I know why you just googled life purpose examples…
They’re beautiful aren’t they?
You know who I’m talking about.
The one’s on top.
The one’s who are above it all, livin’ “la vita loca” and “doin it the most”.
They’re beautiful, wealthy, strong, knowlegable, renounced, and famous.
…but how?
This guy went from homeless to above the law? How in the world is that possible?!
You know the answer to that question – it’s why you’re here.
You want a piece of that pie in the sky.
Purpose.
But we’re not going to get our sense of purpose from these people.
We’re going straight to the source.
In this post we figure out a general idea of what your purpose in life might look like if you were trying to be the best you possible.
…if you were looking at the badass version of you, devoid of any weakness or lack of confidence – what would that look like?
This is how you live larger than life.
The Purpose of Life
Who knows what the purpose of life is?
Man, that’s such a loaded question, and I have no idea.
I’ve known the sexiest people on earth to say “just indulge, tomorrow is not promised to any of us and you only live once.”
I’ve also spent time with renunciates in the monasteries who say:
“this world is full of pleasure and pain that cannot be avoided.
Even the greatest amount of pleasure is accompanied by great sorrow once it’s lost.
Control your senses, meditate, seek out the self and give up this world of pleasure, pain, accomplishment and indulgence.”
I don’t think there’s a one size fit’s all purpose to life – I believe we’re all here to do, experience, learn from, and accomplish different things.
So maybe that’s the meaning, the answer to what your purpose is in this life – to follow your unique path and do it well.
Can we agree on that?
I think we can also agree that your mission in life should be
That’s the reason “Direction” is one of the 3 main focuses of what we do here.
What will you do, if you don’t know where you’re going first?
Now that we know what your purpose in life is, let’s get more specific and see where you might fit in, and have a unique spot to fill in this world.
Examples of Purpose
Purpose doesn’t need to be complicated, and don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t need one – or that you’re a childish hippie for wanting to find yours.
Ask the best, most highly qualified humans in our society what they think about finding purpose and they’ll tell you this:
- Gary Keller: Clarity of purpose means to be confident, powerfully focused and not waste resources (Real Estate CEO)
- Jack Canfield: If you want to be fulfilled, happy, content, and experience inner peace and ultimate fulfillment, it’s critical that you discover your purpose. (Author of the Chicken Soup books)
- Emerson: It makes you compassionate, honorable – with purpose you live your life and live it well (You know who Ralph Waldo is…)
Examples of purpose:
- To educate the youth on how to become adults in the world they live in
- To care about the Earth’s animal population in a world that prioritizes other things
- To make sure “your people” have what they need to overcome the difficulties they face
- Educating others on the importance of [insert your important thing here]
- Showing others how to reach their fullest potential
“My Purpose” Statement Examples
“My mission on this earth is to inspire and empower people to live their highest vision in a context of love and joy.” – Jack Canfield
“That’s when I realized my purpose on this earth was simply to rid others of concern. That’s all.” – Jim Carrey
“To be an educator. And to leave a legacy of inspiration towards achieving higher goals than initially conceived.” – Oprah Winfrey
Need helping getting clear on your purpose?
These 50 questions were designed to bring your clarity, and eliminate the confusion surrounding your unique purpose in life.
The HUGE list of Life Purposes
- Innocent: to show others, and yourself how to be the happiest they can be, while being themselves. To make others feel accepted in their own skin and create environments where everyone can have fun and get a long.
- Sage: studying the brilliance of the worlds experts and best minds, showing others how to live their lives rightly through the power of knowledge and understanding themselves, others and their environments better
- Explorer: to discover a life that is satisfying and free of boundaries. To free others from thinking the only life to be lived is one of conformity and status quo
- Rebel: freeing yourself from long held traditions that no longer apply. Showing the world the hypocrisy of cherished ways of doing and being and freeing the world (and your life) of corrupt influences
- Magician: known as the visionary – whose purpose is to make impossible dreams happen
- Hero: to tackle the world’s biggest issues by setting montrous goals and diving deep into mayhem and chaos, only to emerge victorious. To live a life where you reach your highest ambitions and show others how to do the same.
- Romantic: to develop a fiery passion for life and everyone and everything in it.
- You only live once: to enjoy each moment, and show others how to laugh at the small things
- Everyman: showing yourself and others what it means to live with solid virtues and live by them.
- Caregiver: to take care of others needs, possibly those who have no one else to care for them
- Ruler: rise to the top of power structures in order to reach your goals, create successful and powerful groups centered around you as the central leader (businesses, families etc..)
- Creator: moving the world forward by imagining what humanity and individuals can be, and then creating those wonderful visions
- Analyst: leading my life and the world through well thought out ideas and well laid plans
- Diplomat: to inspire kindness, creativity, and generosity wherever I go
- Sentinel: to serve the greater good with my skills, and apply myself wherever I can make the most impact
- Explorers: to create a wonderful life and wonderful things while always staying in the moment and discovering “what is” right now
Life Purpose List: 12 Archetypes
Carl Jung’s work on the archetypes of mankind describe to us the stories we live out based on the inner workings of our unconscious minds.
To describe why certain “larger than life” characters in fiction and throughout history behave and accomplish what they do, Jung called upon certain categories that he called “archetypes” – which are essentially one sided personalities that exist in the unconscious minds of all human beings one way or another.
What do they have to do with your life’s purpose?
When you’re asking yourself “What is the meaning of my life” it’s good to start simple and generic, and more specific later on.
Let’s begin with an explanation of the archetypes and what a person who embodies that archetype might do if they felt they had a grand purpose in life to be living out!
Innocent:
The Innocent is essentially an idealist who approaches life with faith, optimism, and world view that as long as you maintain a state of purity, everything works out in the end.
Because of that, they seek to always do the right thing, while staying optimistic, honest and reliable.
Innocents desire to be accepted, and want to live a life where everything is direct, dependable honest and true – that includes their friends, colleagues, profession, environment, as well as the ideals they pursue.
Purpose Example Sentence: To show others how to believe in themselves and how to keep their faith in trying situations.
Sage:
The Sage lives by the belief that knowledge is power and endeavours to reach that power by using their intelligence and critical thinking skills to understand the world.
Sages want the truth, or rather, they want the enduring truth that outlasts all other truths, which is called wisdom.
That talents these people have to offer the world are wisdom and intelligence.
Purpose Example Sentence: to mentor the worlds youth on how to thrive in their early adult lives.
Explorer:
Explorers are people who want to experience the world they live in in its entirety to form a well rounded experience of novelty and authenticity.
Ultimately explorers are about freedom and richness of experience.
Purpose Example Sentence: to expose the hypocrisy of the world’s institutions and create a more authentic environment for humans to thrive in.
Outlaw:
The perfect example of the outlaw is the Joker, or V from V for Vendetta – a person who upsets the status quo, refuses to conform, and wants to destroy what no longer is “acceptable” in society.
The Rebel, or outlaw, wants to get rid of the corruption in society, or simply to go against the norm just to be contrarian.
They are disruptors who use shock and awe as their main weapons.
Purpose Example Sentence: to make others laugh by expounding unorthodox opinions and personalities and viewpoints (think how some comedians are).
Magician:
Abra Cadabra – It comes into existence through my speech.
Not that magicians are really casting magic spells or anything like that, but they do have a magical way of taking the impossible vision they possess and turning it into reality.
Disney could be said to embody the archetype of the magician, and sometimes Mickey Mouse is literally portrayed as a conjurer of sorts.
Disney is a company that focuses on “making dreams happen” or turning the realm of fantasy into the realm that is reality.
Similarly, the individual magician is going to have a grand vision for their life, and not place any limitations on it. They’ll be super into the law of attraction, quantum physics, and truly believing in using those tools to change their reality such that the impossible is in clear view.
Purpose Example Sentence: to coach others on how to achieve their most impossible dreams in life.
Hero:
A hero is someone who wishes to conquer life through rock solid achievement and mastery of skills. They tread where others fear to venture (even mentally) and are turned on by the idea of being strong, courageous, and are truly the protagonist of their own drama / adventure filled movie.
Hero’s are good at figuring out how to get the results they want, usually through never giving up, courage, or their own natural competence.
Purpose Example Sentence: To understand myself on a deep level, achieve my fullest potential in life and show others how to do the same.
* The Hero often has a mentor, or a group of teachers in the form of other Hero’s or Sages.
Lover:
Romantics have a very sensual and love-like relationship with everything in their life – not just a partnership.
They also take an intimate approach to their profession, environment, community, and hobbies.
They have a skill for gratitude and commitment that seems second nature to others and because of this they attract an abundance of love into their lives.
Purpose Example Sentence: to show couples how they can keep the romance alive through the entirety of their relationship. This person might create a non-profit called “Together until your Golden years and beyond” or something like that.
Jester:
Jester’s just want the entire world to lighten up a little bit. Rather than being serious about everything, they’re main goal in life is to play, have a good time, and be exciting for those around them.
They have a knack for fun and creating joyous times.
Purpose Example Sentence: showing fortune 500 CEOs that they can get the results they want for their companies, while still having fun and not having a full head of gray hair at 45 years old.
…or anything that relates to showing others how to have more fun in life.
Everyman:
The Everyman is the guy or girl next door. They’re about community, equality, and enjoy looking out for others and making them feel a part of the gang.
Purpose Example Sentence: helping children who are labeled “outcasts” (or are otherwise unpopular) feel like they belong by creating after school programs specifically for them.
…or anything else that takes people who might be socially awkward and includes them somehow.
Caregiver:
Caregivers spend their time protecting and caring for those who need care.
Simple as that.
They’re different from the Everyman in that the Everyman wants people to feel included, where as caregivers spend more time targeting those in actual danger, whether that’s not having basic necessities are being invalidated somehow.
Purpose Example Sentence: to make sure those in need have the basic necessities of life, and are kept safe.
This could manifest any number of ways – maybe traveling with the Peace Corps, or taking on huge companies that trample over the third world in order to make more money.
It can also take the form of giving care to animals, like being a veterinarian.
Ruler:
Domination and control are the main weapons of the Ruler, but not necessarily in a bad way.
It is true that the Ruler Archetype can manifest as the black hat personality, but Rulers like to control things in general because they have more trust in themselves than anyone else.
They like to have their finger on the button, call the shots, and have the final say because they think and feel they are best suited to be doing so.
On their best day, the Ruler will make sure they’re a qualified leader, like King Arthur, but the shadow of the Ruler is more like Ghengis Kahn.
Purpose Example Sentence: to create a huge empire (of anything, business family etc…) around which the world revolves and respects in a significant way.
Jeff Bezos might have a bit of ruler in him, because Amazon started with books, currently is the world’s go to shopping hub, and is now even in the market to take over video games.
He also has his hands in space exploration and A.I.
That’s a ruler for you. 🙂
Just to be clear, ruler’s are not always shadowy figures who want to dominate the population and have us mine their gold! Haha!
Sometimes rulers prioritize control, just so others cannot boss them around.
“I must rule, but not to rule others – only so that nobody can rule me.”
Creator:
Creators are also called artists, and they’re similar to magicians, but different in their approach.
Where the magician is interested in taking a metaphysical, or mystical approach to making their dreams come true, Creators take on a less fantastic approach.
A creator wants to analyze the world, see what it wants, make a master plan, and take powerful action steps to see it through.
Regardless of your personal opinions of him, when Donald Trump says “I’m a builder, I build wonderful things.” – that’s the creator talking.
Creators have a vision for something amazing or practical and see it through in the grandest of ways.
Purpose Example Sentence: to establish a system that provides clean drinking water to every corner of the world.
…or to build underwater maglev trains that connect the entire planet in a matter of minutes.
- Connecting the world might be more the purpose statement
- Building maglev trains might be more of the mission statement or the how that follows the why.
The 12 Jungian archetypes can also be grouped into four categories based on how they see and interact with the world.
- Stability and control
- Learning and freedom
- Belonging
- Risk and achievement
Stability and control: Caregiver, Ruler, Creator
Learning and freedom: Innocent, Sage Explorer
Belonging: Everyman, Jester, Lover
Risk and achievement: Hero, Rebel, Magician
Life’s Purpose Examples Sentences
- to establish a system that provides clean drinking water to every corner of the world…or to build underwater maglev trains that connect the entire planet in a matter of minutes.
- “My mission on this earth is to inspire and empower people to live their highest vision in a context of love and joy.” – Jack Canfield
- “That’s when I realized my purpose on this earth was simply to rid others of concern. That’s all.” – Jim Carrey
- “To be an educator. And to leave a legacy of inspiration towards achieving higher goals than initially conceived.” – Oprah Winfrey
- to show others, and yourself how to be the happiest they can be, while being themselves. To make others feel accepted in their own skin and create environments where everyone can have fun and get a long.
- studying the brilliance of the worlds experts and best minds, showing others how to live their lives rightly through the power of knowledge and understanding themselves, others and their environments better
- to discover a life that is satisfying and free of boundaries. To free others from thinking the only life to be lived is one of conformity and status quo
- freeing yourself from long held traditions that no longer apply. Showing the world the hypocrisy of cherished ways of doing and being and freeing the world (and your life) of corrupt influences
- known as the visionary – whose purpose is to make impossible dreams happen
Conclusion
I hope these life purpose examples inspired you in some way!
The purpose of this post was not to make you feel pigeonholed into one of these categories. In fact, both MBTI and the 12 archetypes have been proven to NOT be good indicators of the personality types of humans.
It’s very likely that you’ll go take these personality tests and get different results if you take them more than once (as I have).
The point here is simply to illustrate archetypes (literally just that) or the kinds of people who are larger than life and have a serious effect on the world.
- What are the kinds of ways humans affect the world
- What relationships do we have with our environment
- How do we think and feel about ourselves?
But honestly, this is only a starting point, and if you are serious about finding a sense of purpose in your life, you’ll need to do some soul searching.
I honestly know of no other way to find your purpose in life.
It’s a process, and the first part of the process is getting to know yourself in ways most people don’t even know exist.
This is why I have these 50 questions for Finding Passion and Purpose in Life for you to go over.
You can get them free below if clarity about your path in life is something your pining for.
Finding your niche in life is important…
That’s why I wento to a professional and got permission to share this exercise with you. It’s created by Kain Ramsey – these questions are the key to going from generic to specifc clarity about your unique destiny in life!
