20min

It sounded too cool to be true. In around 20 min or so I can realize my true life purpose. All I have to do is sit down and write it out. This is according to Lifehacker who is quoting blogger Steve Pavlina.

Blogger Steve Pavlina says that you can discover your life’s purpose in as little as twenty minutes. To do so, complete the following four steps:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type.
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

Steve writes that “usually it takes 15-20 minutes to clear your head of all the clutter and the social conditioning about what you think your purpose in life is” and that you should expect to generate some repeats or similar answers. All this is fine so long as you keep on writing, even if your answers begin to resemble variations on “I don’t have a purpose” or “Life is meaningless”.

Also, it’s not enough to react emotionally to an answer, according to Pavlina. You need to keep going until the emotion brings forth tears. If you feel the urge to quit, take a two minute break and then resume. According to the post, around 80-90 percent of those who try this method will reach their answer in less than an hour.

No crocodile tears from me as I wrote:

What is my true purpose in life?

  • to empower other people
  • to be happy
  • to promote meaningful capitalism
  • to promote peace
  • to be loved
  • to be kind
  • to matter
  • to spread peace
  • to promote innerpreneurship
  • to write
  • to experience
  • to use the web to spread peace
  • to be outside
  • to be human
  • to be growing
  • to express my ideas
  • to create
  • to love myself
  • to feel confident always
  • to be present
  • to be the best person I can be

Does it not work? Or did I not try hard enough?

photo credit: wwarby

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  • Tara,

    beauty pageant answers, crocodile tears or not, there are several reasons why you might not have been moved to tears and/or found your 'purpose'. One reason might be that the exercise does not really work. The other reason is that it might work, but really for people who are discovering their purpose anew or for the first time.

    You already have a pretty clear sense of what you are about, and so something this simple just might not get deep enough to produce new a-ha's. Also, while the list of works may look cliched on the surface, to you they may have much more meaning that it appears to the viewer.

    Hey, I'm all for world peace. Really. It doesn't make me cry to say so. But it used to.
    ymmv. cv
  • I appreciate the insights, CV and the perspective check. I did wonder
    if the exercise was better suited for those less aware of their
    passions... I also wondered if it really worked at all. Either way I
    should sit down and give it a good try and not be so half-assed about
    it.
  • You could write a LOT more in 20 minutes...maybe that's just the first chunk of ideas that you have to get past.
  • I think you're right. I didn't work hard enough at it.
  • that said, don't beat yourself up if you don't get anything out of this exercise. diff strokes diff folks and all that. Heck, what I thought was my "life purpose" a few months ago turned out to be more of who I _needed_ in my life - but if I actually pursued that I wouldn't be so happy or pleased.
  • I don't think I gave the exercise a fair bat but I am still a bit
    skeptical that all it takes is an hour or less to come to a major
    realization like that.
  • I don't think I gave the exercise a fair bat but I am still a bit
    skeptical that all it takes is an hour or less to come to a major
    realization like that.
  • Looks like you made yourself a list of what you think you life purpose "should" be, not what you "feel" it really is. You gave beauty pageant responses.
  • Kimber,

    Beauty pageant responses... I like that. I think you're right. It
    isn't what I truly feel. I'm going to revisit the exercise. Thanks.
  • Kimber,

    Beauty pageant responses... I like that. I think you're right. It
    isn't what I truly feel. I'm going to revisit the exercise. Thanks.
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