{"id":41510,"date":"2021-07-04T17:57:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T21:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=41510"},"modified":"2021-07-12T17:27:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T21:27:24","slug":"how-to-discover-your-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-discover-your-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Discover Your Purpose Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you want to find out how to discover your purpose<\/a>? How can you work out what you truly want from life? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people want to find their purpose in life<\/a>, but it can be difficult. In his book How Will You Measure Your Life<\/a>?<\/em>, Clayton Christensen offers helpful tips for how to discover your purpose<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Find out how to discover your purpose below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Clayton Christensen: How to Discover Your Purpose<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In How Will You Measure Your Life?<\/em> business consultant and Harvard professor Clay Christensen shows how economic theories that help businesses succeed can also help individuals with finding purpose<\/a>.<\/strong> He presents theories and business case studies that show you pitfalls to avoid, and also how to be happy<\/a> and successful in your career and personal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typical self-help books on how to succeed and be happy are based mostly on anecdotes and on routines that worked for the authors, but that may or may not work for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, we know theories work: They\u2019re tested, proven, and can be universally applied. A theory is a statement of cause and effect. Economic theories show the impact on a business of doing certain things; they predict what will happen in the future and what steps managers might take. They can do the same for your personal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christensen began exploring these questions after finding that many of his former Harvard Business School classmates had struggled in their personal lives, and often didn\u2019t enjoy their work despite significant professional accomplishments. A few, including Jeffrey Skilling of Enron, ended up on the wrong side of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christensen wrote this book to help define a path to both professional and<\/em> personal success. It\u2019s intended to help you find fulfillment by understanding what\u2019s most important to you<\/a>, and ultimately answering the question of how you\u2019ll measure your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing Your Purpose<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The theories in this book won\u2019t be of any use to you unless you have a purpose<\/a> or an understanding of what you\u2019re trying to achieve in your life. For the theories to help you make decisions by predicting outcomes, you need a basis for weighing potential outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a business, having a clear purpose<\/a> drives executive decisions and keeps employees focused on what’s important to the company. Similarly, you need a purpose for your life, against which to weigh decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A company\u2019s purpose provides three things:<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) A model or picture of what the company will look like or be when it has achieved its goals<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) The full commitment of executives and employees to the model they\u2019re trying to create (no one compromises on it under any circumstances) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Several metrics the company\u2019s leaders and employees can use to measure progress<\/a> individually and collectively <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies that want to have an impact need to choose a purpose deliberately\u2014it won\u2019t just materialize\u2014then pursue it with a strategy that accommodates both a deliberate plan and emergent opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding Purpose In Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, you need to choose your own purpose (decide what kind of person you want to be and what you want to achieve in your life), and pursue it with an evolving strategy. The same elements that comprise a company\u2019s purpose\u2014a model, commitment, metrics\u2014should be part of your purpose. This is crucial for finding out how to discover your purpose in life<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example of how to do this, here\u2019s how Christensen applied the formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Model<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Christensen based his answer for who he wanted to become on his values of family and faith:<\/p>\n\n\n\n