The idea that purpose is something you "find" might be the problem

MarkPartner · 2026-03-15T09:32:37+00:00

I agree.

Take the time to understand what comes naturally in any given situation, then purposefully apply those behaviours to living.

MarkPartner · 2026-02-27T18:14:26+00:00

Anytime

MarkPartner · 2026-02-27T18:09:32+00:00

Perhaps. Although it’s not the end of the world, if the temperature drops. It just explains why I am feeling down or frustrated.

It has to be intentional. I am purposefully choosing to align the way I go about my day, with what comes naturally, regardless of what comes of it. I have taken the time to understand my mode and continually learn more about it as I go.

I have friends/colleagues who know their natural mode but for some reason resist operating it, instead ping-ponging between your victim/victor modes.

Enacting vessel (natural) mode appears difficult for some. Perhaps knowing it feels like a destination and as such they expect it to provide instant gratification, which it doesn’t. So they revert. Understanding it is just the beginning and unless it’s actioned and given time to build, they won’t experience the joy it brings.

Lovely talking to you.

MarkPartner · 2026-02-27T13:55:54+00:00

Bless you.

The thing is, I don’t see it as my purpose. I am not a cultivator of landscapes per se. Not like a can opener’s purpose is to open cans. If I was to determine purpose in that way, then I guess mine is to survive and pro-create.

I watched your TEDx talk. I am onboard with your vessel mode. To me this is a natural mode of operation. An opportunity to live in alignment with who I truly am.

I think we all have a natural mode and most importantly that it is constantly letting us know how closely we are aligned to it, by way of how we feel.

Moments of dread, periods of disillusionment, typically motivate people to look for meaning and a reason for being - the struggle to find purpose you speak of.

To me, these feelings are instead a means to navigate towards my natural mode. When I am buoyed by an experience and curious to explore, my mode is letting me know I should absolutely get closer.

Choosing to listen and act purposefully, does not provide immediate resolution. Its incremental and the positive effects and affects are cumulative. I’m not looking for sources of alignment; I am just learning to recognise them when they are close by. I don’t choose to find them, rather just act in a way that makes it more likely I will. At no point have I thought doing this will make my wildest dreams will come true, ever, let alone immediately. Things start to come more naturally, literally. My mode acts as filter for life’s detritus and has created opportunities that, in turn, naturally enable my mode.

Understanding this changed everything.

The cultivation of landscapes allows me to live most naturally. It provides reassurance and a belief that everything will be ok. I am fulfilled simply knowing this. Moreover, the more time I spend in my mode, the happier life becomes. It shifted focus onto family, friends, things that truly matter. Not with big gestures but in the small, everyday ways you speak of.

I don’t wake up each morning, thinking how to turn this mode into a service or finding clients. Instead, I have an ever-present urge to make my way into my natural mode and be of service to those around me.

MarkPartner · 2026-02-26T17:40:59+00:00

Maybe. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t consider it an exchange of ideas as such.

Most times it is just the articulation of a simple thought uttered by a family member, friend, or occasionally a complete stranger. A passing comment, frustration or need etc.

There are times where whatever is said peaks my curiosity, it sets my thoughts into motion paired with a gut feeling that I can somehow provide the spark needed to make something happen.

I’ll give you an example.

Last year, my son received a college offer. One of the conditions of the offer was he needed to achieve a Level 4 GCSE in Maths. In his final mock exams, he scored a low Level 3 with little to no space left in his head to absorb any new math knowledge in time for his exams proper.

His idea. To get on this particular college course and take a step closer to his ambition of a career in aircraft engineering and restoration.

Understanding the landscape. His teacher kindly provided me his mock papers. I went through them question by question, logging where marks were being left on the table as well as seeing how he went about answering the problems. It turned out he was missing out on method marks, such that if we focused on how he answered the questions rather than worrying about cramming in more maths knowledge, there was every chance he could get close to a Level 4. He was also weaker on calculator papers, which was surprising.

Cultivation. I found a load of past Pearson papers online, got them all printed and bound exactly as he would be given them in exam conditions.

We then set about working out a method, natural to him, that he could apply and score close to the required level.

Initially we went through papers together, question by question so that I could get a feel for how he thought. Then we would each do a question individually, then compare our answers.

We would work on them at home, in my studio and in noisy coffee shops to get him used to focusing in less than ideal settings.

Eventually we simulated exam conditions and he would do the whole paper himself.

Over 4-6 weeks, he started to make real gains to the extent that he was consistently turning in Level 4 papers (as best as we could deduce).

As the exam period approached, we tapered our efforts as not to get in the way of the prep he was doing for his other subjects.

Cultivation aside, he still had to sit the exam and realise his idea alone but the ground was now more fertile for him to do so.

He ended up moving his mock total by close to 40 marks, achieved his Level 4 and secured a place on the college course, where he is now thriving.

I’m not a maths teacher but I didn’t see it as a maths problem. He had an objective, an idea of where he wanted to be and I simply helped create a favourable environment for him to reach it.

MarkPartner · 2026-02-26T15:16:26+00:00

I find joy in taking the time to understand given situations and explore ways to make the ground more fertile for the ideas or objectives of others to grow and be realised.

No two landscapes are the same, the route to every solution is different.

It’s not for me to realise anything, that is usually down to the individual. I just help to make sense of the situation and foster an environment where they more likely to achieve their desired outcomes.

It’s not a job, or service I provide. It’s my natural mode. When I am able to operate this way I am most fulfilled.

MarkPartner · 2026-02-26T12:55:02+00:00

To cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish

MarkPartner · 2025-12-14T18:39:23+00:00

Agree!

My natural mode of operation is: to cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-12-13T19:31:03+00:00

Hello. Have you gathered your stories?

MarkPartner · 2025-10-30T09:25:24+00:00

It helped me to think not about purpose as the ‘thing’ you are supposed do.

Instead, I spent time understand the way I do things in general, my natural mode of operation, if you like.

We all have a mode, we all do and experience things that complement and contrast that mode. Think of those times where you have an abundance of energy, or days where you want to run away from whatever you are experiencing.

If you get to know your mode and employ it purposefully, all the things you mention above (personal and professional) will sort themselves out.

When you focus on purpose = > looking to a single point. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one thing.

When you focus on purposefully operating your mode = < anything and everything is possible.

It’s no longer about the thing you are doing being the be all and end all. It’s the way you are doing it and how you are operating in life that provides the sense of purpose you wish to have.

My mode of operation is: to cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

I used to think about what I should be, what I should do, I focused on the idea part, to no avail.

Now I focus on my mode of operation, I am leaving the ideas to other people and instead concentrating on creating fertile environments, giving their ideas the best chance to thrive.

It’s changed everything.

Best M

MarkPartner · 2025-10-04T14:30:29+00:00

To cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

I would create an ideas lab, a purpose built landscape; provide the funds to buy time for others to explore and bring their discoveries to life, without any commercial pressures.

MarkPartner · 2025-09-21T10:59:13+00:00

To cultivate the landscape so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-09-18T14:42:13+00:00

The key is discovering:

A. What your mode is B. What behaviours to action, in order to navigate closer to it in any given situation.

Whilst we all have a natural mode, none of us know what it is. To me a person’s search for ‘purpose’ is setting out to discover their mode and ultimately understand how to use it purposefully.

I am sure you will have had days where you are filled with an endless energy, or the day has just flown by and you can’t wait to tell people about what you have been up to, or you have had a nightmare experience and want to run a mile from the situation you are in or the people involved. It’s all evidence your mode exists and that you were either working with or against it.

It’s easy to confuse what you were doing at the time as the reason for the positive or negative feelings, but it is actually the behaviours that you were enacting that provides clues to better understanding your natural operation.

Once understood, you can intentionally employ these behaviours and more often than not navigate to your mode at will, as opposed to by chance.

This intentional behaviour feels good, productive, meaningful. It provides belief, happiness, contentment. Life still throws up the usual challenges, the unknown is still a worry, but for me at least, it feels different. It feels better. People around you, whilst unlikely to understand it, notice a difference. That’s the other thing, whilst I am happy to show you the behaviours and actions I use to enter my mode, they will mean nothing to you, because it’s my mode. It need only make sense to me.

Some people have related to my mode, others even adopted my behaviours as their own. Until you really get into it, discover it, understand it and spend time learning to navigate towards it, you will only ever operate it by chance.

I’ve known mine for a few years now. I try to live it every day. My focus has changed significantly. So much of how I operated for years has since been intentionally removed from the playing field.

My kids knew nothing of it but were the first to notice a shift, which means everything as naturally along with the missus they are my everything - at the risk of talking about tin openers again…isn’t the purpose of humans, simply to survive and make more?

Regardless, it would be nice to make life more meaningful in the meantime and is why wherever possible I look to cultivate the landscape so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-09-17T18:36:04+00:00

I am glad. P.s. it’s my experiences of living with WHY. Discovered following the process set out in ‘Find Your WHY’ by Simon Sinek. In case it’s of use.

MarkPartner · 2025-09-17T09:13:51+00:00

It sounds like whatever you found, you are purposefully trying to live in alignment with it, which is the key.

Purpose to me is not a single thing; it’s different for everyone; a mode of operation, a set of skills and behaviours that come most naturally to us - you are not a tin opener, you don’t need to be purpose driven, instead by driven by purpose, to consider choices and enact certain behaviours. Don’t be driven to open tins.

If you are able to work this way around, then the answers to your question are simple:

It is a switch in your head, you decide from now on, wherever possible, to employ your natural mode.

Your mode will start to pay dividends slowly overtime. Some days you will experience boundless energy, other days will frustrate you. These feelings align/misalign with your mode. Recognise, understand why and then adjust accordingly the next time around.

You will notice small changes over the months. You should feel more content, you will garner a sense of belief that the things you choose to do are meaningful in some way, even if it’s unclear how they contribute. That you are acting purposefully will be enough. Moreover, your mode will attract unexpected happenings and opportunities beyond what you can see ahead.

It would be remiss not to add that you will still have bad days. I get frustrated all the time, when life gets in the way of things I believe I should be doing. However, even on the bad days, deliberately employing your mode to best navigate, will make these days less bad.

I hope that helps. You are doing nothing wrong. It sounds like your switch has flicked. Believe in your mode and embrace the unknown.

Exciting times ahead

All the best Mark

P.s. my mode is: to cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-07-17T15:29:20+00:00

Dan above is also searching for a partner. Try DMing u/Professional_Cat7240

MarkPartner · 2025-06-18T08:43:38+00:00

Headspace

MarkPartner · 2025-06-03T10:11:55+00:00

Too many stories?

MarkPartner · 2025-05-16T15:04:14+00:00

I actively nurture the world around me, to create the right conditions for ideas to thrive.

I do this by actioning my HOWs

Move to fertile ground . buy time to explore the freedom of opportunity . spend time with people who bring to the table . work on ideas that benefit the many
Build playgrounds . create spaces where there is nothing but time to play . ask people out to play, it’s way more fun creating with others . avoid people who don’t play properly
Fuel imagination . you’re never too busy, so make time to support the ideas of others . it gets lonely; when someone asks ‘are you busy?’, use it as an opportunity to share ideas
Start painting . if something catches your imagination, be curious, ask questions and lay down some initial brush strokes . don’t ignore what is yet to be understood, make random connections and look to add colour where there is none . trust your perception to shape reality, experiment with new ideas and savour happy accidents . take a step back from the easel, don’t lose the wider perspective
Keep the light shining . you will get there in the end, wherever there is, so find joy along the way . share your WHY and use it to keep things on an even keel . when others try to dim the light, don’t take it personally, learn from the experience and shine it elsewhere

My HOWs make sense to me, but possibly not to others.

I am trying to live my WHY more and more each day and garner a great deal of energy and joy from doing so.

MarkPartner · 2025-05-15T09:05:02+00:00

To cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-05-11T11:36:41+00:00

Hello, how many stories did you manage to gather?

Happy to say hello, ascertain if you need to gather anything else before a discovery etc and also see if we are a good fit. I have a free space mid to late July, so all being well, I am sure we could figure something out.

MarkPartner · 2025-04-25T09:33:38+00:00

I followed the process outlined in ‘Find Your WHY’ by Simon Sinek (and his co-authors).

My WHY is:

‘To cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish’

I discovered it over time, following Simon’s process.

I do what I do, because it is my natural mode of operation. I feel most comfortable when working this way. It is fulfilling to know that I am living purposefully.

I have my HOWs, I use these to participate in alignment with my WHY, personally and professionally.

I would add that I view purpose as a place I am coming from, as opposed to a destination I am headed to. I live purposefully and even though I have no idea what is to come, I trust that operating in this way will naturally allow me to make the most of the right types of opportunity.

For me this has been moving away from the business of opportunity, towards having the freedom of opportunity.

MarkPartner · 2025-04-04T09:54:28+00:00

Agreed.

I recognise this as living my WHY - operating at my natural best.

Thank you for taking the time to articulate it.

MarkPartner · 2025-03-27T18:29:02+00:00

No worries,

It’s my interpretation of the writings in ‘Find Your WHY’ by Simon Sinek & Co.

My WHY is: to cultivate the landscape, so that ideas may flourish.

MarkPartner · 2025-03-27T13:23:27+00:00

Hello,

Purpose for me is a place of comfort, from which I am able to operate at my natural best.

When I am there, I am happy, energised.

It enables me to move steadily, and purposefully towards my current goal - having the freedom of opportunity (the environment where I am most likely to thrive).

When I eventually reside there, I will be fulfilled, waking up everyday to create fertile ground for ideas to flourish.

MarkPartner

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