You don't have to find your passion to have a meaningful life

Burnett and Evans explain why living purposefully beats chasing your One True Purpose

Joanne McHugh

May 05, 2026

The passion question we get all the time sounds like this: “Everyone tells me to ‘follow my passion,’ but I don’t know exactly what that means. How do I find my passion?”…The problem with passion is as simple as a pronoun. ‘I want to find my passion.’ That my is killing us. Those two little letters take us off the road to meaning and joy and down a dead-end highway to frustration,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“We believe, along with an increasing number of psychologists, neuroscientists, and consciousness researchers, that experiencing meaning in life is the key to happiness, and meaning can be found in lots of ways, in moments small and large, all along the way,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Ultimate purpose, like ultimate meaning, is a lovely aspiration—something to grow into and live toward—but we do ourselves a huge disservice if we decide it must be a prerequisite to the well-designed life. Or a life lived meaningfully,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Society has bought into the idea that there is this one thing out there, and if it’s the real thing, it’ll be something we can’t not do and can’t imagine not pursuing. Few of us state this conviction so explicitly, but it is how so many people we’ve talked to, and even more that we’ve taught, think,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The kind of passion we hear people longing for is a compelling, authentic drive that can direct our steps and powerfully animate our lives…We have heard literally thousands of individuals tell us about their quest for passion but have met precious few who can sincerely claim to have found it,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The problem with passion is as simple as a pronoun. “I want to find my passion.” That my is killing us. Those two little letters take us off the road to meaning and joy and down a dead-end highway to frustration. Looking for my passion implies that there is one—and just one—solution, and finding that one, true, right, authentic, wonderful, dependable thing to be passionate about is the prerequisite to living a good (i.e., meaningful) life,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“We may not have confessed to ourselves that we’ll accept nothing short of a singular “can’t not” life conviction, but it’s evident when we repeatedly denigrate or dismiss opportunities that align with what we care about because they just aren’t good enough. Or because we’re not bursting with passionate enthusiasm. Or we haven’t found that magical energy source,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The way to get out of the passion dead end is to flip from my to how. It’s not about finding my passion, it’s about finding how to live passionately. Once we’re free of the soul-crushing presumption that we’re all on a search for our one singular passion, we are ready to design a life full of passionate energies. And living passionately is not only possible; it’s a whole lot of fun,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Your purpose in life—for now—is to figure out how to live as purposefully as you can. In fact, we suggest that if you stop worrying about the ultimate purpose and meaning of your life and start designing ways to live more purposefully, your chance of discovering that One True Purpose is materially enhanced,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Living purposefully frees us to evolve our purpose as we and the world change over time, and it enables us to fully enjoy the meaning of many, if not most, of our experiences along life’s way,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“While we can’t help you find your one true purpose, we can help you design how to live purposefully. We are all for living purposeful lives—lives that feel authentic, generative, growing, well directed, and contributory. We want you to live with a deep sense of purpose every single day, and we’re confident you can do so despite not having arrived at your definition of your life’s one true purpose,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Once you get the hang of design thinking, we expect you’ll discover that there are oodles of untapped purpose and passion lurking in your everyday experience, moment to moment. The key to releasing that untapped wonderfulness is to simply ask, “How can I bring more passion to what I’m doing now?” or “How is a noble purpose being pursued by this activity?” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Recognizing that there is some degree of purpose or passion available in nearly everything you do shifts the entire game. It’s all about getting more out of many daily experiences, not just waiting for that one special unicorn experience. And it’s worth reiterating that you don’t need to prepack any purpose or passion before you begin your travel on the road to a more meaningful life,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

Things Your Mom Should Have Told You Book of Wisdom: How to Live a Meaningful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

In the olden days, moms used to clip articles from newspapers for their kids if they thought they needed to know something. I’m keeping an eye out for things that you might have missed that may be helpful to you.

This week’s clips:

Is planning your own birthday celebration better than waiting for someone else to take the lead? When an episode of the Dear Nina: Conversations about Friendship podcast explored what happened when one woman planned her own birthday festivities, it struck a nerve with listeners.

How can you tell when you’ve outgrown your job? Gen Twenty names 7 signs you have and suggests what to do about it.

Are you inadvertently offending people? The Guardian compiled a list of 19 modern etiquette mistakes and how to avoid them.

Curious about what inspired me to start telling you all these things?

My guest post for Her View From Home has the backstory

Discussion about this post

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