Day 4 — Purpose

Time: ~85 min · Goal: name what you’re here to contribute.

Purpose sits at the intersection of what you’re good at, what energizes you, and what the world needs from you specifically. The rigorous moves today: you’ll actually compute that intersection instead of jumping to a tidy statement, and you’ll pressure-test your draft against the evidence of your real life so it’s a compass, not a costume.

1. Unfair advantages (15 min)

What can you do, or see, that most people can’t or don’t? Don’t be modest — this is inventory, not bragging.

• Skills (technical and otherwise): __
• Experiences that gave you unusual perspective: __
• Networks or access: __
• Ways of thinking that feel natural to you but aren’t to others: __

2. ◇ Cross-check against outside input (5 min, optional)

If you gathered outside input (Day 0), compare it against the list above. Where someone named a strength you didn’t — take it seriously. A strength so native you’ve stopped seeing it is often exactly where purpose lives.

Strengths others named that I’d missed: __

3. Who and what (20 min)

• Who do you want to be useful to? Be specific — not “people” but a particular kind of person or group. → __
• What problem of theirs do you want to help with? → __
• What would change in their world if you did your work well? → __

4. The contribution question (10 min)

Finish these (multiple times if it helps):

• “The world has enough __. It needs more __.”
• “When I’m gone, I want it to be harder for people to __ because of work I did.”
• “The unique combination I bring is __ + __ + __.”

5. ◆ Compute the intersection (15 min)

Don’t jump to a statement yet. Fill in all three below from your work so far, then write only what lands in the overlap of all three — that overlap is your purpose’s raw ore.

Good at (my step-1 unfair advantages): __

Energizes me (my Day 3 themes): __

The world needs / who I’d serve (from step 3): __

In all three (the intersection):

intersection: ________

6. Draft three purpose statements (15 min)

Three versions — different angles, different lengths. Don’t try to make any one perfect. Build them from the intersection above.

Format: “To [verb] [for/with whom] [so that what].” Examples: “To help the people I love feel genuinely known, so no one close to me carries things alone.” · “To make the backcountry more accessible to people who weren’t raised in it.”

1. To __________
2. To __________
3. To __________

7. The eulogy test (5 min)

Imagine someone who knows you well speaking at your funeral. What would you want them to be able to say honestly about what you spent your life on?

eulogy: ________

Which of your three drafts rings truest against that? → Draft # __ , because __

8. ◆ Disconfirmation on the draft (5 min)

For your truest draft, ask: what would I expect to see in my actual life if this were genuinely my purpose — and do I see it? If the purpose predicts behavior that’s wholly absent from your last five years, it’s a costume, not a compass. Revise toward what the evidence already supports.

Revised purpose statement: __

✓ End of Day 4

A working purpose statement that survives the evidence test. → Next: Day 5 — Synthesis.