About once a week I meet someone who is looking for advice on what to do next. This ranges from recent college graduates (and even the occasional high school graduate) to experienced entrepreneurs thinking about their next startup. Often people come with relatively tactical questions, like how to best get a job at a startup or how to transition into a new field. I used to engage on just that level but now I start by asking people about their purpose.
“What is your purpose?” tends to throw off most people. Pretty much nobody seems to have thought about it. And I have to admit neither had I until relatively recently. Through my interest in basic income I have started to read a lot of books that deal with the question of how to live a good life, including How Much is Enough, The Right to be Lazy and A Guide to the Good Life. One of the key takeaways is the role of having a purpose in life. I am now convinced that you can’t live a good life without having a purpose.
Too often we confuse having a job (or a startup for that matter) with having a purpose. When people object to basic income by saying “but people need a job” what they really should be saying is “people need a purpose.” Helping people find a purpose has to be a key component of any basic income implementation. The range of possible purposes is very broad and of course one’s purpose doesn’t have to stay static over time. One way to think about it is like having a vision statement for oneself.
So what is my purpose? Right now it is contributing to a society based on and revolving around knowledge. I feel incredibly fortunate that my work lines up well with my purpose – many of the companies that we invest in at USV do exactly that. I realize that’s a rare privilege. And it is one of the reasons I support basic income: it will hopefully put many more people in a similar position.
I sometimes feel bad now even asking the question about purpose because it seems to stump people so much. It feels borderline obnoxious because they have come just to get advice. Still, I have become convinced, that this is the single most useful question to ask anyone who is taking time out to think about what to do next. And since it is summer and many people might have a bit of extra time to think I suggest asking yourself this very tough question. What’s your purpose?
