The Purpose of Life is defined by your Major Definite Purpose, backed by a Definite Plan, and supported by Definite Execution. This week’s post will focus on defining your own purpose in life. Your purpose in life depends on your Major Definite Purpose.
If you don’t know where you are going, then it does not matter which path you take.
Throughout life, most of us have asked 
or have been asked the question “What is the purpose of life?” If you are a fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, then you likely already know that the answer is 42; however, later in the radio series it was discovered that 42 was the incorrect answer because they asked the wrong question. I have read many great answers to the question “What is the meaning, or overarching purpose, of all life?” but finding the answer to this question seems to have little impact on the meaning or purpose of your individual life right now. So, if you want to find meaning or purpose to your own life it may help to start with the right question.
What is the right question? It may be “What is the purpose of my life right now?” Napoleon Hill suggested that “Definiteness of Purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” According to his law of success, the correct question to start with is “What is my Major Definite Purpose?”
The purpose of life is to live life with a purpose!
Though the question “What is the purpose of my life?” can and does have an answer, the majority of us go through life with NO clear, defined purpose. Many of us seem to be drifting through life taking whatever life deals us, and then blaming our hand on luck or fate, without considering that maybe we could choose our own hand and direct our own fate.
The wristwatch on your arm contains over a hundred small parts (as does the phone in your pocket). The watch was created by its maker for a particular and definite purpose: to tell time. Just look around you at everything you use on a daily basis: the car you drive, the home you live in, and any device you use was organized by a creator for a definite purpose. Seemingly, everything of use in the world has some purpose and was intentionally created, yet we sometimes question if we ourselves have a purpose.
The answer to “Is there a purpose to your life?” is simple and absolute: YES! You have a purpose! But the answer to “What is the purpose of your life?” in a large part depends on you. Unlike most things in this intricately organized universe, where almost all action is governed by strict scientific laws, you and I have an incredible amount of agency to determine our own purpose in life.
If you want to achieve a desired result, find out what causes that result, and do it!
In the prior blog post, Intelligence was defined as maximizing future options. This scientific definition of intelligence started out with the age-old scientific principle of cause and effect. This law states that all effects have a preceding cause. In science, there is not an element called luck or fate, just cause and effect. If we look at our own lives, we will find that this principle is as true for you and me as it is for the elements; for every action there is a reaction and for every effect there is a preceding cause.
This ultimately means that if you want a desired result, you must find the causes or actions that lead to the desired result and then you must do them. To put it another way, if you want anything from life, you must clearly define the desired objective (your definite purpose) and discover and do the actions that will cause the desired effect.
So, success in life and the purpose of life can be found by answering the following three questions and taking the resulting actions:
- What is my primary objective in life (Major Definite Purpose)?
- What must be done to achieve my primary objective (Definite Plan)?
- What can I do today (Definite Execution)?
Defining your Major Definite Purpose.
The first step in finding the purpose of your life is to define your “Major Definite Purpose”.
This reminds me of a scene from Alice in Wonderland. Alice approaches a fork in the road with signs and paths pointing in every different direction. Alice sees and talking cat and asks the Cheshire cat, “Which way ought I to go?” His answer was, “Well, that depends on where you want to get to.” If you don’t have a Major Definite Purpose then, like Alice, it really doesn’t matter which road you take.
Have a timeless outlook, beginning with the end in mind.
To define your Major Definite Purpose you must first decide what your ultimate objective is. Start with who or where you want to be at some point in the future. Look as far in the future as you can see. Clearly define what you want or who it is you want to become. This future self could be in the next year, in 10 years, at retirement, or even 50 years from now as long as you can write a clear definition of this future self.
There are three parts to defining a Major Definite Purpose:
- Definite Objective
- Definite Deadline
- Definite Motivation
Make sure your Definite Purpose is definite. Stating your definite motivation is an important part of the purpose, but cannot replace the definite objective. Although we all want happiness, peace, or even to go to heaven, these desires by themselves are not good definite purposes. In fact, being happy is not a purpose at all; it is instead the motivation behind the purpose.
If you can clearly define what will make you happy, give you peace, or get you into heaven, then with that you can define your Major Definite Purpose.
For example, if you are an atheist, you may believe that convincing 1,000 believers there is no God will get you admitted into heaven (some atheists must believe this, or why put so much effort into convincing anyone there is no God?). Then, you may write a single-line definite purpose: I will convince 1,000 people there is no God by January 1, 2025, so that I can find eternal happiness and peace in heaven. This has all of the elements of a good definite purpose in a single line: it has a definite objective (convince 1,000 there is no God), it is to be completed by a definite deadline (January 1, 2025), and it states the definite motivation (to get into Heaven).
Although the above example is satirical, it does point out two essential elements of any definite purpose. First, faith is essential to any Definite Purpose. If your Major Definite Purpose is “to make $10 Million within 10 years so that I can retire rich and travel the world,” then you must have absolute faith that you can achieve it. Is it possible? Absolutely! With the right plan and the right application, if this is your Definite Purpose it is possible. But, you will never take the first step toward your goal if you don’t have some faith that it can be achieved. Second, a timeless outlook is essential to your Definite Purpose. In order to achieve any lasting success you must have applied faith in a supreme being of infinite intelligence and faith that there will be life beyond death. If death is the end, then the law of compensation has no real meaning.
Many people have done terrible things during their lives in order to achieve their purposes, thinking they could escape the consequences of their actions through death. If death is the end, then there is always an escape clause. Many more have done great things and were very close to achieving their definite objective only to be taken early, just before their goals could be obtained. If death is the end, then you already know what and where you will be at some point in the future, and no intermediate definite purpose will change that end result. But, death is not the end, and everyone will eventually reap what they sow. The law of compensation is a real law; everyone will be compensated according to their thoughts, deeds, and actions.
We all must have faith in ourselves, faith in our objective, and a timeless perspective in order to develop the burning desire necessary to achieve our definite purpose.
Quick Tip(s)
Write out your major definite purpose today. It may be a work in progress and you may change it several times as you try to determine what you really want from life. Try to determine what deadlines are realistic and what will motivate you to achieve your purpose. The starting point is to get something down on paper.
It can be one line or a whole page but make sure your Major Definite Purpose has all three major components:
- Definite Objective
- Definite Deadline
- Definite Motivation
Revisit your definite purpose every day and picture yourself in the future as if you had already obtained your definite objective. This process will help you develop the faith and desire needed and it will constantly remind you that you can, and will achieve your Definite Purpose. Also, as you do this you will likely refine your purpose from time to time.
After you have written your Major Definite Purpose, go on to step two and three which will be covered in the two following Organized Intelligence blog posts:
- What must be done to achieve my primary objective (Definite Plan)?
- What can I do today (Definite Execution)?
Your definite major purpose should include sharing this article with others and sharing your thoughts in the comment section below.
“Definiteness of Purpose is the starting point of all achievement. Successful people move on their own initiative, but they know where they are going before they start.” Napoleon Hill.