What it means to be in touch with your career purpose

In this article, you’ll learn eight ways to understand whether you’re in touch with your purpose — and how purpose shows up in your work, wellbeing, and daily decisions.

Purpose is a word we hear often, but it’s rarely defined in a way that feels personal.

For many women on the edge of a career pivot — or noticing the early signs that something within them is shifting — reconnecting with purpose becomes a stabilizing force. It brings clarity to what matters, what energizes you, and what you’re ready to release.

And while purpose helps you find a meaningful career path, it’s also beneficial for your health. Research from the Blue Zones (regions of the world where people live the longest and healthiest lives) found that having a sense of purpose is linked to a 15% increase in longevity.

Purpose is also what makes you human. And in today’s world of AI and automation, being human is what helps you stand out, not blend in or be replaced.

It’s a cornerstone of a meaningful, resilient, and energized life.

It shows up in the quiet, honest ways you relate to your work and life each day: the choices you make, what you say yes or no to, and the way you carry your truth forward.

And if it feels daunting to begin exploring your purposeful path, the beautiful thing is that you’re closer to this knowledge than you might believe. As Lao Tzu wrote:

“At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”

Below are eight grounded ways to understand what it really means to be “in touch” with your purpose.

Defining What Being in Purpose Is All About

1. A Deep Knowing of Who You Are (Even If You Can’t Name It Yet)

One of the most reliable ways to get closer to your purpose is to begin with what Socrates encouraged: know thyself.

Self-realization — understanding your culture, worldview, gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity, spiritual beliefs, and the broader mosaic of identity that shapes you — is the foundation.

Who you are influences how you think, create, relate, learn, feel, and move through the world.

When you take intentional steps to understand these layers, your purposeful path becomes clearer. You stop searching for an external answer and begin recognizing the truth that was already there.

From this place, most people start to notice their purpose unfolding before they can logically explain it. It often emerges as an inner pull or a quiet sense that certain work feels more meaningful, more natural, or more energizing.

This kind of knowing isn’t loud or dramatic. It shows up as relief, resonance, or a gentle recognition.

Being in touch with your purpose means trusting that this inner signal matters, even before you have all the words for it.

2. Living in Alignment With Your Loves, Gifts, Talents, and Values

Being in touch with your purpose begins with clarity about what makes you… you.

This includes the work you’re naturally good at, the skills you’ve developed over time, the values you refuse to compromise on, and the environments where you genuinely thrive.

When your career aligns with these, you experience a sense of internal coherence because your actions match your inner landscape.

It’s about choosing work that doesn’t require you to leave parts of yourself at the door.

It means knowing yourself, expressing yourself, and leveraging your uniqueness. And choosing to take action based on this knowing.

3. Releasing Shame, Judgment, or Guilt for Being Yourself

Once you know yourself and begin expressing who you are through action, purpose also requires releasing the shame, judgment, or guilt that can accompany authenticity.

Purpose becomes more accessible the moment you stop contorting yourself to fit expectations that drain you. Many people feel disconnected from purpose because they’re busy performing competence, toughness, perfection, agreeableness, or “not wanting too much.”

Letting go of these protective layers creates space for authenticity.

And when you’re not hiding, you can actually hear what your life is trying to tell you.

Purpose and self-acceptance are deeply intertwined.

4. Evolving Into Your Higher Self

Purpose is not fixed.

It moves and evolves as you do.

Being “in touch” with it means allowing yourself to grow out of old identities, outdated career narratives, or versions of success that once made sense but no longer fit.

It means honoring the call to become more honest — about what you’re capable of, what you want, and what no longer works.

Your purpose expands as you do.

Tapping into your highest self can offer intuitive guidance around what you feel called to do, serve, and create in this world.

5. Contributing to Your Community in a Positive, Uplifting Way

Purpose always has a relational element.

It’s not only about what fulfills you personally, but it’s also about how your work affects the world around you.

It’s the impact you choose to make, the problems you feel called to address, and the ways you hope to contribute to the well-being of others.

For many people, purpose is tied to a challenge they’ve lived through themselves.

An old wound becomes insight.

A past struggle becomes guidance.

You use what you’ve learned to ease the path for someone else.

Sometimes this looks like solving a practical problem, making someone’s day easier, or lifting up your family, your neighborhood, or your community.

And you don’t need to “change the entire world” to live purposefully. Purpose often begins small, like with simple acts of service or the way you offer your strengths where they’re needed.

Over time, these small expressions can grow as your confidence and capacity grow.

Purpose becomes clearer when you notice where you naturally feel compelled to help — the places where your strengths, compassion, and experience create even a small shift in someone’s life.

6. Trusting That Prosperity Follows When Your Work Is Aligned

Many people hesitate to align with their purpose because it feels vulnerable and because there’s a persistent fear that meaningful work isn’t financially sustainable.

But have you considered that the opposite may be true?

When your work aligns with your inner truth, your effort becomes more natural and sustainable. You have more energy. You recover faster from setbacks. Your decisions are cleaner and more grounded.

You’re able to stay focused on the bigger picture rather than getting lost in stress or self-doubt.

By contrast, when your work doesn’t match your strengths, interests, or deeper values, it drains you. It may feel familiar or “safe,” but it can create a quiet sense of dissatisfaction, which becomes a kind of “soul hunger” that’s hard to ignore.

Purpose doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, but it does create steadiness.

It supports practical outcomes because it supports you.

And over time, that steadiness is rewarded.

7. Recognizing That Challenges Don’t Mean You’re Off Track

Living in alignment with your purpose doesn’t mean your life, career, or business will be free of obstacles.

What changes is your relationship to those obstacles.

The challenges feel worth navigating.

When you’re rooted in purpose, you’re more able to face uncertainty without spiralling into fear or self-doubt.

Hard moments become information rather than warning signs.

Instead of assuming you’ve made a mistake, you see difficulties as part of the process. Something to learn from, not something to run from.

Challenges create space to pause and reassess:

• Am I still aligned with what feels meaningful?

• Is my work contributing something of value?

• Is the value you create in the world supporting you to receive value?

Purpose gives you a backdrop to notice what needs to be adjusted, refined, or released. It can also give you momentum to keep going when the work feels hard. You have a “why” that carries you through.

You’re not bypassing discomfort. You’re moving through it with clarity, intention, and a deeper sense of direction, which is a sign you’re working toward purpose alignment.

8. Embracing Purpose as a Journey, Not a Destination

You don’t “arrive” at purpose; you build a relationship with it.

Purpose deepens as you gain experience, heal old patterns, take risks, and allow yourself to grow into fuller expressions of who you are. It’s something you cultivate, not a single achievement you “unlock.”

You are the hero of your own story, and every experience adds another layer to your understanding. Purpose becomes part of your life’s path, like a thread that ties together your choices, your growth, and the legacy you’re creating.

Your collection of experiences offers an opportunity to write new chapters in your book of life, that evolve just like the main character in a novel.

When you see purpose this way, you give yourself permission to experiment, follow what feels alive, and stay in the flow of your unfolding. Instead of chasing a perfect answer, you let your purpose reveal itself gradually.

There’s peace in that, and often, a quiet excitement to allow who you’re becoming to unfold in the timing it needs to.

So… What Does Purpose Mean to You?

These are some ways developing your purpose can support you, and how you’ll know you’ve found signs of alignment.

But your definition will be personal.

It will evolve.

And it will reveal itself most clearly when you slow down enough to listen.

If you’re feeling the early signs of a pivot or craving more alignment in your work, this is a powerful moment to ask yourself:

What part of me is ready to uncover what I’m meant to do in this lifetime?

And if you’d like support navigating this, I invite you to grab a copy of my Career Alignment Starter guide, a free resource to help you uncover what’s in alignment and what may need to shift to experience more purpose-driven work.