Jay Shetty’s Formula For Finding and Living Your Purpose

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Summary

Jay Shetty shares with us how passion, compassion, and expertise can help us find our life’s purpose. He also talks about how complaining, comparing, and criticizing are our ego and are the 3 cancers of the mind. Finally, he offers tangible actions to be aware of the ego, like striving to be around people who are wiser, being humbled by your goal, and creating a council of people you trust.

Listen to the full episode here

One question our #Almost30Nation fam is constantly asking is, “How do I find my purpose?” First, let’s be grateful to ourselves for asking this question — asking is the beginning of our wisdom and searching for who we are.

Still, it’s a daunting question and it can feel overwhelming to confront. So we asked the absolutely brilliant Jay Shetty!

Who is Jay Shetty?

Jay Shetty’s journey began in college, where he would spend half of his summer working at a corporate job, and the other half living as a monk in India. Then at 22, he turned down his corporate job offers and lived as a monk in India for 3 years.

After serving as a monk, Jay entered the corporate world and found himself depressed and dissatisfied. That’s when he launched his podcast, On Purpose. Jay Shetty’s podcast brings interesting conversations with insightful people, and new episodes are released Mondays and Fridays.

Now, he is also a speaker, coach, and a #1 Amazon best-selling author of “Think Like A Monk,” a book that teaches timeless wisdom, modern science, and practical tools to transform your life. Jay Shetty’s book helps people to live a less anxious and more meaningful life.

He is also the founder of Jay Shetty Certification School. The Jay Shetty Certification School trains and empowers coaches in the same methodology, tools, and techniques he uses to impact and facilitate people’s transformation worldwide.

formula for finding and living

In this post you’ll learn

  • Jay Shetty’s formula for finding your purpose
  • How to find your passion
  • How to transform your pain into compassion
  • How to evaluate your current skills
  • What the 3 cancers of the mind are
  • Jay Shetty’s method to be aware of the ego

Jay Shetty’s Formula For Finding Your Purpose

Jay told us on the podcast that we often all become method actors, and start to play someone else’s role really well, believing us to think that we have found our purpose, however, many times we have not. 

He frequently turns to the Japanese term “ikigai,” which means reason for being, and Dharma in the Bhagavad Gita when examining purpose. He breaks it down with Dharma, which can mean eternal purpose. 

In the episode, Jay shared the formula he uses for finding and living with purpose. Dharma breaks down purpose in this way: 

Passion + Compassion + Expertise = Purpose

Jay Shetty Quotes

Jay found that finding your purpose is actually about figuring out each element and seeing how they all fit together.

Here is how each element breaks down: 

Passion

Finding your purpose can definitely be intimidating. Try starting with identifying your passions. Ask yourself: “What am I passionate about?” And if that doesn’t work for you either, you can start by looking at curiosity and interest. Jay sees it like this:

  • Curiosity = Womb
  • Interest = Child
  • Passion = Teenager
  • Purpose = Adult

If you don’t feel like you can start at passion, instead ask yourself, “What am I curious about or interested in?” We are all naturally drawn towards certain things. By identifying what they are, we are en route to uncovering our true purpose. 

Curiosity gives birth to interest; interest grows up to become a passion; passion is figuring it all out; and purpose is an adult who has it figured out. Jay reminds us to stop putting pressure on ourselves to find a passion and instead see what fascinates us, which will eventually evolve into purpose.

Compassion

Ok, so maybe finding your passion or curiosity didn’t work. That’s totally fine! Jay shared that sometimes people find purpose through compassion. Pain can serve as a catalyst to become more compassionate both for yourself and for others. 

Compassion can be born through personal pain — for example, health issues can force compassion on yourself and create a whole new journey. 

Compassion can also be for others. If you’re mad at the injustices in the world or the environment falling apart, this can be a place to start. It can be about, “I don’t like this, and I want to fix it” and go from there.

Expertise

Expertise is all about bringing the skills you already have to the table — and trust us, you have a lot to bring to the table! Ask yourself, “What skills do I already have? How can I start using them more purposefully?” By doing this, you can then ask yourself how you can use those skills to help someone else and make a difference.

All of these pieces serve as entry points to help us find and live our purpose. Using your passion in the service of others as a compassionate act lets it become a purpose. When you use your skills and gifts in the service of others, it elevates your purpose and satisfies you. 

Jay Shetty on How To Control the Ego

The false ego can prohibit us from finding our true purpose. According to Jay Shetty, the ego lives in extremes. For example, believing you’re the worst in everything or competing about how much pain you have been through is your ego, just as believing you’re the best in everything is too.

Ego shows up through complaining, comparing, and criticizing. Jay believes that these are the 3 cancers of the mind. 

Complaining

When we complain, we are in a state of lack and feel that something is not enough. 

Comparing

When we compare ourselves to others, it is the ego not appreciating the other, and instead trying to be superior via comparison.

Criticizing

When we criticize, our ego is trying to make ourself feel better by making someone else feel worse. 

In order to live to our fullest potential and purpose, we must slowly let our ego dissolve. Much like having a toxic friend, you can’t just shake it off, you have to naturally allow it to be purified. It takes time!

Jay Shetty’s 3 Methods To Be Aware of the Ego:

  1. Strive to be around people who are wiser than you. This gives space for humility. Some of the most successful people are some of the most humble because they want to learn, grow and develop. Surround yourself with great minds. 
  2. Be humbled by your goal. Always expand the goal post and challenge yourself to see how far you can really go. 
  3. Create a council of people you trust. If you value everyone’s opinions your self-esteem will be destroyed, but if you only value one person who is a “yes” person or your best friend then you’ll also be misled. That’s why it’s important to identify the people whose opinions matter most to you with regard to spirituality, business, and friendships. These people will make you aware of where your ego is at. 

While doing what we love is fulfilling, Jay shared that we won’t be fully satisfied until we use it to make a difference in someone else’s life. We’re educated for greed but wired for generosity, and it can be so easy to forget that. Jay reminded us how important it is to act in the service of others, and in turn, this will help us find our purpose. 

Want to hear more from Jay Shetty?

Be sure to grab your copy of Think Like A Monk, and check out Jay’s website, Instagram, podcast, and the Jetty Shetty Certification School.

Jay Shetty and wife, Radhi Devlukia-Shetty are such beautiful people. We love them so much! You can check out our full episode with his wife, Radhi, below:

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We're Krista + Lindsey. Co-hosts of the Almost 30 Podcast, entrepreneurs, creatives, community leaders, best friends, wellness-obsessed spiritual seekers, alien lovers...and always ch-ch-ch-changing. We're excited to have you here. If you're enjoying these posts, check out our podcast, our story, and find more education in our shop!

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We're Krista + Lindsey. Co-hosts of the Almost 30 Podcast, entrepreneurs, creatives, community leaders, best friends, wellness-obsessed spiritual seekers, alien lovers...and always ch-ch-ch-changing.

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