One person who absolutely fascinates me from a philosophical perspective who isn’t known as a philosophical person is Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett is known for being a legendary investor and the richest man in the world (at times). The abundance that Mr. Buffett has created and the success that he has had in business is something that triggers my great interest in how he thinks and what drives him forward every day. I’ve seen a number of interviews Mr. Buffett has given and it’s clear that he does not think nor is he motivated like the average person.

Regardless of the fact that Mr. Buffett is worth tens of billions of dollars he still lives in the same house in Omaha, Nebraska that he’s lived in for decades. Mr. Buffet drives used cars that his daughter helps him to purchase. He stops at McDonald’s on the way to his company’s (Berkshire Hathaway) office each morning and pays cash (exact change!) for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. These types of habits boggle the mind given the resources Warren Buffett has access to. He could be living in the finest penthouse in the sky in New York, with chefs cooking all his meals daily and with a chauffeured car to take him wherever he wants to go. But he doesn’t and the reason why makes perfect sense.

As I have previously written about (here) knowing that I’m heading in the direction of my hopes and dreams is a critical factor in whether or not I have internal peace (peace of mind) in my life. I believe that the same is true for all people. When we don’t have hopes and dreams (a purpose) in life we are adrift. Without a purpose we live from day to day and do not have any real reason (beyond basic survival instincts) to make one choice or another. Notice how when people mean to do something a certain way it is said that we do it on purpose. When we are on purpose we do things deliberately. We think things through. What’s the best choice to achieve our goal? When we don’t care we do what’s simplest or most convenient. That sort of approach to anything leads to quite chaotic results!

Given how important a purpose is then knowing your purposes in life is very important. Notice that purposes is plural! Maybe you’ll have a single purpose over the course of your life, but I highly doubt it! I believe that it’s common (and very healthy) that people have a variety of different purposes in life. They don’t have to exist at the same time but there will likely be times in your life that you are pursuing two or more purposes. This is a problem if you either have so many purposes that you can’t achieve any of them or if you have purposes that are the polar opposite of each other. Yeah, I’ve been in both situations and you probably have been too. Your purpose in life can only be healthy if it’s something that is ultimately achievable. Achieving sobriety, for example, while attending weekly Friday happy hours is impossible!