Understanding our purpose is a challenging, and maybe impossible, task.

I recently revisited an intriguing exchange in a interview Mike Posner had on The School of Greatness podcast, that I think helps to shed some light on the topic.

When asked about his personal purpose, Mike Posner starts with the answer you’d expect from a famous artist:

I think to share my gifts. I think I do have a gift.

I don’t think it’s just natural, I think it’s a gift now because I’ve just (done) it a lot, but I definitely think I’m the best that I’ve ever been at music right now.

So I think to share that…

But then he catches himself, and shares a more authentic answer:

You know, the honest answer, more than that…as I was saying that it didn’t feel totally authentic to me…I think is to find peace in myself and be that when I’m with people. When I’m with you, or doing an interview with you, or whoever I’m with. It’s to find my own happiness, my own peace, and then to share that.

This exchange is telling.

The initial answer is exactly the answer a musician “should” give. It’s also aligned with what each of us probably feels intuitively.

We think that our purpose needs to be the pursuit, mastery, and exploit of some skill.

But maybe it’s simpler than that. Maybe the point is just to find peace in our own lives and to bring that infectious peace with us to our everyday interactions.

Honestly, who knows. Maybe it’s some combination, or something completely different. Or maybe we’re asking the wrong question in the first place.

But regardless, there’s something interesting to take away from Mike Posner’s thought process here.

-Brandon