The Bite-Sized Approach To Living A Life Of Purpose

Because Rome wasn’t built in a day

Ricky Derisz
6 min readFeb 27, 2020

It’s one of humanity’s most pertinent and penetrating questions: how do I live a life of purpose? Big questions require big answers. Finding purpose is a big deal, and answers tend to suggest life-changing transformation is necessary.

We read stories of those who made it against all odds, those who had courage to make radical changes and live unconventional lives.

While this is all well and good, the implication that finding purpose is a monumental task-a big answer to a bigger question- may hinder the process of living a meaningful life.

What if the paradox of purpose is that, the more pressure we put on ourselves to find it, the more elusive it becomes?

Let’s call this purpose paralysis: the state of becoming so overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to find purpose, no steps are taken to achieve it.

There’s a common saying you can’t eat an elephant in one go. As a vegan I don’t want elephants to be eaten in one sitting or many, but this doesn’t detract from what this metaphor points to — big tasks require bite-sized chunks to be manageable.

Finding purpose is a big task. Consequently, a purposeful life is achieved one bite-sized, vegan-friendly…

--

--

Ricky Derisz

Author. Podcast host. Creator of MindThatEgo.com. Free copy of my book Mindsets for Mindfulness 👉 https://bit.ly/2MnBlHp. It’s a bribe, but worth it.