When your life is filled with meaning and purpose, it elevates life in an upward movement. It is the exact opposite of simply existing every day without goals or vision. Purpose and meaning meets the most important human need that we all have: self-actualization, which is the ability to reach our fullest potential. The question is, how do we activate this type of life?

For many decades, we have been told about purpose by many leaders, what it is and what it does, and how important it is for us to acquire. In other words, we know about purpose and meaning. What has been missing from the knowledge is how to discover our purpose.

There are many types of learning available to adult learners. Two of the more common types of learning are additive learning and transformative learning. Additive learning is akin to acquiring knowledge that is added to the knowledge that one already has. Transformative learning, however, is the type of adult learning that must be pursued to discover purpose and meaning. It is the type of learning that reflects on life experiences and attributes meaning to those experiences. When the meaning is accurate, maturity is gained by the adult learner, and self-awareness increases.

Meaning and purpose become the rewards for pursuing maturity by the sincere efforts of learning from our experiences.