?”

 “What would make this life worth it?”

 “If my entire life was turned into a film, what would it be about?”

 “If I had to re-watch the film of my entire life on a screen after I die, what

would make this film a good one?

 “What is the impact I want to leave on this planet before I die?”

  “In one sentence, what would be the most important piece of advice I

would want to give to everyone on this planet?”

Note that the metaphor burning the boats is only for the sake of awakening your

warrior’s spirit. In case in which your endeavors do not succeed, you can theoretically

always go back to school or to your comfortable job. It’s not that big of a deal, but

seeing it as a big one will tremendously heighten the stakes and make you more

motivated. You could say that it is a big deal after all since you are committing your

entire life to it.

Putting Your Life Purpose Into A Concise Statement

If you followed through on this entire course, well done. Your perseverance will

bear fruits for the next few years. You should have your list of strengths, your one area

of mastery and an overall idea of what impact you want to have on the world.

Additionally, all of it should be authentic to you and free of society’s expectations. But

there is one last question to ask. This question will only work if you have gone through

the entire thing. Here it is:

“What is my life purpose?”

Now, come up with a list of all the possible things that this could be. Be as

specific and concise as possible. Do not leave on a vague answer like “raise the

world’s happiness” or “change the world.” Try to include how you will do it as well.

Include your zone of genius and the contribution you wish to have on world. I suggest

you combine the specific with the visionary. Your impact can be vague as long as it is

combined with your preferred field. Hopefully, it should be inspiring to you. If one

answer makes you tear up or become emotional, then that’s probably it. If not, that’s

OK too. Keep writing. You may have to come back to this exercise several times before

you find it, so remain patient.

For guidance, I will give you a few examples below, but please do not get hung

up on them. Those might alter your decision making process, so at least take 10-15

minutes to answer the question before you look up those examples. First, here are

bad examples:

BAD EXAMPLES:
  “To paint beautiful paintings”

 “To create inspiring films”

 “To become a DJ and play for millions of people”

 “To be good at X”

 “To end world hunger”

 “To make the world a happier place”

GOOD EXAMPLES:

 “To paint beautiful paintings so that people can marvel at the world’s

beauties.”

 “To teach young children to become the best version of themselves, so

that each generation can be smarter than the previous one.”

 “To raise the world’s consciousness through filmmaking, writing and art.”

 “To tell interesting stories that inspire the world to become more

compassionate.”

 “To do medical and laboratory research in order to make the world a

healthier place.”

 “To end poverty by raising awareness internationally through

photojournalism.”

 “To advance technology by creating intelligent, self-sufficient robots.”

 “To make the world a more peaceful place by teaching meditation to

millennials.”

 “To help teenagers feel confident in their own skin by teaching them

health and fitness.”

  “To help aspiring, young entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams through

YouTube videos.”

From these examples, you might want to revise what you first wrote. Do so now.

Notice that your life purpose does not have to be complicated. Your impact on the

world can either be modest or grandiose. It should be simple enough for anyone to

understand it. There is no right or wrong answer here. The right answer is the one that

authentically comes from you.

If you are still unsure whether what you have is your life purpose or not, don’t

worry. Once you truly find it, you will know. Heck, even if you still don’t know right now,

just pick the one that most corresponds to you. Your purpose is meant to shift and

develop through time anyway. Later on, you can revise it.
CONCLUSION

You have done it. You now know what you want to do with your life and simply have

to start taking action today. I know it might sound scary and out of the ordinary, but

you have made the commitment. You will first have to devise a plan of action before

you get started to make it tangible. Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

 “How can I live in accordance to my life purpose today?”

 “What project can I start now that will fulfill my life purpose?”

 “What practice can I do that will bring me closer to achieving my life

purpose?”

 “What goals can I set to help me achieve my life purpose?”

 “What can I do within the next week/month/year on a consistent basis

that will bring me closer to my goals?”

 “What habits will help me live in accordance to my life purpose every

day?”

 “What information do I have to research in order to achieve my life

purpose?”

 “Which books/programs/seminars can I get that will help me achieve my

life purpose?”

The list is endless so feel free to come up with your own questions.

Furthermore, there is much personal development related to life purpose that I did not

address in this book including self-discipline, self-confidence, self-esteem, staying

healthy, managing your energy levels, and so on. If the goal of life purpose is to find
fulfillment and live a good life, then personal development must be combined to

provide a solid ground for our purpose to remain steady. Also, setting result-oriented

goals is absolutely crucial. If those revolve around short-term needs like money or

financial stability, I have nothing against it as long as you keep your long-term vision

in mind. This might be a good starting point in tandem with your long-term objectives.

In conclusion, if you at least found a hint of what you truly want to do in life, then

my mission would have been accomplished. This was not some other feel-good self-

help book trying to convince you that you are a hero destined for success. Becoming

a hero in actuality is a completely different story than imagining it. Life purpose is not

about visualization nor contemplation. It’s about reality, and this is the new reality for

you. If you do not accept the call, it will keep nagging at you for the rest of your life.

Now, think of all the possibilities that come with turning your vision into reality. So this

is me encouraging you to be a hero in real life, because you absolutely can if you

accept this lifetime commitment. For your last action step, print out your life

purpose on a few pieces of paper and place those around your house as a

reminder. Make it easy for you to look at it every day. Set it as a wallpaper on your

computer or as a background on your phone. Perhaps once a year or every few years,

you might find yourself revising your statement. That’s OK, because each revision will

only make your life purpose stronger.

Congratulations. You are now among the 1%. By accepting the call and

following your life purpose, you also helped me achieve my own life purpose: to raise

the world’s consciousness through filmmaking, self-development and art.

Best of luck on your journey,

John K.
*Psst! Don’t forget to leave an Amazon review!... Thanks…*
AFTERWORD

The feeling of having written a book under a week feels ecstatic. Living in accordance

to my life purpose turned writing into something truly meaningful to me. As I type away

those last few words, time dilates while not a single thought crosses my mind. It’s nice

to feel my fingers dance effortlessly on the keyboard. On the other hand, it is scary to

jump into an entrepreneurial endeavor with no guarantees of success. There is still

plenty of things I have to learn about writing, marketing and self-publishing, areas

which go in tandem with my life purpose.

This book merely started as an idea at the beginning of January 2018. While I

told myself several times that I will write a book someday, I realized that enough was

enough. I had to turn my passion into something tangible and let go of wishful thinking.

In a frenzy, I wrote this little piece and I plan on releasing more works like these in the

future. I did not take the shortcut of hiring a ghostwriter like many other kindle self-

publishers do. I wanted to pour my heart and soul into my work without the usual self-

imposed barriers of perfectionism and self-criticism that plague so many wannabe

writers. Let’s face it, everyone can become a writer. You just have to go for it.

I hope this inspires all of you to jump in as well because quite honestly, I am in

the same boat as you. I am still struggling and trying to figure my life out, even though

I clearly know what my life purpose is. Then, it’s important to keep in mind that finding

your passion is not everything. We have to make something out of it and stay

balanced, happy and peaceful in the process.

Additional Life Purpose Resources

Life Purpose Self-Hypnosis MP3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMHXERJIHk8

Life Purpose Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKdXDJMQWBU

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