Simple Tips on How to Know What You Were Meant to do in Life

“Beliefs have the power to create or destroy”

Tony Robbins

Figuring out what you were meant to do is perhaps one of the biggest puzzles to solve or question to answer in your life.

It often feels like a mystery and one that can only get clearer as you move along.

I have wanted to have an instant answer to the question but that has hardly been the case.

The beauty in asking this question as I have come to learn is that it has taught me so much more about myself than what one straight answer could give.

And all those answers were guiding trails to who I am and what I do today.

Hence the blog.

It is dedicated to those of you that are on the quest of finding out what they were meant to do in life.

I tried to cover as much ground as I could with this blog, so forgive me for where I fell short, but my prayer is that you can find some answers for yourself as you read along.

Happy hunting.

Finding your Authentic Self

Finding what you were meant to do is a journey of finding yourself

Finding what you were meant to do is a journey of finding yourself.

Finding out who you truly are amidst so many labels and titles you carry through life is key to knowing your calling.

You can’t deny it any further, you can’t betray your heart any more than you already have.

A time comes when your heart catches up with you and tells you straight to your face that you need to stop and pay attention.

With it comes a wave and a longing for something more.

This longing not only comes to those without or in lack but also to those who have accomplished what is termed as “success”.

That’s why it can’t be about achievements, it’s so much bigger than that.

True to Jesus’ words, “a man’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions.”

But for those who haven’t had an abundance of possessions, that’s hard to believe.

And I know what that feeling is like. Trust me, I know.

However, we weren’t meant to only do things and acquire things.

We were meant to live.

We were designed with a purpose and purpose isn’t limited to an assignment, a calling, or a career.

Purpose is your reason for being and not doing.

Though this is a hard concept to teach given that the message we have heard all our lives is “be the star, have it all, if you can’t be no. 1 in this, then be no. 1 in something else and so on.

But there comes a time when you need to find out for yourself what your life is all about. To know what that “something more” is.

To find out what that “something more” is, you’ll need to dig deep.

Digging Deep

Words like: extracting yourself, digging out, unearthing stuff are all different ways of saying, “I’m digging deep”.

Something more isn’t money in the bank, becoming famous, a relationship with a star, material accumulation, talent, or knowledge acquisition.

That “something more” we’re in the hunt for is a divine discontent.

Sometimes we lack the courage to say what we truly desire because society doesn’t endorse it, culture doesn’t affirm it, your own family might not even be in support of it.

And so the fear keeps us from even having the words to articulate our true selves.

Life’s pressures draw you away from your authentic self to what is acceptable culturally and in society.

The pressures can come from jobs, the family of origin, friendships, romantic relationships, your definition of self, life tragedies and traumas, etc.

When you sense you’re not living authentically, the sense of there’s something more becomes stronger and louder.

To help you dig deeper, you must allow yourself to “get into it” no matter the discomfort it brings.

Don’t cover up, don’t rescript past events.

For me, that meant stepping out of a good job to go seek that which my heart craved for.

It didn’t make sense in many ways, for one, I stepped out of a job during a pandemic. Who does that?

But you see, I was moving in the direction of where my something more was leading.

For you, it could be something different such as choosing to get married in the later years of your life.

A way to help you do this is Introspective Journaling.

In writing this, I realize that there are personalities whose preferences are anything but introspection and journaling.

They would rather be out and about.

And that’s okay.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way.

If you’re willing to give it a try, it could turn out to be your newfound hobby.

Introspective Journaling is similar to looking at oneself in a mirror, only that now, you’re looking at the mirror of your soul.

Introspective Journaling is similar to looking at oneself in a mirror, only that now, you’re looking at the mirror of your soul

That’s one way of debunking the “something more”.

In your introspective journal, it shows your soul’s visual topography of who you were, who you are, and who you are growing to become as you seek to know what you were meant to do in life.

Living your life based on other people’s definition leads to misery.

We betray ourselves when we disown and devalue the things that matter to us.

Betrayal doesn’t happen overnight. It happens gradually, in little ways, and over time.

You need to know for yourself what you want, to be free from other people’s expectations of what your life is supposed to be.

Times and Seasons

Life is made up of different times and seasons.

Each season has value, no matter how difficult or fleeting it is.

Each season has an expiry date to it like all of life does.

All you need to know are the different seasons you will find yourself at different points in life.

God uses the different times and seasons in your life to do a variety of things.

Through some seasons, He will teach you something, in others He will chasten you, and in some, He will send down blessings like rain.

As humans, we often resist the tough seasons of life that hardly ever make sense when we’re in them.

Sometimes God will allow you to go through a wilderness season to understand something fundamental.

Such as finding your identity, enriching your relationship with Him, knowing the true meaning of life, adjusting your lenses of life, a change of worldview, etc.

Let God do His work in you through the season. It will birth something that you wouldn’t have found in any other way.

Awaken To Yourself

There’s more to you than your 5 senses.

That you have a purpose, you are more than molecules, more than work, more than genes and chromosomes, more than just a statistic, more than just a person.

It’s more than getting in touch with your logic and natural surroundings.

When you get that sense, you awaken.

To awaken is when you have an ‘aha’ or lightbulb moment about an aspect of your life, a revelation about something you were in the dark about, to become aware, to be in the present moment.

Note, this doesn’t mean that you don’t plan, or dream, or desire, or have a vision for the life you would want.

What it means is to be in touch with yourself so much so that you know when you’re off track.

But to also understand what something is, is by knowing what it’s not.

Awakening is not a goosebump experience. Though it may feel so, it isn’t.

If that’s what you’re looking for, you’re missing it by a long shot.

One of the ways that have taught me to be in touch with myself or to stay awakened is by the good old-fashioned practice of silence and solitude.

Learning how to sit in silence and solitude is such a healthy practice for the soul.

When was the last time you did that for yourself?

Find some time to stop and quiet yourself.

Look for moments in the day and listen to what’s going on inside.

Don’t stop until you find out what it is.

Awakening to the realization that your life isn’t limited to your intellectual capacities but that it’s part of the spiritual aspect of life is a game-changer.

Things we don’t understand or that are intangible don’t make them less real.

If anything, they are the cornerstone of life because what we do know and see moves in the direction of what we don’t see and understand.

The spiritual informs the physical.

What’s true in the material world is the exact opposite of what’s true in the spiritual world.

In the physical, we think that by giving we have less for ourselves but in the spiritual world it’s in giving that we become full.

Giving spirituality its place is a part of awakening.

I often say, our educational systems have failed us big time.

I don’t discount the value of going through school but I do recognize what it failed to teach us by what we’ve become.

When I look at my life, I have lived from my head for as long as I know.

Sometimes it served me well and at other times it didn’t but the worst thing was that I denied other parts of who I was because they didn’t appeal to my logic, in other words, they didn’t make sense.

I always thought that all things should add up.

My thinking was pretty much black and white.

Living from such an understanding is not only immature but dangerous.

It can cost you a lot without even noticing it.

But that’s all I knew.

However, as I matured, I began to see the inconsistencies of such a thought process and began seeking for what felt bigger than me.

That my friend was the beginning of a journey I’m still on.

Living an awakened life is a gift but be ready for what it might also invite you to do.

Your Internal Compass

The people you love most will be there to offer you the best advice they can give but the responsibility of where your life goes and what you want for it, is ultimately yours.

You decide.

There’s a place where only you know which is the best path to take.

It’s a persistent knowing, it’s the internal compass within.

Some people identify it as listening to your gut, still small voice, whispers, etc.

They are all a part of that internal GPS.

Learning how to listen and act on that inner voice is a powerful skill to have.

Many of us walk through life in a slumber-like posture. We can’t even tell when our internal alarm system goes off.

No matter how glaring the warning signs are, we don’t see them.

When you don’t listen to your internal compass it can end up in a rude awakening such as a job loss, end of a relationship, sickness, money problems, disruptions in any form.

These catastrophic events can be an opportunity to wake up and pay attention to the whispers, pebbles, and bricks to our heads before the oncoming disaster.

The real purpose on earth is to come into full circle with who God created you to be. The truth of who you are.

All these other things around us are simply distractions.

How can I tell it is my internal compass speaking to me?

I would ask you, “What sits with you naturally?”

“What is true for you?”

It’s also what fills you up and not what drains you.

You are not just flesh and blood, you are a person with a soul and spirit.

You know you’re on the right path when you don’t betray yourself.

Also feeling that you are not in your place of belonging is a sign of where you should not be.

The Doing: Practical steps to Finding Out What You Were Meant to do in Life

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

So when people say, “What was I meant to do in life?” what they’re asking is: “What can I do with my time that is important?”

But before answering that, it’s even more important to understand yourself which is why the first part of the blog was about knowing who you are.

With that, you can begin figuring out what you can do with the time you have left.

What I mean by understanding yourself first isn’t to say that we don’t do. It simply means that in our doing we are choosing “to be” first before “we do”.

It’s not a one-off affair rather it’s a continuous process.

You learn how to be authentic to yourself in every endeavor.

You choose the things to be a part of because they resonate deeply with who you are.

In every activity, it’s not an attempt to be something you’re not but it’s an invitation to becoming more of who you are or discovering a part of yourself that you’re not aware of.

Discovering what you were meant to do in life essentially boils down to finding that one or two things that are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around you.

It is finding values that will determine your priorities and guide your actions.

It’s not about a great achievement, but merely finding a way to spend your limited amount of time well.

Having said that, lets’ look into some of the things that inform your doing.

1. Difficult experiences

I want you to know that some of your most important works will come out of difficult experiences.

Difficult experiences can influence who we become. It reveals the gold within us, it can also reveal our limitations and that too is a gift.

Just don’t underestimate the power of difficult experiences nor dismiss some of the gifts it brings.

2. Age

Age here is not to say that it’s relevant. It’s irrelevant.

This whole timing thing we have going on of “by the age of 30 I should be married with kids, living in a 4-bedroomed house, with a pet or not, with a family van and a financially rewarding job” should be dropped with all due respect.

So what if you’re 33 and none of that is a reality? Does it mean you missed the mark?

What if you get a kid at the age of 50 as Naomi Campbell did, does that mean you’re too late?

Of course not! What we have are society’s expectations and pressures.

It is granted that it might be a little bit more difficult to raise a child at such an age but who determines what is right and what isn’t?

Let’s quit playing God’s role of when things should happen and instead go with His timetable.

Agreed?

3. The Paycheck

I think we’ve all fallen into this trap.

We believe that when we know what we were meant to do in life, we will become millionaires or have a huge paycheck hitting our accounts periodically.

Money indeed follows purpose but it’s not the point of purpose.

Whether the money comes or not, doesn’t determine the worthiness of what you do.

Money will come but that doesn’t necessarily mean by how much.

Walking away from something just because it doesn’t pay a lot of money, could sometimes point to a discontent heart.

I believe money to be a very effective tool in revealing our true selves.

Money will either reveal your true wealth or its lack thereof.

Money will reveal where your heart is.

Money will reveal.

4. Discover your why

For this point, I’ll borrow directly from what the smart Simon Sinek has to say about Discovering your why

To add a little something, your why will always be evident no matter what you do and where you go.

Your why will always guide you into what you’re supposed to do.

5. Focus on Your Core Skillset

I believe that far too often especially, amongst women, we tend to downplay our strengths and gifts in the name of modesty and making room for others.

We try as much as possible not to outshine others especially our male counterparts.

However, this is undervaluing oneself which is a lack of self-respect.

If we went by our strengths and natural gifting in our places of engagement, there would be no room for diminishing what we’re truly capable of or comparing with one another.

Your strengths, talents, natural abilities, gifts are all endorsements and empowerments from God.

That is God’s way of saying “I hereby appoint you to do …………..” you can fill in the blank.

Your core skillset appears in everything that you do.

So how do you identify your core skillset?

Ashley Stahl, the author of YOU Turn shares 10 sets of skills that I believe you can identify in which category you fall.

Knowing your core skillset will help determine what you can and cannot do.

The 10 core skill sets

1.Innovation- these are highly creative, ideas people, creative self-starters, creating opportunities in different scenarios. Product manager, real estate developer, entrepreneur, insurance agent, consultant, investor, etc.

2.Building- People and possible career path: putting things together either through construction or designing a website, business development people, real estate agent/developer, mechanic

3. Words – People and possible career path: A good question to ask here is: Am I the introverted version or extroverted version? Because your temperament will influence how you use the words. Introverts will likely be more intimate and individual whereas extroverts will be more outward. Speaker, author, marketer, writer, blogger

4. Motion-People and possible career path: tour guide, fitness instructor,

5. Service- People and possible career path: hospitality, humanitarian works. A good question to ask oneself here is: Am I serving from a place of hurt/pain i.e. you're trying to find your worth and serving is a way of coping or from a place of inspiration where you truly want to make a difference or feel energized from it

6. Coordination- People and career path possibility: The people who make things move on time e.g. projects, program manager, tech-person, operations manager

7. Analysis- People and possible career path: researcher, academic, therapists

8. Numbers- People and possible career path: genius, scientists, tech people

9. Beauty- People and possible career path: Artists, aesthetic enthusiasts, makeup artists, interior designers

10. Technology-Possible career path: coder, IT support team, AI developer

It’s quite the aha moment when you discover your core skillset.

There are also several online assessments to take to discover possible career paths based on their personality and temperament.

Such assessments are gold when taken seriously.

What Next?

Granted, we’ve covered a lot.

But I believe you have found something worth taking away.

I aim to always help you make decisions without compromising your true self.

Choose you because when you do, everybody wins.

In case you need more clarity about yourself and what career path to take, click these links

Self-Assessment on who you are meant to be

Quiz on career fit

To learn more about finding your path click the link below to receive tips straight to your inbox every week.

I want to find my path in life