Two Questions That May Change Your Life

Let’s start with one of humanity’s age-old questions…

“What is the purpose of life?”

The answer depends on who you are as an individual and at what point you are at in your life. In order to figure out your purpose on this earth (or at least begin to), we’ve come up with two questions:

1. What would you do with your time if you had all the money that you could ever spend?

If you’re like most guys you’d go out and buy a nice car. After that you’d buy a mansion, gifts for all your family members, and restock your wardrobe. And then, you’d travel the world (via your newly-purchased jet, of course).

But then what…

After you’ve had your fill, and spent a few months or so on your private island, what would you do? If we’re honest with ourselves, this lifestyle would quickly become boring and leave us feeling empty. So then what would you do at that point in time after the novelty of spending wore off?

Try to imagine yourself in this situation. Really try hard.

Please watch this video narrated by Alan Watts:

We sincerely hope you spend some time to really think, pray, and meditate about this question.

2. Why?

The second question is a follow-up to the first. Why did you choose what you chose? It is very important to understand the The Why behind it. Everyone can answer what they do. But not everyone can answer why they do it. The why is what will keep you driven and focused. Moreover, answering the why will help you figure out your purpose.

In order to further explain our point, we’ll use a fictitious person named John. John decided his senior year in high school that he wanted to become a doctor in order to help people (The Why) after answering question number one. As a result, John worked really hard during undergraduate and eventually got accepted into a prestigious medical school. Shortly after completing medical school, he did a residency program and topped that off with a year-long fellowship. And finally, at age 29, John can finally begin to help people.

So John had to spend 10-11 years of his life and rack up all those student loans in order to help people, right? Not necessarily.

You see, there are many ways to help people. John could have helped people by becoming an auto mechanic and fixing cars, a graphic artist and designing a small business owner’s website, or an accountant and filing those annoying taxes. He could have done all those things and still helped people. He did not have to become a doctor in order to help people.

Please understand that this is not to disrespect those in or pursuing the medical field (or any other field for that matter). It takes all types of people to make the world go ’round. The point is to really understand and believe in your answer to The Why. Because if John had understood that he can help people by changing their oil, maybe he wouldn’t have gone to college in the first place.

We also understand that there are intangible reasons as to why people choose their career. Let’s say someone goes into finance because they like numbers. They understand that there are a ton of jobs out there that deal with numbers (math professor, big data analyst, computer science engineer, etc.) but finance just “feels” right. And that’s okay. That feeling is there for a reason.

Conclusion

Answering these two questions most likely will not happen overnight. It will take a lot of soul searching to truly find answers. And the answers you come up with might be extremely difficult to go after depending on your current situation. However hard it may be, you must pursue them and you must pursue them with your entire being. If you don’t, then you will never truly be alive. Straight up.

The answers you come up with are not necessarily set in stone either. They may change and grow as you yourself change and grow. Regardless, having answers to these two questions will provide you with clarity of your purpose as you go through life. They could truly be the two most important questions you’ll ever ask yourself.

Note: these two questions are by no means the final say in the matter. They are just frameworks that we found to be helpful for getting a better idea of one’s life purpose.

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jup3nep/10344480386/

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