Hello world,

This is the first and hopefully one of many posts I will make on this subject of meaning making and finding purpose and many more to come. Ever since my graduation from college, I have been struggling with finding purpose and meaning in my life and work.

Do I really want to spend 30 years in my job? This question haunted me. Although I enjoyed the various challenges of my job in publishing, I felt that I had questions and ideas that couldn’t quite be applied to my role. Apart from that, I was also changing and growing as a person during my career, as I started work as a 22 year old.

The natural progression from Maslow’s basic tier of needs is self actualisation. How do we become the people we want to become? What kind of person with what kind of ability do I want to become? These are the questions I asked myself.

After a decade and a half of experimentation, reading and research, much mulling, and struggle(both mental and professional), I pen my thoughts on this below. Without further ado, I think the meaning of life is fundamentally about:

  • Ascribing long term meaning to short term goals: Such as completing this post will make me a better writer in the long run. In gaming parlance, its gaining points in certain strengths etc +1 to writing stat, +1 to intellect and reasoning.
  • Meaning making: Understanding that meaning making is continuous throughout life. What does that mean? It means, to live a life where one seeks knowledge or understanding, and to constantly disrupt assumptions, to add to conceptions and never be afraid to first conjecture, progress to hypothesis, before reaching a consensus. In fact the consensus stage must always be open to critical thinking and give rise to questioning as any theory/science is based on constructs and which can be constantly challenged.
  • The struggle process: The joy of completing a challenging task is always sweet. When you struggle in completing a task, you are exercising your willpower, applying knowledge, using critical thinking, and developing your expertise. Struggle also makes you learn.
  • Outlook on life: Optimism is a state of mind that has to be actively maintained. A good mood may come about because of external influences, but optimism comes from a well of well-being, confidence, and hope that tomorrow will be better.
  • Finding a life purpose that is altruistic for sustainability purposes: Somehow, the human mind likes the idea of altruism, to hope that one can make a difference to the world. Idealism is the manna of life purpose. Being jaded serves no master but Maslow’s basic hierarchy of needs.

My life purpose for now is to acquire knowledge in order to improve upon the various systems of ownself, group, and also organisation. As a human being who possesses a mind, soul, and and conscience as well as having various interests and pastimes, not only do I accept that I have a duty of care to improve myself, I also want to do things well and make an positive impression on people by demonstrating my strengths.

If this post inspired you to think about your life goals, like and share this article!