Finding your sense of purpose isn’t always straightforward, it often involves trial and error, self-reflection, and even some failures along the way.

But once you figure it out, everything changes. Having a clear purpose is like having an internal compass; it guides you, especially when things get tough.

When you know why you’re doing something, it becomes easier to overcome challenges, stay focused, and ignore distractions that don’t align with what truly matters to you.

Look for signs in your earliest years

Look back at your childhood to find those early signs of what truly fascinated you, things that grabbed your attention in a way nothing else did. What truly fascinated you were things that grabbed your attention in a way nothing else did.

Some people can easily remember such early indications, but for many of us, it requires some digging.

Marie Curie, the famous scientist from the late 1800s and early 1900s, remembered a special moment. When she was four, she walked into her father’s office. She was amazed by the tubes and measuring tools for chemistry experiments behind a shiny glass case.

For Anton Chekhov, it was attending his first play in a theater as a boy in his small town. The whole atmosphere thrilled him.

For Tiger Woods, it was, at the age of two, watching his father hit golf balls into a net in the garage and being unable to contain his excitement and desire to imitate him.

Experiment

You don’t wake up one morning with your passion presented to you like a gift on Christmas morning.

You practice, and you get better, and you improve over time. And in that process, you realize how passionate you are about the thing you’re doing. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be doing it.

It’s about being curious, focusing on developing your skills, and not being afraid to experiment with unique combinations of interests and passions.

The trick is to experiment, take risks, and embrace failure, something most people struggle with because we’re taught to avoid it.

The people who seem like they have it all figured out? They probably failed way more than they let on, but they kept going until something clicked. Especially when you’re young, failure doesn’t carry the same weight. You have fewer obligations, no kids, no mortgage, no big paycheck to lose.

So, try a bunch of things, let go of what doesn’t work, and hold onto the things that do.

And as Captain Barbossa said, “You have to be lost to find a place that can’t be found.