What now? Why school didn’t help you find your “thing”
By Bene Donovan / 15 May 2025
You spend 15,000 hours in school. That’s more time than you’ll probably spend doing anything else in your childhood. And yet most of us leave school with absolutely no idea what the hell we’re meant to do with our lives.
You might get a 20-minute careers chat with someone who asks if you like “working with people or numbers.” But the one thing they never really ask?
What gives your life meaning?
A recent YouGov study found that 1 in 3 Brits think their job makes no meaningful contribution to the world. One in three! That’s not a blip – that’s a system failure.
School was never designed to help you find purpose
If you think back to school, what did it reward?
Was it curiosity? Imagination? Emotional intelligence? Nope.
It rewarded sitting still and remembering things. Follow instructions. Stay in your lane. Tick the right boxes. Repeat until further notice.
You get handed a narrow menu of subjects, neatly designed to slot into university applications or straightforward career paths. Decisions about your future are made way too early. “Pick a path” they say, before you’ve even figured out who you are.
To be fair, this isn’t all an evil conspiracy. It's just inertia. The system was never built to handle this sort of question. It’s not malicious, just convenient.
But here's the problem: this convenience comes at a huge cost. It kills intrinsic motivation – that inner spark that makes you explore things on your own. And exploring is exactly how you discover your “thing”.
Personally, I’ve always found self-education way more powerful than the curriculum. Learning through curiosity > learning through coercion. It’s like the difference between choosing your own ingredients and cooking from scratch versus settling for a bland ready-meal.
And in a world that’s changing this quickly, that might not just be better – it might be essential.
Purpose isn’t something you find. It’s something you do.
The good news is, it’s never too late to start figuring out what you’re here for. But purpose isn’t discovered by sitting around taking personality quizzes. It's far more active than that.
Think of purpose as a verb, not a noun. Less something you have, more something you do. You find your way by moving forward, experimenting, and adjusting as you go.
Before taking action, though, you need a bit of clarity – some sort of guiding vision. Without one, everything that comes along looks like a shiny new opportunity. A clear vision acts as a filter, helping you block out all the distractions and stay focused on what’s really important.
Here are two powerful ways to uncover your own vision:
1) Pay attention to what you pay attention to
Think about what lights you up…
- What makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning?
- What gets you ranting to your friends?
- What could you do for hours without getting bored?
These questions will start to reveal your personal compass.
Nobody’s going to hand you a neat manual for your life. You have to make one yourself. This means trial and error, messy experimentation, and course corrections. Until something clicks and you go: yep, this is it.
And once you’ve got that spark? ⚡👇
2) Solve something that pisses you off
The world is overflowing with things that could be better. I’m sure you’ve noticed. Yet, weirdly, there’s often a disconnect between these obvious problems and the available jobs.
So flip it.
Start from the problem. What makes you shout “why is this still a thing!?” What frustrates you enough to do something about it?
Your frustrations are your clues. They hint at the problems you're uniquely equipped to tackle.
For me, I started WIWILAS because school drained my curiosity and creativity. I wished something better existed – not just for myself, but for everyone else who felt the same way. That’s what I’m hoping to build with this platform.
→ When in doubt, make what you wish existed. Scratch your own itch, because chances are, you’re not the only one. And you’re best positioned to help people who are just a few steps behind where you are now. Turn your own struggles into solutions, and you'll find plenty of opportunities waiting.
So… where do I start?
You've probably read this far thinking, “Yeah, nice points… but what do I do next?” Well, you can do something right now!
Forget the grand master plan for a second, just take the first step. Pick one of the exercises below…
Frameworks for finding your “thing”
Framework | What it’s about | Try this: | Good for… | Robo-Coach |
Anti-Vision | Define what you don’t want in your future life to clarify what you do (our brains are wired to avoid pain, so it!) | “Imagine your worst-case future 10–20 years from now. What would make you feel stuck, bitter, or regretful? What must you avoid becoming?” | Pessimists, realists, burnt-out professionals | |
Regret Minimisation | Bezos-style: fast forward to age 80 and ask what you’d regret not doing | “What decision would you most regret not taking a chance on?” | People on the edge of big choices | |
Peak Moments Map | Look for the highs – the moments you felt most you | “When did you last feel proud, electric, in flow?” | Reflective types or switchers | |
Who Do You Want to Help? | Purpose = using your strengths to serve others in a way that energises you | “Who are you naturally drawn to help? And with what?” | People-people, creatives, helpers | |
Invisible Work Test | What would you do even if no one noticed? | “If no one ever knew, liked, or paid you… what kind of work would you secretly keep doing anyway?” | Artists and introverts | |
Curiosity Breadcrumb Trail | Curiosity = purpose in disguise | “What weird rabbit holes have you fallen into lately?” | Learners, tinkerers, info-maniacs | |
Ikigai | Where passion meets skill meets market meets meaning | List 3 things you love, 3 you’re good at, 3 problems you care about. Spot overlaps. | Multipotentialites in midlife limbo | |
The 5 Whys | Peel back the layers of motivation | “What do you want to do next? Now ask: why? (Repeat 5x)” | Overthinkers and planners | |
Your Younger Self’s Dream | Your childhood obsession still holds clues | ”What did 10-year-old you want to be? Why? What part of that still feels alive?” | People reconnecting with their spark | |
Future CV | Envision the life you’d be proud of | “Write your dream CV from 10 years in the future” | Goal-setters and strategic thinkers | |
Life Playbook | Create a roadmap: zoom out to the big picture, then break it into actionable timeframes | “Your ideal 10-year life → 1-year plan → 1-month plan → this week’s priority” | Structure-lovers, designers, ADHD brains |
Last thought
You don’t find your purpose and then take action.
You take action – and purpose emerges from the doing.
So start small. Help someone. Tinker with an idea. Say something out loud. Build something you care about.
And once you’ve found a hint of momentum? Commit. Create constraints. Not everything is your purpose. Your job is to chase the right thing — not every shiny thing.
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Finding Your Purpose: The Internet’s Top Resources
- 80,000 Hours: A research-based nonprofit offering tools, career advice, and a database of high-impact paths based on global problems. Think of it like “purpose with evidence.” → How to have a meaningful career with a large social impact
- The Purpose Challenge: Developed by psych researchers at UPenn and UC Berkeley, this free 7-day toolkit is rooted in positive psychology and helps teens and young adults explore personal values, life stories, and future goals → Purpose Challenge (Free Toolkit)
- Derek Sivers: Tiny, sharp essays on living intentionally, choosing your own metrics, and saying no to anything that doesn’t fit → Searching for purpose, your passion, and why.
- Mark Manson: 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose
Found a resource you think is great? Send us your recs to the email below.