Your purpose in life is to journey through the harshest environments, battling vicious enemies, dodging dangerous traps, and overcoming obstacles to rescue the beautiful princess from an evil villain and restore peace to the kingdom… if you’re a thick-mustached Italian plumber called Super Mario, that is.
Mario had it easier than us. When he first “came to life” in his fictional world, his purpose for living was crystal clear from the start – to save Princess Peach from her kidnapper, Bowser.
Contrarily, one day you were born, and in the blink of an eye, you were swept along the wave of life to the current situation in which you’re reading this article.
It’s not like you asked to be born; you didn’t really have a say in that. But whether you did or not, you’re here now, you exist, and many are left asking: “What the heck am I supposed to do with my life?”
If you think about it, it’s a pretty reasonable question to ask. After all, you were suddenly brought into the world without any explanation and are now expected to do something with this life you didn’t really ask for.
Unlike Mario, who had a clear goal and knew what his mission was, you might be rather confused and unsure about what you wish to achieve in life and want to have more clarity. How nice would it have been if life came with instructions about what we’re here for, so we don’t have to wander about so helplessly?
In that case, what you’re looking for is purpose.
We seek a reason to live and want justifications for the things we do. A reason to get out of bed. No wonder there are hundreds of internationally bestselling books written about it; we just can’t seem to get enough of it!
How do you find this magical thing called “purpose” then, you might ask?
Before diving into finding your life’s true purpose, let’s first become crystal clear about what it is we’re even trying to find.
Table of Contents:
What is Purpose?
Purpose is like a compass: it provides you with an overall aim in life (or multiple aims), which helps you set goals and make decisions by guiding how you use your limited resources, like time and energy.1 Put another way, purpose is the feeling that your life has direction and is oriented toward goals.2
It’s the feeling that you know what the heck you’re supposed to do with your life, and where you’re heading. A feeling that life isn’t random, and you know what you’re aiming at. A feeling that you have a reason for waking up in the morning.
And there are two main types:
Objective Purpose
Objective purpose means that the overall aims that give our life direction and goal orientation exist outside of us, independent from our desires, personal feelings, and opinions.
I.e. the compass is pre-set, and so it’s unchanging and fixed. It’s the universal purpose of us all, you might say. The purpose that explains bigger concerns about why we exist and what we’re here for as humans.
Mario’s objective purpose was set in stone by the designers of the game: defeat Bowser and rescue Princess Peach to restore peace in the Mushroom Kingdom. It doesn’t really matter what Mario “feels” in this case.
The storyline doesn’t change based on what he wants, but on what he was created for. His purpose for existing is to complete the rescue mission – it’s determined externally.
Subjective Purpose
Subjective purpose means that the overall aims that give our life direction and goal orientation come from within us.
I.e. you create your own compass by deciding what you assign purpose to – based on your personal goals, passions, and values. It’s determined internally, and you get to decide what gives your life direction.
For Mario, subjective purpose may look like trying to collect as many coins as possible along the way, stomping on as many Goombas as he can, collecting the most power-ups, completing each world as fast as possible, or even smashing every block he sees. But it can also be something more intrinsic – like his relationship with his brother Luigi, or his best friend Yoshi.
The point is, subjective purpose is created internally, by the things you regard as purposeful. And since it’s “subjective,” it’s different for everyone. Subjective purposes can be as big as family, relationships and working toward building your career, or as small as enjoying a hobby or doing anything you like doing – your own reasons for getting up in the morning.
Why is Purpose Important?
Because it’s everywhere!
The search for purpose is a universal concern, and in a way, it’s embedded in every single action we take. In one sense, everything we do in life serves some kind of purpose – the only difference is in the depth you go into, and the categories considered.
The reason for this is that humans are purpose-driven beings. Studies have shown that our motivation is connected to purpose.3 As follows, when you can’t find the purpose in doing something, you start to lose motivation. Even in the smallest things, there’s almost always a purpose behind what we do that motivates our actions.
For example:
- You don’t brush your teeth for the sake of brushing your teeth. The action is motivated by the purpose of avoiding cavities, not stinkin up the room, feeling fresh, or something else.
- You don’t scroll through Instagram reels for the sake of scrolling on Instagram reels. The action is motivated by the purpose of avoiding responsibilities (procrastinating), wanting to be entertained, escaping from the real world, relaxing, or other reasons.
- You don’t study for exams for the sake of studying. The action is motivated by the purpose of not failing, gaining self-satisfaction from good grades, avoiding disappointing your parents, or something else.
- Even choosing to do “nothing” is an action in itself, motivated by the purpose of gaining comfort or avoiding difficult tasks.
Purpose is present in every single area of your life, simply existing in different forms and amounts.
It’s easy to assign purpose to smaller activities like brushing your teeth or studying for exams. But what about the bigger question: what’s the purpose of just living? Of staying alive? Of life itself?
That question leads to even deeper ones: Why do we even exist? Why are we here brushing teeth or studying for exams in the first place? What’s the purpose of being human?
What you’ll realize is that our subjective purposes (the meanings we create for ourselves) are inevitably connected to our objective purpose in life (the deeper reason we exist). Everything flows from that.
Without an objective purpose, or a true life goal, our subjective purposes start to lose meaning. But with it, even the smallest actions gain deeper significance.
Take Mario as an example. Suppose Mario didn’t know that his true objective was to rescue Princess Peach. He’d start to make meaning out of whatever felt rewarding in the moment, without any real direction. That closely parallels what happens in our own lives.
He might…
- Run around grabbing as many gold coins as possible – just as humans might work endlessly to make money, thinking wealth is the ultimate objective.
- Try to collect and use as many power-ups as possible – just as humans chase thrills, comfort, and pleasures (like partying, alcohol, or status symbols) to distract themselves with temporary highs.
- Focus on speedrunning through all the levels – just as productivity is glorified today, where people obsess over efficiency and trying to “get ahead.” The funny thing is, do we even understand what we’re racing toward?
Without an objective purpose, we’d all become like headless chickens, running around in pursuit of feeling like life is purposeful.
Even if Mario chose to live chasing subjective purposes, without an objective purpose, his actions would start to lose substance. What’s the point of collecting coins and power-ups, risking his life against enemies, and pushing through dangerous places if there’s no princess to save in the first place?
His objective purpose – saving Princess Peach – is what gives significance to all his actions. Without it, you could argue his actions become meaningless.
In the same way, we as humans might justify our lives chasing subjective purposes like money, status, pleasures, relationships, or hobbies. But without a deep understanding of our objective purpose – what we’re here for in the first place – life becomes a fragile pursuit of temporary reliefs, some lasting longer than others.
Without that deeper sense of purpose, you even start to lose motivation for life itself. Because if there’s no justification for existing, what’s the point of doing anything at all?
So, in short, having a deep sense of purpose – an objective purpose – is crucial in life. It oversees everything you do, has a profound impact on your motivation, and influences many different aspects of your wellbeing.
And so I’m not just talking out of my ass – here’s what the research says about the importance of purpose, for all you science nerds:
Greater purpose in life…
- Was significantly correlated with lower levels of depression and anxiety.4
- Was linked with less stress.5
- Had a moderately strong link to improved physical health.6
- Led to greater ability to cope with chronic illnesses, diseases, and disabilities.7
- Led to less cognitive decline while aging.8
- Reduced all-cause mortality.9
Of course, these studies aren’t the be-all and end-all of research on purpose. But even with a pinch of salt, the science strongly points toward the benefits of having a greater sense of purpose in life.
How to Find Your True Purpose in Life
And… we’ve reached the main purpose this article was written for (pun intended). We’ve seen that purpose exists in different forms and at different levels.
However, we’re not here to find any purpose, but to find your true purpose in life — the goal of life from the moment you were born, and the purpose of living.
The Princess Peach rescue mission, but for us humans. In other words, what we’re looking for is our objective purpose — the reason for which you exist, and your main compass in life.
The harder task is this: how do we actually find this objective purpose of ours? Unlike subjective purpose, which is created by us, objective purpose is something we have to discover.
The good news? Finding it is easier than you think.
How do we know that Mario’s true purpose is to save Peach from Bowser and bring peace to the kingdom? Quite simply — by understanding his origin story and why he “came into existence” in the first place.
And that’s plainly because the developers of the game, Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo, designed him that way.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how many coins Mario collects, how many Goombas he stomps on, or how good the Koopa soup he made tasted. The game only says, “You win!” if he fulfills his true purpose, the way he was designed.
Similarly, finding your own true purpose isn’t about trying harder or running around all over the place. It depends on the origin story of humanity you choose to believe in. To explain our purpose, we must look back to our beginning.
How It All Started – The Origin Story of Humanity
Your true purpose depends on how you choose to believe humans first came to be. Simple as that.
The not-so-simple part is that there are hundreds of different theories about the beginning of human existence — ranging from popular ones like creation (we are intentional creations by an intelligent being) and evolution (we’re here by chance), to more creative ones, like we’re actually computer code in someone’s cosmic video game, or that aliens seeded us here.
Now, before you pick which one to believe in by using the good ol’ eeny-meeny-miny-moe method, going with what you feel like today, or whichever fits your lifestyle best, perhaps it would be wiser to choose based on the evidence that supports each theory.
I use the word evidence intentionally, because no theory can be proven 100% right. If any theory on the origin of humanity could be proven true, the others would have already been disproven.
Can anything in life really be proven?
Finding your true purpose isn’t about searching for proof that a theory is correct (which you’ll never find, unless you die). Instead, it’s about choosing your uncertainty based on the evidence available to us.
For example, Charles Darwin’s studies on the Galápagos Islands in 1835 are considered reliable evidence for the evolution theory, as he conducted them through rigorous scientific methods and empirical observation of finches. This doesn’t prove the evolution theory to be true, but it provides evidence.
Fossils are considered a reliable piece of evidence that supports the evolutionary theory, as it shows that species once lived that weren’t identical to modern species, yet shared similarities with existing organisms. This suggests organisms changed over time and shows transitions between forms. Again, not proof – but evidence.
Homologous structures, such as the vertebrate pentadactyl limb are considered a reliable piece of evidence that supports the evolutionary theory, as it suggests that species evolved from a common ancestor. Not proof – but evidence.
In the same way, the Bible stating that God created humans is considered a reliable piece of evidence because of its rigorous historical and archeological verification. This doesn’t prove creation is true, but it provides evidence.
The Cosmological Argument is considered a reliable piece of evidence of the existence of an intelligent creator. Fine-tuned measurements sustain life – like the earth’s tilt or our distance from the sun.
If any of these were off by even a micron, life as we know it wouldn’t exist. In fact, the probability of everything aligning perfectly at an exact time, let alone the formation of other human complexities such as conciousness and DNA, is estimated at 1 in multiple trillions. Again, not proof — but evidence.
Archeological discoveries are considered a reliable piece of evidence of creation, as findings like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Tel Dan Inscription, and the Moabite Stone support the Bible’s validity. If the Bible has been demonstrated historically reliable in so many ways, then its claims about creation become trustworthy too. Not proof — but evidence.
And… the list goes on for both cases.
The main point i’m trying to make it this: at the end of the day, instead of a battle of proof vs. proof, what we actually have is an unresolved debate of evidence vs. evidence.
But comparing evidence isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Who decides whether knowledge aquired from natural sciences (like Darwin’s finches) is “better” than knowledge from history (like the Bible)?
What even counts as reliable evidence? Where are the boundaries? How do we judge truth?
Another important point to note is that evidence doesn’t only come from scientific journals or historical findings. Evidence can be found everywhere – even in our daily experiences. For example, you don’t need a scientific paper to know you shouldn’t drink milk that expired 3 months ago.
You can simply see it, smell the foul stench, and know it’s bad. In that case, your sense perception itself becomes sufficient “evidence” not to drink the milk.
Before this turns into a full-blown Theory of Knowledge lesson (shoutout if you did the IB), the point is this: everything is uncertain, nothing can be proven, and the key to finding your true purpose is to choose your uncertainty by examining the evidence.
The Implications of Your Choice
I’m not going to turn this article into a long evidence list or a debate of “why X is right and Y is wrong.” You can always look deeper into each case yourself.
But here’s the reality: even though you have free will to believe whatever you want, you can’t choose the implications of your choice.
- If you believe that God created us, then our objective purpose exists only in his intentions for creating us. Mario can’t escape the storyline his developers set for him, and we can’t escape ours either.
- If you believe we’re here by chance, then – well – you don’t have an objective purpose in life. You have no true reason for existing. No princess to save. We’re just a bunch of lucky cells that happened to come to life, and we live simply because we haven’t died. If life is accidental, mankind has no true purpose.
And if that’s the case, the only option left is to rely on your subjective purpose. But as we’ve already seen, subjective purpose is fragile – temporary, relative, and dependent on things like career, relationships, personal goals, or values. Things that can vanish or be damaged at any moment.
The Paradox of Choice
The paradox of choice is that even not choosing an origin story is still a choice. Choosing not to decide is itself a decision — one that leaves you living as though origin doesn’t matter, and that defaults you back to living based only on subjective purposes.
Personally, after rigorously studying the most popular theories of human origin, such as evolution, and weighing up the evidence, I concluded that the “uncertainty” I will choose to live by is the Bible.
If you’re with me on that, then let’s move on to really discovering what your true purpose in life is.
You Didn’t Choose God, God Chose You
The concept of us “choosing” our true purpose is quite ironic, really, because it wasn’t us who chose God — it was God who chose us.10
The Bible tells us that God created us in his image,11 for his glory,12 and for an eternal personal relationship with him.
So, quite simply put, our true objective purpose in life is to have a personal relationship with God, and to glorify him. These two go hand in hand, because you can’t glorify God without first having a relationship with him.
In the beginning, the first two human beings God created, Adam and Eve, were happily living out their true purpose in the Garden of Eden: enjoying an eternal relationship with God.13
But then came the slithery snake – also referred to as Satan – who didn’t want to get banished to hell alone (he was salty). So he tempted Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which she kindly shared with Adam too).14
This introduced something called sin into the world. Sin corrupted our relationship with the holy God and disconnected us from him — our very source of eternal life.
As a result, Adam and Eve were physically kicked out of Eden, death entered the world, and humanity’s destiny became separation from God (hell), which is simply the absence of God — just like darkness is the absence of light.15
From that moment on, humanity was cut off from its true objective purpose in life: living in an eternal relationship with God (cue sad violin music).
The Good News
But the good news is this: God loved us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to restore our true purpose – an eternal relationship with God – by taking away the sins of the world.16
He did this by taking your sin, my sin, and everyone’s sin to the cross, dying to take the punishment we deserved (since God is perfectly just, sin must be punished), and then rising again three days later.17
So just as we were separated from God through Adam, our personal relationship can be restored again – simply and only through Jesus Christ.18
That means your true objective purpose in life is this: to recover and build the lost personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and to glorify God through your life.
What About Subjective Purposes?
Finding your objective purpose doesn’t mean your subjective purposes no longer matter, or that you stop pursuing them. Quite the opposite, actually. It means your subjective purposes now have direction and meaning.
Think of Mario again: what would have been just collecting coins, fighting enemies, and running through dangerous missions now has meaning when he knows the why – saving the Princess.
The same goes for us. What would have been simply chasing after what feels rewarding in the moment now becomes intentional: directing our time and energy toward glorifying God.
Just like Mario’s actions become meaningful in the context of his objective purpose, everything we do, even things like eating and drinking, means something when rooted in our core mission.19
Why You’re Here
Your purpose in life isn’t determined by what you do or don’t do, but by what God has decided to create you for. And you were created for this reason: to be loved. You exist to receive the greatest love from God through a personal relationship with him, and to share that love with others, just as you have received it.20
And so, our objective purpose in life then can be summed up in a single name – Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world so that we could be reconciled with God again, and live in our true purpose.21
True everlasting purpose is freely given and available to everyone, but finding it requires an active choice – choosing which “uncertainty” you’ll believe about why we’re here in the first place.
Footnotes
- McKnight, P. E., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: An integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology, 13(3), 242–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017152 ↩︎
- Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069 ↩︎
- Martela, F., & Steger, M. F. (2016). The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1137623 ↩︎
- Boreham, I. D., & Schutte, N. S. (2023). The relationship between purpose in life and depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79, 2736–2767. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23576 ↩︎
- Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y., Sesker, A. A., & Terracciano, A. (2024). Purpose in life and stress: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 16 samples. Journal of Affective Disorders, 345, 378–385. ↩︎
- Heidrich, S. M. (1993). The relationship between physical health and psychological well-being in elderly women: A developmental perspective. Research in Nursing & Health, 16(2), 123–130. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.4770160207 ; Kim, E. S., Chen, Y., Nakamura, J. S., Ryff, C. D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). Sense of purpose in life and subsequent physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health: An outcome-wide approach. American Journal of Health Promotion, 36(1), 137–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545 ↩︎
- Heidrich, S. M., Forsthoff, C. A., & Ward, S. E. (1994). Psychological adjustment in adults with cancer: The self as mediator. Health Psychology, 13(4), 346–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.13.4.346 ; Peter, C., Müller, R., Post, M. W. M., van Leeuwen, C. M. C., Werner, C. S., Geyh, S., & Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study Group. (2015). Depression in spinal cord injury: Assessing the role of psychological resources. Rehabilitation Psychology, 60(1), 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/rep0000021 ; Yeung, P., & Breheny, M. (2021). Quality of life among older people with a disability: The role of purpose in life and capabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation, 43(2), 181–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2019.1620875 ↩︎
- Wingo, A. P., Wingo, T. S., Fan, W., Bergquist, S., Alonso, A., Marcus, M., Levey, A. I., & Lah, J. J. (2020). Purpose in life is a robust protective factor of reported cognitive decline among late middle-aged adults: The Emory Healthy Aging Study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 263, 310–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.124 ↩︎
- Cohen, R., Bavishi, C., & Rozanski, A. (2016). Purpose in life and its relationship to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: A meta-analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 78(2), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000274 ↩︎
- John 15:16 NIV – “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last (…)” ↩︎
- Genesis 1:27 NIV – “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” ↩︎
- Isaiah 43:7 NIV – “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” ↩︎
- Genesis 2:8 NIV “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” ↩︎
- Genesis 3:6 NIV – “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” ↩︎
- Romans 5:12 NIV – “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” ↩︎
- John 3:16 NIV – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
↩︎ - 1 Peter 2:24 NIV – “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” ↩︎
- Romans 5:18 NIV – “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV – “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
↩︎ - John 13:34 NIV – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” ↩︎
- John 1:29 NIV – “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” ↩︎