Culturepainter,
I also tried Steve's technique but it didn't yeild any results for me.
At first this really troubled me - I thought that maybe I didn't have a purpose at all. And it seemed like a plausible assumption since I don't have a real 'passion' for any one thing. I'm more like a 'jack of all trades, master of none'. But I eventually put it out of my mind and focused on doing the best job that I could at work.
Recently I became aware that I get a lot of satisfaction from helping people, I thought that maybe 'helping people' might be my life purpose but it just didn't feel right. Close, but not exectly right. So I again put it out of my mind.
Today I was the last one to leave the office. I had to work late in order to meet a deadline. Actually, I was fixing other people's mistakes in order to meet the deadline. The mistakes were made by two new people who started earlier this week. Because they are so new their mistakes are understandable. But I got to thinking about one of the new people. She's an intern still in college. This is her first 'real' job so she's really eager and excited to be working with us. In fact, when she left to go home this afternoon, she stopped by my cube to say how she enjoyed doing the work and how happy she was to contribute to the project. She said this as I was fixing her mistakes. It didn't bother me though, her mistakes were honest ones, due only to her inexperience on this project. I didn't tell her that she had made the mistakes; instead, I praised her. As she walked out I decided that next Monday I would spend more time with her and really make sure she understands the task that needs to be done, so that she woudn't make these types of mistakes again in the future. I am essentially her mentor and when it comes down to it, it's my responsibility to teach her how to produce quality work.
Right then and there I realized that what I really want to do is make a positive impact. I want to enable other people to do great things. Maybe I need to refine it a little, but I think that 'making a positive impact' and 'enabling other people to do great things' might actually be my life purpose.
My advice to you, if you've managed to read through my story
is to do what you feel is right. Don't necessarily 'dwell' on what your life purpose might be. It will probably sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Hope this helps! Good luck!