What If Purpose Has Nothing to Do with What You Do?

Mark Fletcher-Brown via Unsplash

We ask each other: “What’s your purpose?”

We reflect in quiet moments: “Am I really living my purpose?”

We scroll, search, and strive. Feeling the pressure to find the answer.

But what if that question is misleading? What if it sets us up to chase something that isn’t lost — but simply alive and moving?

It’s easy to believe purpose is a destination, or a specific role, or a clear action. A calling. A career. A big impact. And while purpose can certainly show up in the things we do, that’s not where it lives. Too often think of purpose as something we do. And in doing so we constrain it, and alienate it.

Something clear, measurable, career-defining. So we go looking for it in our roles, goals, and responsibilities. But here’s a quiet truth: Purpose isn’t what you do. It’s what you feel in the doing. It’s not the outcome. It’s the energy that precedes and flows through the action.

And if we want to start getting closer to our sense of purpose, we can begin by asking:

"What energizes me — regardless of whether it’s my job? What am I doing when I feel most alive, most in sync, most… me?"

Often, those moments don’t come with fanfare. Maybe it’s when you’re solving a tough problem and time disappears. Maybe it’s when you’re listening — really listening — and someone feels seen. Maybe it’s when you’re creating, connecting, mentoring, moving, teaching, organizing, or caring.

It might look ordinary on the surface. But if it lights you up, pay attention. Because purpose often leaves clues in these small, energized moments. When you feel that spark, ask yourself what it is about that experience that moves you. Is it the sense of clarity? The connection? The challenge? The contribution? Those are the deeper threads.

“Pay attention to what energizes you.
That’s purpose leaving breadcrumbs.”
– Brianna Wiest

Once you start identifying the feeling underneath the doing, you’ll notice something powerful:

Those same threads show up in places you didn’t expect.

You might feel that same sense of purpose coaching your team… and again while helping a friend make a hard decision… and again while reading something that sparks a new idea.

Purpose is dynamic. It travels with you. It shows up when you’re paying attention. So rather than pinning it to one job, one path, or one definition… what if you simply started tracing where you feel most alive… and followed that?

Because when you stop trying to find purpose with your mind, and start sensing it through your energy — that’s when it begins to reveal itself.

What energizes you — even if it doesn’t “make sense” in your current role? And where else in life does that energy show up, almost unnoticed?