What is My Purpose

The week I got fired from a job I loved, I kept opening my laptop and staring at a blank screen.

I didn’t know what to update. I wasn’t sure who I was updating it for. My job title had been the answer to so many questions, including, it turned out, the question of who I was.

That’s the thing nobody warns you about: career disappointment. The professional loss is real. But the identity loss is the one that knocks you sideways.

And somewhere in that fog, a question surfaces. Usually in the middle of the night. Usually, when you’re too tired to push it away.

What is my purpose?

Here’s what I’ve learned — both from living through it and from walking dozens of clients through the same fire: that question isn’t a crisis. It’s an invitation. And career disappointment, as brutal as it is, might be the most direct route to your answer.

Why Career Disappointment Hits So Deep

Most of us have been quietly, unconsciously answering the purpose question with our job title for years.

I’m a producer. I’m an analyst. I’m a director of marketing.

When work is going well, that answer feels sufficient. But it was never really the answer. Your job is not your purpose — it’s a manifestation of it. And when the job disappears, what’s left is the real question you should have been sitting with all along.

That’s not a failure. That’s a reckoning. And reckonings, handled right, can change everything.

The Three Questions That Find Your Purpose