“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
Oscar Wilder
We're built to need purpose, but now that survival no longer need to hunt and gather, most of us are quietly working out what ours actually is. AI will make that harder.
Modern life doesn't help. So many options, other people's highlight reels, and the pressure to have a good answer to 'what do you do?' – all of it drowns out the quieter signals that tell us what we actually want.
So we default to the safe path, do what's expected, chase the LinkedIn bio and the impressive job title rather than the things that feel right to us.
Purpose is often less shiny than that. It doesn't come with applause, and it sometimes means going against the grain.
Are you more than your job title?
G O I N G D E E P E R
Psychology
Goals that genuinely match who you are – not the ones you think you should want – are called self-concordant goals. When you chase ‘false’ goals, life feels uphill. When your goals are true to you, energy and motivation flow naturally.
Inside the body
Most people don't realise purpose has a biological impact. When what you do matches what you value, your nervous system calms and your brain rewards you with a natural energy lift.
Did you know?
Psychologists say we’re living through a meaning crisis whereby we’re rich in information but lacking a sense of ‘why’. Purpose gives life a centre of gravity again - something steady beneath the noise to orient around.
At work
When work isn’t meaningful or aligned with what matters to you, your brain slips into a low-energy state called amotivation. But when purpose is clear, motivation clicks back into place and becomes effortless again.