The answer to “I don’t know what to do with my life (or career!)”
Your purpose is the expression of your identity
How to gain clarity of purpose to answer “What do I do with my life or career?”
If you are frustrated with “I don’t know what to do with my life or career!” all you need to do is get to the core of what your purpose is.
What exactly is your life’s purpose? Your purpose is the expression of your identity.
By examining how your values and beliefs express your identity, you can gain career clarity and clarity of purpose.
The best way to uncover “What to do with my life?” is to identify your career purpose
If you don’t know what to do with your life, look to what your career mission is.
Your employment is typically the best reflection of your purpose, because:
- Being in the right career is a place where you can find fulfillment
- The right career is where you can best express your identity and apply your talents
- Your career is where you can thrive within your peer work community
- Employment is something you derive your livelihood from
So it makes sense to establish what you should do for career fulfillment. At least as a starting basis for life direction.
In this article, The answer to “I don’t know what to do with my life or career” we will cover how expressing your identity can be the key to your life and career purpose:
To give you a thorough understanding of how the process works, this guide covers:
I have no idea what to do with my my life or career: how to clear the way to identify your life and career purpose
Why you don’t know what to do with your life or career: stop chasing rabbits
How your purpose is the expression of your identity
Is it normal to not know what career you want?
The questions to ask yourself to find your purpose
Meme: How your beliefs are expressions of your values
How negative self talk interferes with expressing your purpose: Diagram
What is the basic requirement for a fulfilling career? The 5 factors that define your Career Destiny
Final Thoughts about resolving what to do with your life and career
“I have no idea what to do with my life or career!” How to clear the way so you can identify your career purpose
In looking for the answer to figure out what to do with their life, many people search in the wrong places. Let’s clear away the underbrush so you can avoid spinning your wheels about your life and career purpose.
To identify your purpose, the answer is within you, not outside of you. You only need to listen to your internal systems.
Then you can uncover the employment you are already meant for by divine right.
Unfortunately there is a lot of confusion in the advice out there about how to identify your career purpose. This may have caused you uncertainty and misled your internal instincts about how to identify yours.
That changes now.
Why you don't know what to do with your life or career: stop chasing rabbits
Based on what’s available online, you can’t be blamed for being uncertain about your purpose or career.
Most advice to answer “I don’t know what to do with my life or career” sends you chasing rabbits all over the place.
For example, I researched online for 5 minutes and these are just a few of the suggested solutions to find your purpose:
- Look for meaning in your life through philosophy
- Analyze yourself with psychology
- Use scientific thinking to reach a rational course of action
- Take psychometric tests to determine your personality, aptitude and interests
- Seek religion as a means to define your purpose
- Find your purpose by being a martyr to “make an impact” for some kind of social justice or perceived “noble cause”
- “Get out of your comfort zone” by volunteering to help others
- Create a vision board from images you cut and paste from magazines and online
- Try magic crystals, oils, spells, quotes, Ouija boards and other gimmicks
Whoa. Wait a minute.
Why are there so many different solutions that each claim to help you figure out what to do with your life?
And why do so many solutions imply that your purpose has to be some kind of selfless martyr? Or that you have to change who you are?
If you want to truly clear the way to your career purpose, you need to understand the limitations of the above solutions.
Why? Because what all these solutions have in common is they all depend on external systems to define your internal purpose.
The practical way to discover your career purpose is actually the opposite.
You only need to listen to your internal mental systems. Then you can uncover the employment you are already meant for by divine right.
How your purpose is the expression of your identity
Your purpose is simply the expression of your identity. Your identity is the values and beliefs that make you, you.
So the answer to finding your purpose needs to center around identifying your values.
This is why all my career discovery courses and workshops include identifying values and beliefs. They are the foundation of defining your career destiny.
You do not need to look outside yourself like so many solutions suggest. Or to give up your happiness for the greater good of others.
No need to psychoanalyze yourself either. You simply need to assess yourself to identify the career path you are meant for.
My career destiny proverb explains it like this:
Is it normal to not know what career you want?
If you feel pained that you don’t know what to do with your life or career, be comforted. It is perfectly normal to not know what career you should have. Most people do not.
- At any given time, more than 45% of the working population don’t feel happy with their career choice and are looking to change careers
- For every Elon Musk and Tiger Woods who knew what they wanted to do at 11 years old, there are millions who do not have a clue what to do with their life
- Every adolescent goes though the identity stage, where they need to work out and adjust to their identity (unfortunately the digital sphere can distort their beliefs)
If you are sad that you don’t know what to do for work, you are not alone. It’s a common ailment.
With that said, how do you identify what your employment purpose is?
The right questions to ask yourself to find your purpose
I am a career discovery coach and founder of DefineYourCareer.com with decades of experience in helping individuals and businesses define their greatest value
My entire career discovery approach centers around 5 factors that identify your career destiny. These factors work regardless of your experience, background or level of education.
As I do with all my career discovery courses, let’s start with the basics.
The first thing we assess is to identify your values and beliefs, because they express your identity.
Your values – What are the rules you live by?
Values are your subconscious mind, they are your survival mechanism
- Your values are the rules you live by
- They control how you filter what happens in the world
- Values automatically direct how you proceed, just like a stoplight’s green, amber or red light: “Go!” “Caution!” or “Stop!”
By understanding what rules you live by, you can be in better alignment with your identity.
Your beliefs and mindset – The expression of your values
Your beliefs are the emotional expression of your values. Beliefs control all your behavior and your emotions.
- Beliefs control how you feel about relationships, employment, retirement etc.
- A group of beliefs is a mindset
- Beliefs guide how you make decisions about your career, money and lifestyle choices
- We all carry childhood and adult wounds, these can generate limiting beliefs that scare us to live in fear and develop mindsets that can block us from actualizing our purpose
This meme explains how beliefs are expressions of your values (mental rules).
Meme: How your values shape your beliefs
Your life’s events happen all day, and your rules quickly sort and filter them into beliefs.
They determine your mindset and attitude towards work, money and relationships.
I want you to notice the text cloud at bottom right: Limiting beliefs that may be holding you back.
Change Your Mindset And Change Your Life: How Limiting Beliefs May Be Holding You Back From Discovering Your Career Purpose
Your limiting beliefs may be quietly holding you back from your purpose. They may be conflicted, confusing you, making you feel uncertain or sad.
You may have been mislead by social media, school or friends to have beliefs that are not reflective of your identity.
For example, the media is constantly brainwashing your beliefs with guilt trips like “Save the planet” “Hate this or that group or person” Be a martyr to “Make an impact” etc.
These limiting beliefs that you are programmed with by peers and media may conflict with your identity.
This is what causes so many people anxiety, sadness and even depression.
Eliminating limiting beliefs are a key to changing your mindset and ending uncertainty. Along with cultivating positive mindset beliefs, they remove most impediments to manifest your career purpose.
Luckily you can eliminate limiting beliefs and cultivate positive beliefs in 4 to 6 weeks with my courses.
One great resource for eliminating limiting beliefs is addressed in my Negative Self Talk Worksheet. It explains the connection of negative self talk to limiting beliefs.
Diagram: How negative self talk interferes with expressing your purpose:
This diagram explains how beliefs work together to express your identity (your purpose.)
- Your identity beliefs express your purpose
- You affirm those identity beliefs through self-talk and faith beliefs
- The sets of beliefs that you affirm, each form your mindset (career, money, relationship mindsets)
You will immediately notice a red box on the left. It shows how limiting beliefs can sabotage your identity beliefs.
To read this diagram:
First: Cover the red box on the left. This shows how your identity beliefs are expressed through self talk, faith and affirmed as your career mindset.
Next: Uncover that red box to see how limiting beliefs, repeated as self-talk, can sabotage your mindsets.
- Limiting beliefs are caused by experiences, perceptions and innate values
- When you repeat these as negative self-talk, you cause yourself insecurity, confusion and anxiety
The beliefs diagram demonstrates that you don’t have to ‘change your life’ to manifest your purpose.
You just have to change your mindset, by removing beliefs that may be blocking your career clarity.
Wayne Dyer talks about “change your thoughts, change your life.” I think what he really means is “change your beliefs, change your life.
This is why I cannot stress enough the importance of eliminating limiting beliefs.
Because when you change your beliefs, you change how you look at the world.
In turn, the world will change how it looks at you. It will gladly assist you to manifest the destiny and purpose you are meant for.
The world will gladly assist you to manifest your purpose – once you define what it is
Does identifying “What am I good at?” help you discover what to do with your life?
“What am I good at?” is the question answered by identifying “What are the best application of my talents?”
Talents are typically the most used metric for many to define what job they should be good at.
However, many find career fulfillment without ever using their most powerful talents!
For example I am talented at playing guitar and writing songs. But that talent does not define me as well as career discovery coaching does.
So knowing what you are good at doesn’t necessarily define your purpose.
What is a basic requirement for a fulfilling career? There are 5 Factors I’ve identified
Many people cite using their talents as the main requirement for a fulfilling career. However in my experience and research, I’ve found that talents are just one factor to assess to express your purpose.
I’ve identified these five factors that define a fulfilling career purpose:
- Aligning your values and beliefs – so you can be free of conflict and anxiety to express your identity
- How best to apply your talents – to generate your maximum market value
- Who is the audience you are meant to serve – this provides employment satisfaction
- What is the peer work community you most enjoy – for comradery and promotion
- How to identify the workday lifestyle you will thrive in – to live in harmonious work/life environment
Together these 5 factors guarantee the fulfilling employment that serves your life purpose. They are the key to finding the career you are meant for.
Final Thoughts about resolving what to do with your life and career
You now have the 5 step roadmap to define what to do with your life and career.
You don’t need external systems like psychology, philosophy, religion or personality tests to get clear on your purpose.
You definitely don’t need to be a martyr for some “greater good” or to “make an impact.” You don’t have to be guilted to sacrifice yourself to a noble cause – unless it’s your destiny.
You just need to self-assess yourself in the 5 factors of your career destiny. Ask yourself questions and answer them in each category. That is how to identify what to do with your life
My Free Career Discovery Guide clearly shows you how the 5 factors work. Enter your email and I’ll send it to you instantly.
Your Career Destiny awaits!
Unlock your Career Destiny today with my FREE Guide
that every job seeker must know to make a career change
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Note: This guide is written by a real human, synthesizing experience and research to provide you a solution.
It was not written by an A.I. bot that ‘covers all the bases’ by rehashing other articles, but comes to no human-helpful conclusions.
About the author:
Larry LaFata is founder of defineyourcareer.com, and a Career Discovery Coach.
He is dedicated to help you discover your Career Destiny, regardless of your background, education or experience.
Larry’s innovative courses include:
- Define Your Career Destiny a one week home study course
- Career Destiny Workshop for Friends, a two hour online business discovery workshop guided by a career discovery coach
- Career Development Planning Workshops
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