I strongly believe that we all have a purpose in life, but the hardest part is figuring out what it is. Eckhart Tolle’s book, “A New Earth: Awakening Your Life’s Purpose” closes with the difference between our inner and outer purpose. The entire book address our inner purpose which is being in the present moment, while my life is dedicated to helping people identify their outer purpose. I agree with Tolle, that we can only discover our outer purpose by first being our authentic self in each given moment.

I recently discovered a philosophy called teleology. According to Wikipedia, teleology (Greek: telos: end, purpose) is the philosophical study of design and purpose. Teleology states that form follows function. For example, a teleologist would say that a person has eyes because he has the need of sight (form following function), while someone else might say that a person has sight because he has eyes (function following form).

In the process of purpose-finding, function would be our inner purpose and form would be our outer purpose. A single function can manifest itself in many forms. Someone may be born with the function/purpose of healing but the form/profession could be a variety of thing including:

• Doctor = healer of accute pain
• Psychologist = healer of mental pain
• Minister = healer of spiritual pain
• Activist = healer of social pain

This the choice where people have the most difficult.  Which form/profession is the best way for me to manifest my function/purpose?  Our passions, backstory, beliefs, and vision about the world can help us make this decision.  For instance, someone who believes in preventative medicine may not choose to be an emergency doctor because it emergency medicine rarely addresses the root cause.  Or someone who believes in the power of the mind and its ability to create our reality may choose to be a psycholigist over an activist because if the mind doesn’t change, the social problems we see will simply recreate themselves.  At the end of the day, they are all healers.

There are multiple ways to accomplish a single purpose.  And our professional paths are those avenues.  Ask yourself if your current professional path feels purposeful to you.  Read your company’s purpose, vision, mission, and values statements and ask yourself do they align with who you want to be.  It’s never too late to change your form/profession as long as it is getting you more aligned with your function/purpose.