By: Ann Guo, Founder & CEO, Passion Analytics

A Sense of Purpose is one factor in My Five Force Career Framework.  You might ask, though, “How do I find my sense of purpose?” That seems kind of hard to do, or even “out there.”  Many of you may not even think you need to have a sense of purpose to your life–that life is meaningless. You live; then you die. Nevertheless, you are here for a reason–to find a way to make life at least a little more enjoyable or rewarding. So, humor me and take a stab at an exercise, which I discovered from Steve Pavlina’s blog post, “Personal Development for Smart People.”

Now for a little background information: When I did this exercise, I found my purpose after only seven minutes; and it came as an image of two children holding hands and running in a rolling green field. I was writing down words when this picture popped into my head, and I actually started bawling. After I stopped crying, I verbalized what the image meant to me: The children are not running toward anything, nor are they fleeing from something. They are running because they are excited. Running symbolizes courage to me, in that you’re not afraid of falling. Their holding hands is that sense of connection they feel with one another.

That’s how I want to live my life. Holding hands and running with people doing exciting projects. Since I value this so much, that’s also what I want to give to others. I want to help people be more free and courageous, unfettered and yet connected.  My purpose is to help people express themselves fully and be able to “run” on their own.

Now, it’s your turn to try this exercise.  First, though, do you consider yourself to be a “brain” person or a “gut” person.  A brain person is hyper-analytical and relies on logic and thought to make decisions.  A gut person can be analytical but also uses intuition or feelings to make decisions.

If you’re a brain person, you are likely to be super skeptical of what we are about to do. Your brain will scream this makes no sense.  Even though the exercise might seem strange and might take more than 20 minutes, what do you have to lose? At worst, you lose an hour of your life.  At best, you attain some clarity about your purpose. And in between, you take a step toward finding a more satisfying job or achieving your goals.

If you are a gut person, however, this exercise might be right up your alley. We will show you how to find your life purpose in less than an hour by using your intuition.

The thing with life purpose is that your gut is very simple, it only knows yes or no. Your gut reacts to things; it will either feel it or not. And the key is that your gut needs something to react to, which is where this exercise helps.  Even if you think, “What a load of hooey!” as long as you follow the steps, the exercise works. It just may take a little longer for you to arrive at an answer.

Now, for the basics: First, decide if you write or type faster.  Also, which one allows you think more quickly? If it’s writing, then you will need a pen or pencil and several sheets of paper. The key is to write or type very fast before your inner critic or rational brain can come in and sabotage the process.

Second, you need a quiet place where will you can be uninterrupted for at least an hour, though this exercise can take as short at five minutes.  It’s really important that you do this alone so you can feel comfortable and free to listen to your emotions. This is especially true for brain people or nihilists who don’t believe in purpose because accessing your gut will take a little longer.

Third, write at the top of the page or computer file, “What is my true purpose in life?”

Fourth, write an any answer that pops into your head. You don’t need to write complete sentences, just phrases, connected words. Then keep repeating this step over and over.  And most important, try not to stop.

This is a stream of consciousness exercise that aims at freeing your conscious mind from your unconscious to get at your true feelings about what will satisfy your life’s purpose.  At some point you will want to stop; try to fight that urge. Just keep going–you can even repeat yourself–until you write or visualize something that makes you cry.

That phrase or image is your purpose.

The first several phrases will probably be things you’ve heard or remembered over the years.  They will be from your head, not your gut. It’s even ok to start with “I have no purpose.” Get those ingrained beliefs out at the beginning so you can dive deep and free your brain to listen to your gut.

As you write/type you might find that a few answers make you a little emotional, but don’t make you cry.  That’s ok. That means they are just a little off target. Mark those answers as you continue. Each of these mini-answers are facets of your purpose, but they are not the complete gem. Keep going and later you might go back and rework them.

You might even repeat yourself, rephrase things, or go off on different tangents.  Again, that is all ok. Just keep going until you feel a huge surge of emotion.

When you find your purpose, you will feel a sense of energy–the words or image will reverberate within you. It won’t come from your brain but from a deep source within you that some may not believe in or are not aware of.  Yet, it will feel a part of you and literally “ring” true.

Steve Pavlina’s answer was this: “[T]o live consciously and courageously, to resonate with love and compassion, to awaken the great spirits within others, and to leave this world in peace.”

Now many of you might say, “But that is so general, so abstract.”  True, but again, still ok. Remember my answer: “Holding hands and running with people doing exciting projects.”  I am a career coach, but if somehow I was forbidden to do that, I might have found my path to my purpose by becoming a marriage counselor.  The key thing to remember is that there are many paths to achieving your purpose. Finding it is just the first step–and probably the easiest part.  Next comes the harder part of remembering it and working on achieving the goal of embodying it.

Now that you’ve finished, how did the exercise go?

Did you end up crying?

If you found your purpose what is it?