Wealth and achievements are often viewed as purpose and yet, they won’t fulfill you. In fact, they will most likely trap you. We often operate under the backward assumption that we can use purpose to finally feel fulfilled, but purpose is actually something you engage in only after you are fulfilled. After you feel enough.
We constantly try to prove our worthiness through a net worth number, the concept of financial independence, or by reaching a specific goal. The problem is that if you feel unsettled, lack fulfillment, or are unhappy in the first place, making a certain amount of money or hitting an achievement will not make you happy. This approach fails because of hedonic adaptation. Whether we are spending money for a quick burst of joy or chasing a milestone for a fleeting hit of satisfaction, the result is the same: we immediately trap ourselves on an endless treadmill. Ultimately, you cannot fill an internal void with external wealth and accolades. No matter how hard you run.
That feeling of not being enough does not come from a lack of achievement; it usually stems from your past and your trauma. You must come to terms with your own enoughness and deal with being unfulfilled first. Once you do that, you can jump joyfully into your purpose, knowing that purpose was never meant to prove your worthiness.
When we look through this lens, we start to truly understand hustle culture. People hustle and achieve more and more because they believe it will fill their emptiness, justify their existence, and bring fulfillment. It often doesn’t. We reach one plateau, feel good briefly, and then adaptation kicks in, forcing us to look toward an even higher, more difficult peak. If you get caught up in endless side hustles to make more money, you will face one of two outcomes. You will either succeed and realize you still aren’t fulfilled, or you will never reach your goal and end up burning out, feeling down and like a failure.
I suggest we let go of hustle culture entirely. We should replace it with the concept of persistence culture. Persistence culture is about doing things you actually enjoy the process of doing, regardless of whether you hit the ultimate goal or not. It requires you to be more goal agnostic. You can still work hard, but if you are not enjoying the day-to-day process, you will likely burn out and quit. Conversely, when you embrace persistence culture and do what you enjoy, you can do it forever.
Fulfillment comes before purpose. And purpose, through the lens of persistence, is simply doing the things you love to do.
Did you catch this week’s episode of Earn & Invest (Click to listen)?
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