Five Simple Questions to Help You Find Your Life’s Purpose

Five simple questions to help you find your life’s purpose.

Most people I talk to are busy.

They have jobs. Responsibilities. Family. Calendars that seem to fill themselves. And their lives are generally “on track.”

They’re productive. Successful. Making decent money. Raising great families. By all reasonable measures, they’re doing well.

But when the conversation slows down and I ask a deeper question like, “Hey, how are you really doing?” many people pause.

Because no matter how busy or successful someone is, many still carry one quiet question.

It lingers in the back of their mind. It shows up late at night or on a quiet drive home. It appears in those still moments when life finally gets quiet enough to listen.

What’s my purpose?

Let’s be honest. That’s not a simple question to answer.

Most of our day-to-day life is divided into two main lanes.

First, there are the things we have to do. The job we show up to so we can pay our bills. The responsibilities we carry because we can’t just drop them and walk away.

Then there are the things that make life feel worth living. Time with family. Friends. Moments to ourselves. Time spent doing the things we enjoy, even if they don’t always fit neatly into our schedule.

Somewhere between those two lanes, life gets busy. It gets full. It gets loud.

And at the end of a day, a week, a month, or even a year, we look back and think, “Well… that flew by pretty fast.”

The truth is, we rarely give ourselves the time to sit down and ask what our purpose really is, let alone figure out how to live a life that truly aligns with it.

Some people have figured it out. Many haven’t.

As a result, passions get pushed to the back burner. They’re saved for “when there’s time.” You know… when life finally settles down.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always settle down.

Recently, I watched a short TEDx video on this exact subject: how to find your life’s purpose by answering five simple questions.

Now, I know. With everything we already have going on, this might sound easier than it is in real life.

And maybe answering these five questions won’t turn your entire life around overnight. Or maybe it will. But at the very least, it offers something incredibly important: clarity and direction.

And sometimes, that’s exactly what we need.

So I thought it would be worth sharing these five questions with you. Read through them, answer them as honestly as you can, and see what comes up. I’d genuinely love to hear your purpose.

The Five Questions

1. Who are you?
Not your job title. Not your résumé. Not who you are in relation to others or who you’re expected to be. Just you. Your values. Your natural way of being. The version of you people experience when they’re around you.

2. What do you do?
Again, not your job or your daily responsibilities. What do you genuinely enjoy doing? What are you happy doing just for the sake of doing it?

If a lot comes to mind, narrow it down with this question: What’s one thing you feel genuinely qualified to help other people with right now?

3. Who do you do it for?
Look at your answer to question two. Who do you do this for, or who would you do it for? Picture them. A person. A group. A type of person who benefits from what you do.

4. What do they want or need?
Now step into their shoes. What problem are they trying to solve? What are they coming to you for? What do they need help with that you can provide?

5. How do they change as a result?
This is the most important question.

When you do this thing you enjoy, for these people, how do they change as a result? Do they feel lighter? More confident? More capable? More hopeful?

Now for one final step.

Take your answers to all five questions and put them together into a single sentence.

When you do that, something interesting happens. Your purpose stops feeling abstract. It becomes tangible. Real. Practical. Grounded. Usable.

Put it all together: who you are, what you do, who you do it for, what they want or need, and how they change as a result.

That’s your purpose.

When I went through this exercise myself, one simple truth stood out immediately. Only the first two questions are about you. The other three are about other people.

I always knew my purpose was tied to helping others, but seeing it laid out this way really hit home. Purpose isn’t found by looking inward forever. It shows up when we help someone else in a meaningful way.

And remember, you don’t need to have this perfectly figured out. You just need enough clarity to take the next step. A general direction to move in.

Sometimes, that’s more than enough to get started.

Here you can find the original TEDx talk on YouTube if you’d like to watch it. I hope this article gave you something to think about, or at least a little clarity in a busy week. I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts. I’d love to hear your purpose.

Just reach out and let me know.

Love,