Once you’ve secured your foundation, gained freedom, learned to enjoy life, and built meaningful relationships, a deeper question begins to emerge:
“What am I here to contribute?”
This is Level 5: Purpose.
What This Level Means
Purpose is the bridge between success and significance. It’s where we shift from building a life for ourselves to building a life that benefits others.
At this stage, satisfaction is less about accumulation and more about alignment — using your gifts, experiences, and time to create something that lasts beyond you.
As From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks describes, the key to lasting satisfaction lies in this transition — from achievement to wisdom, from ambition to service. Brooks calls this the “second success curve,” where our focus moves from proving ourselves to lifting others.
Purpose doesn’t always come from a single calling or title. It’s the thread that ties your skills, relationships, and passions into something meaningful.
Why It Matters
Many people climb the ladder of success only to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall. Purpose keeps your effort aligned with your values. It transforms hard work into contribution — something that fuels rather than drains you.
In Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End, David Gibson reminds us that when we view life through the lens of its finiteness, we gain perspective on what truly matters — faith, family, integrity, and impact. Seeing the end brings clarity to how we live now.
Purpose also protects against burnout. When meaning drives your effort, exhaustion becomes perseverance, not emptiness.
The Key Forms of Wealth at This Level
- Intellectual Wealth: Mastery and expertise that create value.
- Social Wealth: Reputation and relationships that amplify your reach.
- Time Wealth: The ability to pause, reflect, and focus on what matters most.
- Financial Wealth: Stability that lets you choose purpose over short-term gain.
As Brooks and Gibson both note, fulfillment doesn’t come from accumulation — it comes from alignment between your talents, your time, and your higher purpose.
Practical Steps to Find and Live Your Purpose
- Live life backward. Imagine the values you want to be remembered for, then design your choices around them.
- Redefine identity. Who you are is not your title — it’s your contribution.
- Serve incrementally. Mentor someone, volunteer, or share knowledge; small acts reveal big purposes.
- Build a portfolio of purpose. Let your day job, side projects, and community work each play a role in your impact.
I often tell people to measure their giving in four currencies: time, talent, treasure, and experience. If you can give all four to one cause — that’s fulfillment at its highest level.
I’ve found more purpose in mentoring and supporting people than in any financial milestone. Watching others grow from your investment — that’s real wealth.
Common Tensions
- Purpose vs. paycheck. Sometimes you must secure the early levels before pivoting toward purpose.
- Rigid identity. Your purpose will evolve — allow it to grow with you.
As From Strength to Strength teaches, the second half of your success story begins when you trade status for service.
Quick Exercise
Write a short, 100-word eulogy describing how you’d like to have contributed to others. Then ask yourself: What one small thing can I do this month to move closer to that?
It could be mentoring a colleague, supporting a local nonprofit, or simply showing up for someone who needs you.
Closing Thought
Purpose is where satisfaction stops being about you and starts being about what you leave behind. It’s not a single destination — it’s a daily decision to live intentionally, serve generously, and lead with meaning.
In the next article, we’ll climb to the summit — Level 6: Flourishing and Legacy, where mastery, mentorship, and faith come together to shape the mark you leave on the world.
Comments are closed.