The Importance of Purpose in Your Career

Seth Andrew Goodfellow
MDI Contributor

At some point in our lives, many of us experience a tension that comes when we know that we are making a smart choice for our career, but one that doesn’t feel quite right for us. Maybe it is a choice that colleagues and mentors might support, but deep down we may feel it isn’t taking us in the direction we really want to go. 

After college I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I would make enough money to not have to work anymore, as funny as that may sound. I had taken all of the steps I had been told I “should.” I had gotten a degree and a job at a good advertising agency. 

But I found my job soul crushing. So I founded a startup on the side and I left my job to start a digital marketing wing at a smaller agency so that I could own a stake. My goal was build build build and then cash out. 

But I hated the work. And I found it hard to keep myself motivated enough to maintain any momentum I would garner. 

A friend told me I had it all backwards. He said, “You have to do something you like and care about first, and then the money will follow.” 

This didn’t make sense to me at the time. Work was work. The purpose of work was to make a living. 

My family was involved with a fundamentalist religion when I was young and I rebelled against it as a teen. So I had rejected any idea that there could be any type of purpose to any of it. Work was all strictly transactional to me. 

So what is a “purpose?” And why should we base life decisions on something that can seem so abstract or perhaps hokey? After all, many smart people around us seem to get by just fine without talking about anything so grandiose. 

What is Purpose? 

Throughout my twenties I was lost. I found myself caught between my very ambitious side and some very avoidant habits I had developed. I was trying to find anything I could to fill the void I felt I had. I would work hard in spurts, but then I would binge drink and find myself seeking anything I could that would make me feel something. 

It took hitting rock bottom many times before I decided to go back to the drawing board. I was done with the way I was living. 

Sitting on the floor of my apartment, I pulled out all of my old sketchbooks and creative journals. I looked through them all searching for anything that could give me direction. 

As a kid I liked to draw a lot. My mother always told me I would be happier if I did something creative. My father just wanted me to do something practical that would make a decent living. My parents had homeschooled me and my eight siblings in an attempt to shelter us, so I had never had much of a chance to participate in certain activities you only get through a school, like sports or drama. 

But in one of my boxes of notebooks I came across a group photo from a youth summer camp I had gone to. Suddenly memories of a play we had put on there came rushing back. At 11 years old I was on a stage, making all of my friends laugh as I played a funny role. 

Going back earlier than that, my first memory was being hoisted onto a stage for my 4th birthday by my grandfather who was a pastor, as his congregation sang Happy Birthday. 

Both of those moments pulled at me in a deep way I couldn’t explain. 

I had always secretly wanted to be an actor. But certainly this couldn’t be the way. This was no practical career. People didn’t make a living acting. That’s something only the wealthy and connected get to do out in Hollywood. 

Moments later I pulled out my phone; I needed a break from the soul searching. 

On my phone, on Facebook, I saw that a friend from college who also lived in Florida was working as an actor on the AMC series The Walking Dead. 

The next day I signed up for an acting class. 

What I didn’t know then was that I had gone through the process of uncovering my Ground Zero Moment. We all have events that happen early in our lives that shape us at a profound level. 

Once we uncover who we are and what resonates with us at a deep level, we are then able to see how we fit into the world. 

The Paradox of a Calling and a Choice

Finding one’s purpose commonly refers to a preordained calling. Something God or the Universe has already determined for us. 

And while that may be true, another way to view it is that purpose is any mission that deeply resonates with our authentic selves. Maybe a purpose is something that comes from within. Maybe it is our inner-selves calling on us to reveal ourselves, be seen, and to create. 

If life was all completely predetermined fate, then it would seem our choices would be pretty powerless. 

So do we choose our purpose? Or is it given to us? 

That desire came from somewhere. It exists within you for a reason. 

Maybe the answer is BOTH. 

Carl Jung said, “The paradox is one of our most valued spiritual possessions.” 

Finding Purpose Along the Way 

I was 29 when I made the career change and started pursuing acting. 

As an actor, writer, and filmmaker, I am driven at a core level to make choices that align with my purpose: to be a mirror, to shine light on important issues, and to be an expression of authenticity. 

My work now is all created with the intention of this purpose, yet I still face dilemmas and have to make choices when my integrity is put in check. 

But for some, it may not be so clear cut. You may already have a job you like, and still be looking to find out how to find deeper meaning in your life. 

Or in my case, I often have to work a side-job, or gig work, that at face value have nother to do with my goals. 

And therein lies the rub: How do you make purpose driven choices when your career (or side careers) don’t seem to align with your purpose except out of the necessity to get the bills paid? 

Any challenge is an chance to not only face our own internal resistance, but aslo to find a way to utlize that challenge as an opportunity for growth in some way that lends toward the greater goal. 

If purpose, meaning, and answers were golden nuggets, we would all be miners. 

Digging For Purpose

When we step off the common trail, go against the grain and pave our own path, following the compass of our own authenticity, there is a required level of integrity and courage that is never easy, compared to going with the flow and taking the path of least resistance. 

Many people feel the call to do something great. Few follow the call. Few even acknowledge the feeling. 

What feeling? You might ask. It’s that inner nudge telling you that you were meant to do something more. That burning drive to make a difference. The desire to do something great with your life. That quirky interest or hobby that brings you so much joy. The fear of spending our lives away on the mundane, never truly breaking out and experiencing extraordinary fulfillment.. 

To identify the right direction forward, and to break away from the trance of mediocrity, we must truly dig deep and tap into our subconscious inner-knowing. 

We can start by looking at the things we are naturally gifted at and passionate about. Our fantasies and dreams are good indicators. The thing is, most people write them off as just fantasy. But if we look at our dreams as the musings of our authentic selves, then they become a window into our subconscious. 

Another indicator: fear. What are you most afraid of doing? What sounds the most terrifying? Sometimes that will tell you the most. For some reason I was terrified to get on stage at first although it’s thrilling now.

The key is to get outside of your head, into your gut, into your heart. Dreams and fears will do just that. 

Any career spent chasing something noteworthy will be full of uncertainties, yet that is where the gold is. That means you are off the beaten path. 

I believe the truth is that the “calling” we have, our “purpose” comes as a gift of our truest, most whole, and fully expressed authentic selves. 

And this applies to so much more of our lives than just our jobs or careers. 

But any part of our life that is not aligned with our authenticity will ring that alarm bell until we face the music. And as creative beings our work is central to our wellbeing. 

Denouement

Passion and inspiration will ebb and flow. But when we choose something that resonates deeply with us it becomes more than just passion. It becomes self-actualization. It becomes a commitment. And once we are committed to a purpose, we are committed to our own integrity. 

In my case, I believe that storytelling is paramount to the human experience. As an actor and writer I look at the grey areas, the ugly truths we are afriad to speak of, the funny and embarrasing things we all do, the love and beauty of humanity, and I reflect it back to whatever audience would have me. 

That’s my role in this life. 

So regardless of how my finances shake down, or how far I go, or how much I achieve, or how validated I ever am as an artist. I know that what I am doing with my life is not only authentic to who I am, it is a gift I believe wholeheartedly in sharing with the world.