What Is Purpose? A First-Principles Look
4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in February, ostensibly leaving workplaces in search of better, more fulfilling work. The Great Resignation, arguably, represents a greater shift in professional values towards purpose over occupation. This is good for society at large. But what is purpose, exactly?
Two Kinds of Purpose
There is small purpose and Big Purpose. Small purpose is mental framing and can be introduced into any task to make it meaningful. For instance, washing dishes can be framed as a meditation. Big Purpose, on the other hand, is fit with your imprint and is something you discover by sifting through experiences.
Regardless of the type, purpose registers within your body as resonance. Doing dishes and learning to code can both feel resonant, but the degrees differ. If you try an activity and feel like you want to pursue it obsessively, regardless of how long it takes to master it, you — like Jiro Ono — may have stumbled into Big Purpose.
Resonance is a whale, singing beautiful songs in your subconscious, forever looking to breach the surface.
In an ideal world, you would find resonance in an activity, become immersed in it, turn it into an occupation and earn an income from it. This is not always the case. We choose an occupation for myriad reasons, from making rent to making our parents happy. That does not mean you cannot find it later in life. Resonance is a whale, singing beautiful songs in your subconscious, forever looking to breach the surface.
Purpose = Your Imprint
Once you become aware of it, you will notice that every activity you undertake registers in your body as resonance or dissonance. Sift through your resonant experiences and you will find that they are connected by an underlying theme — an imprint. Think of your imprint as an internal tuning fork that resonates when you are engaged in an activity that is a fit with your specific physical, mental, emotional, and nervous system. You get pulled in, fully absorbed, and unaware of time.
Think of your imprint as an internal tuning fork that resonates when you are engaged in activity that is a fit your particular physical, mental, emotional and nervous system.
This has nothing to do with your competence in the task at hand. It is a preview of whether you will enjoy the activity once you get to competence. If you’ve ever felt “switched on” doing an activity, you’ve touched your imprint. I’ve felt this after taking a single lesson in drumming, sailing, and woodworking. When you do, stop and ask: what aspect of this activity is pulling me in? Conversely, as you engage in activities that are mismatched, you may feel active dissonance and a loss of energy. When that happens, ask: what aspect of this activity do I dislike?
Over time, I have discovered that my imprint has four engines that make me go: making, precision, complexity and aesthetics
These aspects are elements of your imprint and naming them is key. Over time, I have discovered that my imprint has four elements — engines really — that make me go: making, precision, complexity and aesthetics. Making makes me feel useful, precision engages my mind deeply, aesthetics gives me joy and complexity gives me headroom to learn . This combination will literally, switch me on.
Joining Dots Looking Backwards
Knowing your imprint has diagnostic value. It helps explain why you’re struggling, whether you should be doing something else, and if so, what. Here is how I arrived at my imprint, with the dots joined looking back. While there are people for whom awareness of their imprint arrives like a bolt of lightning, my experience has been more like walking through a maze of experiences, emerging slowly.
My first endeavor within SAP was as a developer for enterprise products. It had making, precision, and complexity. I loved it! As I become more competent and gained an overview, however, I became dissatisfied. I wanted things to work well and look good but I couldn’t express myself in these ways.
This led me to my second endeavor as a design-thinking facilitator. Looking for a way to design better software experiences I stumbled into the design-thinking process. Unexpectedly, it blew up into a career unto itself. I became skilled enough to re-design the design process; twice. However, even after hundreds of successful workshops inside and outside SAP, I felt the persistent urge to shape something beautiful. Workshops had precision and complexity and some form of making but no aesthetics to speak of. I channeled my desire of aesthetics into creating high-quality decks and handouts for my workshops, but it didn’t feel like enough.
My third and current endeavor is designing learning experiences at the SAP Academy for Engineering. Building off my skills in facilitation and helping educators redesign their curriculum, I create state-of-the-art learning experiences for our engineers and managers that are transforming their lives. We partner with some of the best faculty in the world and design experiences that focus on building muscle memory. It has precision, complexity, and even making (of a kind), and results in experiences with powerful, transformative flows. Once competence arrived though, I could feel the familiar tug of aesthetics. It became clear to me then, that my instincts are that of a craftsperson and for me to be happy, I would need to be able to see the results of my work.
My last endeavor, as the lead designer for the Coldplay Music Of The Spheres world tour app has all four attributes. There was craftsmanship, precision, complexity, and finally — aesthetics. I could spend hours trying to get one effect right. I finally felt happy and it showed. The gorgeous app — SAP’s first-ever consumer app has one very happy customer. It is showcased before every Coldplay show and has even found its way into SAP’s 50th Anniversary showreel.
With my imprint in plain sight, it’s clear to me that even as I create more learning experiences, crafting new and immersive experiences will be key to me feeling full-filled. The 3-D and AR experiences we created within the app stood out as strong resonances. One possible direction is at the intersection of education and immersion — especially for programs that focus on building muscle memory through situational practice. As before, this is a preview of what will feel good once competence arrives but it gives me a direction to orient myself towards and begin my journey of learning.
Purpose then, is resonance with your imprint. Awareness of your imprint may arrive slowly or all at once, but it is always present just beneath the surface, talking to you with every activity to do. You can increase the odds of surfacing it by pursuing activities that pull you in. When you do — stop and reflect — what aspect of this activity is pulling you in? Name it, claim it and find your way back home.
