“What are you REALLY doing when you do what you do?”
When I answer this of myself, something “clicks” inside me on a level I can’t articulate. When I ask it in conversation, it requires the power of silence for an answer, and that answer is profoundly affecting.
The answer often given: “This is a great question. I don’t think I have an answer.”
(Perfect, by the way. The best questions don’t invite instant answers.)
Getting Meta With Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss is perhaps best known as the life-hacking author of bestselling book, The 4-Hour Work Week, where he advocates extreme forms of outsourcing and optimization.
The 4-Hour Chef is NOT really a cookbook, despite the misleading title. It’s an experiment in meta-learning.
He chose cooking as a subject to demonstrate that any idiot (including himself) can learn how to cook and appreciate culinary intricacies in record time by applying the principles of meta-learning.
But what Tim’s REALLY doing with The 4-Hour Chef is deeper than teaching meta-learning.
Why is he so fascinated with meta-learning? What is the experience he wants to give the world and himself?
His answer is in the first chapter.
“This book aims to make you self-reliant, whether in the kitchen or in life: to wrestle control from chaos, to feel like a director instead of an actor, and perhaps to create something bigger than yourself.”
He also mentions another motivation that’s likely related to his ongoing battle with depression. The book aims to “recover whimsy and wonder, two ingredients sorely lacking past childhood.”
So what is Tim REALLY doing with The 4-Hour Chef, and arguably, with everything else he creates?
- Empowering people to create the life they want.
- Giving the experience of discovery and delight through learning.
In other words: empowerment and happiness.
The Art of Purpose
We’re inspired to create an experience for the world that mirrors the experience we most want for ourselves.
As humans, we have a deep need for purpose. Those without a purpose in the tribe will die.
When we understand the deep purpose beneath what we want to accomplish, it provides an incredible sense of fulfillment. We understand what we are here to do because we have chosen it ourselves. It gives life meaning in a very real sense.
We are artists free to choose any medium we like to fulfill our purpose.
Now Tim Ferriss (or you) can create an experience of empowerment and delight through the vehicle of cooking, architecture, parenting, coaching or telling jokes.
Misunderstanding or not knowing your purpose can lead to malaise or feeling like you’re not making a difference. You’re just going through the motions.
Connecting to it allows you to access your full power and broadcast it to the world in a way that’s undeniable.
That’s the power of purpose.
What do you think?
