When we’re kids, we’ve always been asked the same question, which becomes increasingly important and pressing as we finish high-school.
What do you want to be?
Kids will answer 98% of the time with the name of a job. Medics, engineers, astronauts… The degree of specialization or originality will probably reflect level of maturity and current fads in the media. But I think this is where the problem of finding our purpose in life starts.
The question should not be ‘What do you want to be?’ but rather, ‘What do you want to do?’ Because once you know what you want to do, you will simply know what you will become, and be in the future. So ask yourself this question: What do you like doing, that you can do for an indefinite amount of time, that will bring value to others?
That last part is important. You might like playing games or sleeping but that won’t give any value to anyone but perhaps yourself. And even then only for a while. And I’m sorry to say, that won’t keep you fed and with a roof over your head. So you have to concentrate on something that you enjoy that also helps others in some way.
You can start small, abstract or concrete. It all depends on what you perceive as your skill-set and what you like. It doesn’t even have to be something you know how to do right now, that’s what schools, colleges and universities are for!
