The question “How do I find my purpose?” contains a hidden assumption: that you don’t already have one. Joe compares it to a dog asking “How do I bark?” — you’re born with this thing. The question itself creates a rut, a searching loop that prevents you from noticing the purpose that’s already operating in how you engage with life.
“There was a way in which that question assumed the purpose wasn’t already there. There was a way in the question that purpose wasn’t found in how I did something.”
Joe’s daughter illustrates this naturally: she didn’t say “I found my purpose” in Panama — she just felt a sense of purpose while studying nature with the Smithsonian at 17. The sense of purpose was in the doing, not in having identified and labeled it. She’ll feel it again in future endeavors and miss it in others. It was never a thing to find.
The reframe: instead of “How do I find my purpose?” ask “Am I living it in this moment? And if not, what has to change in this moment to feel closer to it?”
Related Concepts
- Purpose is in the how, not the what
- Purpose is recognition, not decision
- The wrong question keeps you stuck
- Purpose is lived in the present moment
- Say yes to what intrigues you, then filter for joy
- Searching for purpose avoids it