Know Your WHY, Find Your Purpose

The Hidden Source of Power and Progress

There is a quiet panic many professionals feel but rarely name. It often sounds like this: Why am I doing this again? It echoes in late-night work sessions, during long commutes, or at the edge of burnout. The symptoms - distraction, disengagement, restlessness - mask an inner erosion. Not of competence, but of purpose.

You may not be lost, but you're drifting. And that is painful.

The modern world trains us to show up, but not to ask Why. A person without a Why is easily manipulated, exhausted, and replaced. Purpose is power. Because the person with a powerful Why can suffer, and still stand. Can fail, and still strive. Can lose everything, and still begin again.

Your Why is the source code of your motivation. When you know it, you’re harder to knock off course. When you forget it, everything becomes a grind. The most effective people (artists, executives, parents, athletes) are powered not just by talent, but by purpose.

Fulfilment: Emotional and Logistical

In commerce, fulfilment means delivering goods efficiently and reliably. Without it, businesses fail. In human life, emotional fulfilment plays a similar role. It delivers meaning. When you align with your Why, you become your own fulfilment center, producing work that matters.

Both forms of fulfilment depend on trust. One with customers. The other, with yourself.

A business can’t feel joy. But a person can. And when you do, effort multiplies. Motivation becomes instinct.

The Paradox of the Why: Do I Choose It, or Does It Choose Me?

Should you wait for purpose or chase it? Either works, as long as you’re paying attention.

Why #1: Because It Feels Good

When asked why he made a movie about breakfast, Jerry Seinfeld said, “Because I felt like it.” This isn’t indulgence. It’s instinct. Pleasure is not the enemy of purpose; it is often the breadcrumb trail toward it

But beware the counterfeit version: not all pleasures are created equal. Some give you a high today and extract a cost tomorrow. That is not fulfilment. That is a loan shark.

Seek deeper pleasures: mastery, contribution, effort before reward. The key is to distinguish short-term indulgence from long-term satisfaction.

If you cannot yet afford a career built on joy, you can still create pockets of it in the stolen hours before or after work. A side pursuit. A creative project. Something that reminds you who you are. Often, that is where purpose first shows itself.

Why #2: Because It Gets Me Recognition

We all want to be seen. That’s not weakness, it’s wiring.

Psychologists have long known that social validation is not a luxury. It’s a survival mechanism. To be recognized by the group meant safety, resources, and belonging. To go unseen was to risk exile. That wiring hasn’t changed. Today, recognition is not about survival in the wild, but about survival in the self. It is the emotional fulfillment signal that says: You matter. Your effort counts. Keep going.

Recognition deepens your bond with your work. But if you wouldn’t keep going without applause, then recognition is your drug, not your purpose.

Why #3: Because I Was Put Here To Do This

Some Whys feel like a calling. They arise not from desire but from alignment between your gifts and the world’s needs.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said: “A calling is the point where your talents meet the needs of the world.”

This kind of purpose demands that you know what you’re good at, and then apply it where it matters most. Honed in discomfort. Clarified by failure. Strengthened by sacrifice.

To find this Why, look backward. What patterns repeat? What moments made you feel alive? What did you do as a child before anyone paid you or praised you?

The Why Matrix

To separate illusion from intention, consider this:

If it feels good now but costs you later - cut.

If it hurts now but builds you later - pursue.

Final Thoughts: When the Why Is Missing

When your Why vanishes, you drift, and chase others’ expectations without a true north. Psychologist Alfred Adler reminds us that actions follow “fictional finalisms,” imagined goals that may trap you if they’re unclear or misguided. To reclaim your Why, first unmask the narratives you’ve inherited: the career you “should” pursue, the success metrics you’ve internalized, the roles adopted to please. Ask which of these fictions genuinely serves growth, mastery, contribution, creativity- and discard those that confine you.

Next, examine your lifestyle. If recurring patterns of habit and thought breed frustration or isolation, it’s a signal to revise your hidden life-goal. Adler places a commitment to others at the heart of purpose. When service anchors your Why, it transcends ego. Start small: mentor a colleague, volunteer a skill, offer help without expectation. Each act realigns your internal compass, showing that even modest contributions matter.

Remember that finding your Why is an ongoing experiment-and-adjust process. Test emerging goals in real situations: if an action fosters connection and growth, lean into it; if it causes detachment, revisit your guiding fiction.

Over time, this cycle sculpts a purpose that is authentic and community-centered. And the question “Why am I doing this?” transforms from being a point of doubt to a path of meaning, one that carries you forward, even in turbulent times.

-E.S.