Purpose - The Silent Engine of Human Potential - and How to Harness It

I’ve shared before how I hit a wall at work a few years ago. I had lost sight of why I started this business, and what I loved about it. My days had become a cycle of repetitive tasks, the kind that come with running an agency but don’t always feel rewarding.

Everything changed when I identified my purpose and aligned my goals and actions around it. Even the mundane became meaningful. 

I had unlocked something that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described decades ago: the ability to tie daily actions to a higher purpose and, in doing so, to enter “flow” more often.

Flow describes a mental state of complete immersion in an activity, where individuals experience heightened focus, intrinsic satisfaction, and a harmonious alignment between their skills and the challenges they face. 

Sounds beautiful, right?

The change I felt after finding my purpose reminds me of a story in Csikszentmihalyi’s book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He describes a woman, a successful business owner and “scholar of international reputation,” who spends every waking minute in flow.

Whether reading, writing, solving problems, leading meetings or walking her dogs, her attention remains focused. Everything she does feeds into her ultimate purpose and goals, giving her a “pure glow of energy” and feeling of satisfaction. 

This is obviously aspirational. But I saw firsthand how identifying my own purpose shifted my perspective, and my experiences. It didn’t change the work itself; it changed how I saw it. I started to recognize how every action I take either fuels or detracts from what matters most. When your actions align with a clear purpose, even routine tasks do take on new meaning. 

Why Flow?

Why does this matter? Purpose is one of the most reliable ways to access flow—and flow, in turn, is the key to doing our best work, growing faster, and experiencing deeper fulfillment.

The concept of flow, introduced by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s, represents one of the most profound insights into human motivation and well-being. 

Ever since I first read about flow in Steven Kotler’s The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance, I became obsessed with it. I now had a name for something I’d experienced and enjoyed from an early age—through snowboarding, hula hooping and playing music, in my personal life—and in writing, creating and producing in my work.

Csikszentmihalyi’s research emphasizes that flow is not limited to extraordinary activities but can permeate everyday experiences when certain conditions are met, one of which is the presence of a clear purpose. 

In the example above, the woman exemplifies the autotelic personality—someone who drives meaning and purpose from within. She transforms mundane tasks into opportunities for flow by aligning them with intrinsic goals and purpose. In other words, she reframes all that she does to make everything feel more impactful. 

Mounting neuroscientific research reveals that purpose—the commitment to goals transcending self-interest—isn’t just inspirational fluff. It’s a biological and psychological catalyst, driving measurable gains in performance, health, and fulfillment. 

This begs two critical questions: Why does purpose have such transformative power, and how can we harness it?

Purpose Defined: More Than Goals, Bigger Than Happiness

Purpose is often conflated with happiness or abstract “life goals,” but psychologists define it through three pillars:

1. Long-term orientation: Objectives spanning years or decades (e.g., “advancing renewable energy access”).
2. Value alignment: Goals resonating with core beliefs (e.g., a teacher driven by the intrinsic motivation of lifting others vs. one chasing tenure).
3. External impact: Contributing to a larger system or benefit than your own.

This framework explains why buying a dream car (a goal) feels less fulfilling than mentoring first-generation college students (purpose). It explains why people who have lost a partner so often seek fulfillment in volunteering or participating in church and other community organizations.

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), purpose satisfies innate psychological needs:

• Autonomy: The ability to choose your actions. In this case, choosing goals that align with personal values (e.g., entrepreneurs pivoting to social ventures).
• Competence: The feeling that you’re capable. For example, a pursuit of mastery through purposeful work (e.g., nurses refining bedside manner).
• Relatedness or Belonging: Bonds forged through shared missions (e.g., open-source software communities).

The Satisfaction Paradox: Why Purpose Outperforms Pleasure

Life satisfaction isn’t about “feeling good”—it’s about feeling like what you’re doing matters, like it’s contributing to something bigger than yourself. That could mean working on a big social cause, but it could also mean solving important problems or helping others grow.

Countless studies support this, but a 2021 study highlights why: Purpose activates hope, or optimism about the future. In this sense, hope is the interplay between agency ('I can make a difference') and pathways ('I know how to try'). This study found that nearly half of purpose’s impact on life satisfaction comes from the hope it creates.

In other words, having a clear sense of purpose gives you both the motivation and the roadmap to keep going, even in tough times. I know from my own experience that having hope—or simply something to look forward to, no matter how small—makes all the difference in my mood for the day.

You’ve likely seen Viktor Frankl’s quote, ”He who has a why to live, can bear almost any how,” (which, actually, originally came from Frederic Nietzsche). While it feels somewhat reductive to invoke this quote today given most of us aren’t facing the atrocities Frankl faced, his work, and this quote, highlight the way purpose (and hope) transform suffering into meaning—a process now validated at molecular, neural, and systemic levels.

A number of other neuroscientific studies show that purpose has a direct effect on your brain:

• Purpose releases oxytocin. Otherwise known as the “love hormone,” oxytocin is a natural hormone released during social interactions, love, childbirth and bonding with a newborn child.
• Purpose boosts serotonin levels, which foster feelings of contentment and well-being.

• Purpose invigorates your physiology. It operates as a biological stabilizer, modulating stress hormones, inflammation, neural connectivity, and even gene expression to promote longevity and resilience.
• Purpose enhances health. Researchers discovered that purposeful living is linked with the expression of positive, health-boosting genes and the suppression of genes tied to inflammatory diseases and cancer.
• Purpose is neuroprotective. A five-year study showed that those with a high sense of purpose had a 2.5x lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to those with less purpose.
• Purpose increases neuroplasticity. When a person is purpose-driven, focused, and engaged, their brain adapts and evolves, promoting enhanced learning, memory, and cognitive abilities.

Dr. Michael Merzenich, a renowned neuroscientist who has made significant contributions to our understanding of brain plasticity—the brain's ability to reorganize itself throughout life—observed that pursuing a purposeful life stimulates dopamine, reinforces our actions, and fosters fulfillment and satisfaction.

As you may be starting to see, purpose isn’t a luxury. It’s a survival tool. From classrooms to boardrooms to retirement communities, it ignites the drive to persist, connect, and innovate. As AI and automation continue to reshape our work lives, life expectancy grows, and loneliness reaches epidemic levels, cultivating purpose may be our most urgent task.

By understanding the science behind purpose and taking steps to align our lives with deeper meaning, we can unlock new levels of motivation, resilience and joy. I’ll be sharing more on how to do the latter here shortly. The journey to uncovering our purpose may be challenging, but the rewards are immeasurable. I hope this exploration has inspired you to begin that journey.

Want to learn more, or talk through with someone? Book a call with me.