Don’t “find” your purpose—create it

“Find your passion” is bad advice

Growing up, I was told to “find my passion and purpose.” Now, I question the idea that I need to “find” anything to live purposefully. Instead, I look to create my own purpose, which turns out to be a better strategy for feeling passionate and purposeful in my day-to-day life.

Messaging about “finding” a passion or a purpose may actually be hurting us more than it’s helping. A study published by Stanford researchers Carol Dweck and Gregory Walton suggests dedicating time to exploring new areas of interest and developing those interests is more effective than looking for your “true passion,” according to a Stanford Daily article on the study.

Dweck and Walton said trying to “find your passion” creates a “fixed mindset of interests.” This mindset implies that by simply experiencing many different things, you’ll stumble upon your “passion” and won’t need to invest time and effort into developing that passion once it becomes difficult or improving other areas of yourself, Walton explained for the Stanford Daily.

“Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket but then to drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry,” Dweck and Walton suggest.

Diversify your baskets to lighten the load

Instead of buying into the fixed mindset of interests, Dweck pushes her Stanford students to try something new with a “growth mindset.”

“Everybody has a lot of skills that they can grow and often you’re afraid to try them out and commit to them,” Dweck said. 

Even after reading the research supporting a growth theory of interests, I understand where Dweck’s students are coming from. Young people, especially students, often feel as if they’re being punished for doing something new poorly. After all, when I was in school, a bad grade was a bad grade, regardless of if the class was on an unfamiliar subject.

How can we fight off the fixed mindset?

Now as a young professional, I’ve been working to readjust my view toward a growth mindset. I know being open to new opportunities, failure included, is the best way to create passion and purpose in my day-to-day work, but it’s still a daily challenge. Here are a few ways I work to embrace a growth mindset of interests every day:

1. Add and categorize learning time in your calendar. For me, I learn best before I start the work day. I block off an hour in the morning to focus on a specific subject and I challenge myself to pick a topic I feel uncomfortable with for at least three days of the week. I then spend the hour listening to a podcast, reading articles or a book, or writing about what I’ve learned thus far. I often don’t know where to start when I open up my computer at the beginning of the hour, so it’s helpful to pick out the articles, book, or podcasts I want to read or listen to the day before.

2. Goal-set with future you in mind. I recently discussed my goals for the year with my manager at work. She laughed when I said improving my data analysis abilities was the first goal on my list. I’ve been open about the fact that working with data is something I struggle with. However, I’ve also seen how frequently my team is asked for data analyses. I set a goal to improve my data analysis capabilities with future me in mind. If I put in the work to learn about and improve at working with data, future me will not only be a more valuable asset to the team, but I’ll likely also feel more confident and excited when asked to analyze a dataset.

3. Continuously ask for feedback. Receiving criticism usually doesn’t feel great, so many people wonder why I specifically ask my managers and colleagues for feedback. Directly and continuously asking for feedback can actually help to minimize that icky feeling I get when I receive unrequested negative feedback. By specifically asking, I’m in a better position to come to the conversation with the right attitude and with my own thoughts on my work and performance. Not only am I better able to actually hear constructive criticism and use it as a jumping off point for future growth, but I’m also able to have a deeper conversation about my performance from both points of view.

My challenge to you: question the rhetoric

While falling into the fixed mindset of interests can be easy and sometimes automatic, I challenge you to think twice about the rhetoric you’re telling yourself and others about developing a passion or purpose. Future well-rounded and fully engaged you will you thank you for it!