Finding+Your+Life+Purpose+ +Mark+Manson
Finding+Your+Life+Purpose+ +Mark+Manson
YOUR LIFE
PURPOSE
BY MARK MANSON
MARKMANSON.NET
© 2017
Mark Manson
5 STEPS TO FIGURING OUT YOUR
LIFE PURPOSE
Let’s start things off with a simple question: “If you could do
anything without chance of failure, and without constraints of
time and money, what would you do?”
This guide is designed to help you answer this question and take
action towards making it a reality.
This may seem a little daunting, but we’ll break it down into
more manageable parts so you’ll be able to work towards the
answer over the coming months and years.
And then a year from now, you’ll ask it again, re-evaluate, and
begin working towards it again. Hopefully each time you do this
exercise, you’ll be a step closer.
I’ve done some form of this exercise every year for eight years
now. When I started, I was broke, struggling with a new
business, living alone with a very unhealthy lifestyle. Now, eight
years later, I’m living the life of my dreams. In fact, I can
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unequivocally say that this is the first year ever in my life that I
answer the prime question with an immediate, “What I am doing
now.” And I think that’s a pretty astounding success.
I’ll be giving some brief examples of each step of the exercise but
will not complete them myself. This is just to give you some ideas
and help you get started.
STEP 1: BRAINSTORMING
The first step is the easiest and probably the most fun. Pull out a
blank sheet of paper and make sure you have a clock nearby.
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Take 20 minutes to yourself, and write down everything you
would like to do in your life before you die. Everything. No
matter how big or small, how trivial or important.
Just because you wrote it doesn’t mean you have to do it, the
point of this step is merely to get our mind exploring.
This should start out very easy but get harder as the time goes by.
Hold yourself to 20 minutes! Chances are the last 5-10 minutes
you’ll be straining your brain. But keep going anyway.
Example:
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...
On the other hand, chances are, when you’re writing your list,
2-3 entries are going to pop out at you, like giant strobe lights on
your page. The specific entries may surprise you as well. This is
good.
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This is where things start to get interesting—and a little bit real.
But you’ll still have to use your imagination quite a bit and tap
into some desires that you may not have known were there.
Example:
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Chances are, once you finish this, your mind will already be
brainstorming ways to connect the dots from now to then. This is
good. We’ve now got your mind working actively on figuring out
ways to achieve your dreams. This is a fundamental first step.
You’re now motivating yourself from your own desires and not
simply by pleasing others!
This time, make sure your choices are realistic and attainable,
but also that they are a step towards your answer for Step 2.
Example:
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As you’ll notice, this projection is getting far more actionable. In
fact, after you’ve written it, it should be pretty obvious many of
the steps you can start taking towards it.
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3. Finally, in the last column, give each item a rating, from
1-10 based on how much fulfillment you get from that
activity. Basically how happy that activity makes you.
Example:
And so on...
Finally, once you’ve got your lists finished, go back through and
look at how the numbers line up. Activities which you spend a lot
of time doing should have high numbers. Activities you don’t
spend much time doing should have low numbers. What we’re
looking for are mismatches.
For instance, in the example above two big mismatches pop out
at you. The first is that this person really doesn’t enjoy their job
and they work long hours. That sucks. It’s hard to be happy and
motivated and confident when you’re dropping 50 weeks on
something you only value at a 3.
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The second mismatch is that they're spending two hours a day
watching television, but it doesn’t deliver much value.
Meanwhile, they're averaging less than an hour a day hanging
out with friends, something they really value and enjoy.
The answer for this person is clear: ditch the TV to spend more
time with friends (or invite your friends over to watch TV with
you) and get the job situation figured out.
All this is just from a short, very basic list. Chances are your list
has a lot more going on in it.
From the previous four steps, you should have developed a pretty
clear idea of what you need to be doing different, both in the
short-term and in the long-term. Hopefully you’ve been made
aware of things that you’d like to be a part of your life which
currently aren’t. And hopefully you’ve identified some things that
are part of your life, but you’d prefer they weren’t.
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1. Goals need to be actionable; i.e., they require a certain
behavior to complete. For instance, “Feel more comfortable
in social situations” is not an actionable goal. It’s not
something that can be measured or counted. “Meet
someone new without getting nervous,” IS an actionable
goal. It can be measured and it’s clear once it’s been
accomplished.
2. Write down one thing you can do TODAY that will move
you towards each goal.
Example:
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Goal #3: Get a girlfriend/boyfriend
Actions for each goal: For goal #1, I can join a gym. For goal
#2 I can buy a study guide to start studying. And for goal
#3 I can join an internet dating site and engage in more
social activities like community classes, team sports
leagues, etc.
Once you have a solid list of clear actions that you can take, it’s
just a matter of getting out and doing something—anything
really—to get you started.
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1. Your priorities change with time, and what you may
consider very important today, may not seem as important
a year from now.
2. The more of your goals that you achieve, the easier it’ll
become to achieve subsequent goals.
Doing this sets off a chain reaction, that if you follow it long
enough, implementing change into your life will become easier
and easier. And one day, years from now, you’ll look back, and
maybe you won’t even recognize the person you are now.
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of my articles, interactive online courses, dozens of videos and
interviews, and more.
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