How to Find a Career That Fulfills Your Life's Purpose

Sophia Belnap

In order to be happy in life, people think that they need to find their dream job or career. The reality is that no job is going to make you happy in and of itself. People who really love their job do so because their job aligns with their passions, their interests and their life's purpose. Seeking a career that fulfills you without knowing your purpose is a bit like putting the cart before the horse.

Finding your life's purpose can seem even more daunting than finding the perfect job, but it doesn't have to be. Discovering your passion will take some self-reflection, but you may find that it is more obvious than you think. Here are a few places to start looking.

Follow Your Interests

So many people spend their days working at jobs that don't fulfill them. They watch the clock, waiting for the moment that they can get in their cars and head home to do the things they love. The executive making a six-figure income who lives for the next audition at his community theatre. The auto-mechanic who spends every moment of his free time climbing the nearest mountain. The teacher who carries CBD gummies in her purse and is a walking encyclopedia of alternative health information. All of these people are working at perfectly good and very respectable jobs making a decent income, but they leave their passion at home when they head out for their morning commute. Sometimes, finding your life's purpose is as simple as taking a moment to look at what you like doing in your spare time and then charting a career path that takes you in that direction.

Perhaps that executive would find more joy in his work if instead of toiling away in the corporate world he began looking for management positions in the artistic community. He doesn't need to pursue a professional acting career; large theatres need administrators too. Maybe the mechanic should check out career opportunities in the recreational field. The teacher might want to make a transition into nutritional counseling where she can use her teaching skills in a way that coincides with her passions. The path may not lead to the most obvious destination, but it can lead you to a world where your career and your purpose co-exist in this digital world.

Use Assessment Tools

To find a career that matches your natural inclinations, you need to consider a unique blend of components such as your skill set, passions, and personality. Colleges are filled with young people studying law who thrive on research but hate public speaking, or medical majors who dream of healing people but don't deal well with stress. It's important to take all the pertinent factors into consideration when you are crafting your life plan. A useful assessment tool will not only examine your skill sets, but will analyze less discernible and more obscure aspects of your psyche and personality that will affect your satisfaction with a particular career. 

Consider investing in taking some of the top career tests rather than a free online assessment. The Holland Code Career Test is organized around six occupational categories and will identify your top interests and how they fit into those areas. Another gold standard is the MAPP Test that identifies what your interests are and helps you match careers to your passions. They offer several different packages with the most expensive clocking in at around $150. However for that fee you'll receive a 30-page assessment and be matched with nearly a thousand careers.

Another option to look at is a personality assessment. The best known would be the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator. This iconic test will identify whether you are an introvert or an extrovert and then go into even more detail by looking at 16 distinct character traits and what possessing those traits means for you. 

Conclusion 

There is no perfect career in general, but there is a perfect career to be found for you in particular. If you are willing to engage in some introspection and self assessment, you can gain a greater understanding of who you are, what brings you joy and what jobs will best align with your own personality.