A Better Question to Help You Find Your Purpose: Learning from Micro Mayor James

One day, I saw a Little Big Shots YouTube Channel, and I found a 3 years old kid who innocently announced himself as a mayor. He was also proudly describing his job description, which is to shake everybody’s hands.

For me, this kid is super cutely inspiring, in his early age he already has a strong foundation to be successful by knowing who he is and what he will be.

For most successful person, this foundation is the source of lifetime decisions: what he studied in school, where he chose to live, who he connected with and even what he did with many of his vacations and weekends.

After almost half a lifetime of work later, it is not impossible that James and his brother can run a chairman of the major political party and be the youngest mayor in the city. In the next few years letter, he can hope to run for presidency candidate.

Let’s get back to the reality. In fact, most of us have no clue what we want to do with our lives. Even after we finish school. Even after we get a job. Even after we’re making money. Between ages 18 and 25, I changed career aspirations more often than I changed my underwear. And even after I had a business, it wasn’t until I was 28 that I clearly defined what I wanted for my life.

Chances are you’re more like me and have no clue what you want to do. It’s a struggle almost every adult goes through. “What do I want to do with my life?” “What am I passionate about?” “What do I not suck at?” I often meet people in their 40s and 50s who still have no clue what they want to do with themselves.

Part of the problem is the concept of “life purpose” itself. The idea that we were each born for some higher purpose and it’s now our cosmic mission to find it. This is the same kind of shitty logic used to justify things like spirit crystals or that your lucky number is 34 (but only on Tuesdays or during full moons).

Here’s the truth. We exist on this earth for some undetermined period of time. During that time we do things. Some of these things are important. Some of them are unimportant. And those important things give our lives meaning and happiness. The unimportant ones basically just kill time.

So when people say, “What should I do with my life?” or “What is my life purpose?” what they’re actually asking is: “What can I do with my time that is important?”

This is an infinitely better question to ask. It’s far more manageable and it doesn’t have all of the ridiculous baggage that the “life purpose” question does.

There’s no reason for you to be contemplating the cosmic significance of your life while sitting on your couch all day eating Doritos. Rather, you should be getting off your ass and discovering what feels important to you.