By: Ainsley Lawrence

Many of us decide on a career path early in life, but as time goes on, things change, and those changes influence where we take our careers. As a result, our interests, passions, and skillsets grow and our real purpose in life begins to take shape.

When your purpose in life is solidified, you don’t want it limited to just your personal life. Your career should be purpose-driven as well. A purpose driven-career is a role that has a deeper meaning and sense of value attached to it, where your contributions help make a difference in the world. Allowing your purpose to guide your career path ensures you’re living a life entirely dedicated to your personal mission. 

Striving to fill a role with your purpose and values at the forefront is a journey, not a race. Fortunately, you can enjoy the journey to finding a purpose-driven career by being open-minded, true to yourself, and committed to the process. Here are five tips to help you find a career that suits your life’s purpose. 

Identify Your Values and Beliefs

Your purpose is influenced by the values and beliefs you carry. For instance, if you value creativity and honoring your voice, your purpose in life will likely be tied to expressing creativity and helping others find and celebrate their voices. Thus, solidifying your values and beliefs gets you closer to finding a purpose-driven career. 

What are you passionate about? When do you feel most fulfilled? What moves you emotionally? When do you feel like your external circumstances align positively with your internal landscape? Answering questions like these can help you identify values and beliefs that lead you to your overall purpose in life.

Then, with a handle on what values and beliefs mean the most to you and how they influence your purpose, you can move forward with exploring industries that help you fulfill your purpose.

Choose a Service-Related Industry

Much of your purpose will be rooted in serving others. You want your job responsibilities to positively influence the longevity of this world and help the people in it thrive. Choosing a service-related industry to find a purpose-driven career enables you to find out how you want to serve others.

For example, the healthcare industry is entirely committed to serving people and ensuring they live healthy, thriving lives. Becoming a doctor or nurse isn’t the only way to serve people in this industry. You can become a business professional who helps keep medical facilities running smoothly behind the scenes. You could become a part of the financial department making hospital equipment purchasing decisions, land in the HR department recruiting and hiring talented medical professionals, or the IT department implementing new medical technology.

You can research service-related industries online. Then, choose one or two that interest you and match your skillset. Once you’ve narrowed down your search, explore companies that you feel may be an excellent fit for helping you define your purpose. 

All in all, a service-related industry can help you flesh out your purpose-driven career in terms of how you want to serve people and help them thrive. Additionally, whether you enter a service-related industry or a different one, engage in various roles within it.

Experience Different Roles

As stated above, many of us already have our careers figured out early on in life or, at least, we think we do. Life usually has other plans, though, and we’re taken through experiences that change what we’re passionate about and alter the vision we have for our lives. Fortunately, this can lead us to different job roles, which can be fantastic for finding a purpose-driven career. When you experience different jobs, there’s more opportunity to shape your purpose and ultimately choose a career that supports it.

Ensure you align your beliefs and values with the roles you choose. This keeps you focused on pursuing purpose rather than the other things that attract people to a job, like a salary, the company, or a flexible schedule. So first, include your core values on your resume before sending it out to companies. Then, join professional networks to connect with individuals and companies that foster the same values as you. Finally, do some detailed research on the companies you’re interested in. Find out about their mission, ideals, and values through their website and other communication channels to see if they match yours.  

When you experience different roles, you may find over time that the one you’re looking for doesn’t exist and that you’ll have to create it if you want your professional life to reflect your purpose. 

Explore Entrepreneurship

Local businesses are the hearts of our communities. They’re run by individuals whose purpose is to fill a need that they felt was inadequately addressed. If you feel like the career you’re looking for doesn’t exist, don’t be afraid to create it through entrepreneurship.  

First, do some thorough research on what you need to start a business. Next, educate yourself on the tangible things required and prepare yourself mentally and emotionally to become an entrepreneur. Then, immerse yourself in your network. Get inspired by those running a successful business based on their purpose and passions and learn from their efforts.

Ensure you’re clear about your purpose and how you can turn it into a business or spread it across different companies. Finally, draft a business plan, audit your financial situation, and gather resources that can help you create the purpose-driven career you envision. 

Ultimately, becoming a successful entrepreneur requires a lot of intention and planning. Still, it can get you closer to your purpose-driven career because you can shape all of your entrepreneurial efforts around your life’s purpose.

Conclusion

Finding a purpose-driven career requires a long-term commitment and fierce dedication to constantly refining your overall purpose in life. However, by implementing the above tips, you can be well on your way to genuine happiness and fulfillment in your professional life.  

Ainsley Lawrence is a freelance writer interested in better living through technology and education. She loves traveling to beautiful places and is frequently lost in a good book.

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