How to Find Your Purpose: A Letter to My Younger Self

Dear younger me (and maybe you, too). As I approach another birthday, I’ve been thinking about a simple question:

“What’s my purpose. Do I have more ahead of me… or behind me?

And that question has a way of pulling everything into focus.

Because for the last few years, i’ve chased purpose like it was something i’d eventually find.
A moment. A breakthrough. A clear answer.

It’s not.

Purpose isn’t found.
It’s felt.

A Journey to Understanding Purpose

External Success vs Internal Disconnection:

From the outside, things looked good.

A career in Film. TV. Music.
Awards. Progress. Momentum.

But no one tells you what happens next.

You reach the top of your proverbial mountain…
and quietly ask yourself:

“Now what?”

That question is more important than any achievement.

Because it forces you to slow down and ask something deeper:

What is my purpose in life?

So you go searching for answers

Personal development.
Manifesting.
Coaching.

Gurus.

Trying to figure it all out.

But eventually, I realised something:

You can read every self-help book in the world on how to find your purpose…
But eventually, the book stops with you.

How to Find Your Purpose

Here’s what I know now.

Purpose Can and Should Change. Purpose isn’t a single moment.
It’s not a title.
It’s not a destination.

Some days, your purpose is simple:
Get through the day.
Show up.
Keep going.

But if you pay attention, patterns start to form.

Clues. Signals. Breadcrumbs.

And they all point back to the same place:

You.

This is where most people get it wrong

They look outward.

But purpose is built from the inside out.

It starts with something most people avoid:

Liking who you are.
Then learning to love who you are.

And yes—say it out loud—it feels uncomfortable.

But let’s be honest:

If you don’t believe in yourself…
why should anyone else?

If you don’t trust yourself…
why would your audience?

It’s the oxygen mask rule.

You go first.

The Butterfly Effect of Purpose

Those small moments matter more than you think.

A smile can lift someone’s day.
A conversation can shift someone’s direction.
A single act of courage can change a life.

You may never see the impact.

But it’s there.

That’s the butterfly effect of purpose.

The butterfly effect is:
a chaos theory concept where minute, initial changes in a complex system—like a butterfly flapping its wings—can cause massive, unpredictable consequences elsewhere, such as a tornado.

Coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz, it highlights extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, meaning long-term prediction in such systems is impossible.

A Shift in How to Find Your Purpose

Then the shift in finding purpose happens.

Not all at once. No big moment. No fireworks.

Just a quiet, steady voice that gets harder to ignore:

There’s more to life than this.

Not more success.

More meaning.
More truth.
More alignment.

And more JOY!

I found myself attending Penny Lane church in Liverpool. I remember Alex the Vicar said something that stayed with me:

“Build your brand on hope.“

And it made sense.

Because people aren’t just buying what you do.

They’re searching for something deeper:

• clarity
• belief
• direction
• hope that things can change

Healing Ceremony and Searching For Answers

At one point, I went deeper into that search for purpose than ever before.

I attended a mushroom healing ceremony, looking for answers outside of myself.

But what stayed with me wasn’t the experience itself — it was something the practitioner said:

“Once you truly connect with yourself, you’ll never need to buy a self-help book again.”

Because it pointed to something I’d been avoiding for a long time:

The answers weren’t out there.
They were already within me.

That’s when I started to understand purpose differently.

Purpose isn’t a destination. It’s something you build from the inside out.

It starts with one thing most people avoid:

Self-belief.

Because if you don’t believe in yourself…
why should anyone else?

Why purpose matters in business

This is where purpose connects to branding.

Most people don’t struggle because they lack effort.

They struggle because they lack clarity.

They don’t know how to express:

• what they do
• what they stand for
• why it matters

And when that’s unclear…

Everything feels harder than it should.

Building from the inside out

Here’s the part most people don’t say out loud:

Finding your purpose starts with building from the inside out.

It starts with self-awareness.
It starts with self-respect.
And yes—self-belief.

If you don’t believe in yourself…

how can anyone else be expected to?

It’s like putting your oxygen mask on first.

You have to take care of yourself before you can give anything to others.

You have to know:

• your values
• your direction
• what matters to you

Because nobody else can define that for you.

You can learn from others. But the responsibility sits with you.

Final thoughts on How to find your purpose

When I stopped chasing what didn’t align, things started to shift.

Not in a dramatic way.

In a grounded way.

I became clearer.
Calmer.
More certain.

And that changed how I show up.

So if something feels off right now…

If you look successful on the outside
but feel disconnected on the inside…

If you keep asking yourself:

“Is this really it?”

Listen carefully:

That’s not failure.

That’s a signal.

A nudge that there’s more for you—
not out there… but within you.

There is a version of you that is calm, clear, and grounded.

You don’t need more noise. You need truth.

You need alignment. You need to come home to yourself.

And when you do—

Everything changes.

If this hit something in you, and you’re ready to find your purpose and build a brand that actually reflects who you are…

Let’s talk.

Further reading:

What Is Ikigai? How to Use It to Brand Your Business

Branding with Purpose: The Story Behind BrandPal