Living on Purpose
A Course of Self-Discovery
July 12, 2024
Rachel Brougham
At some point in life, we’ll have to ask ourselves hard questions and face difficult decisions. From careers and relationships to how you spend your time, life will require you to take a deep dive into who you really are, what you really want out of life and how you’re going to get there. You’ll look to answer the question, “What makes me want to get out of bed in the morning?”
Since 2013, the course Living on Purpose: An Exploration of Self, Purpose, and Community (CSPH 3211) has helped students answer that question. During this hybrid course, students take deep dives into who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. Class exercises help students find the meaning of their own lives and what it means to live more purposefully, along with how to build a framework to support living on purpose both now while they are in college and into the future.
“It’s a deep dive and a lot of self-reflection into who you are at this time in your life. The course really asks you about the why. Why are you living the life you are living and is it making you happy,” explained Carole Anne Broad, who created the course along with Dr. LeeAnn Melin, who currently serves as Associate Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Minnesota.
Broad explained that many people just don’t think too much about their own purpose in life, or perhaps they just equate purpose with a single aspect of their life, such as a relationship or a career. However, she explained that when students start looking into their own values, strengths, interests, and passions, it helps them find meaning and purpose however they as individuals may define those qualities for themselves.
The Desire to Do More
For 19 years, Broad worked as a senior academic advisor at the University of Minnesota where she helped students chart out career paths. Through years of discussions with students, she developed a strong desire to want to do more to help them navigate those paths successfully, and give them the tools to identity their sense of purpose throughout life – from changing careers, moves across the country, and even the loss of loved ones.
“My true inspiration for this course was being a college advisor and not being able to give students all the time they needed,” she explained. “This was frustrating for me, and hard for the students to not be able to help them dig deeper.”
The course is team-taught, and uses a model designed by Richard Leider, a life coach, author, speaker and Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. Throughout the course, students work through a variety of assignments ranging from readings and watching videos to conducting interviews, taking part in group discussions, and creating a purpose map to help them set goals identified through their values, passions, and strengths.
Broad along with co-instructor Lisa Clark, noted that most students come into the course thinking purpose is focused on career success. However, in the context of the course, purpose focuses more on a way of going about your life through the lens of where you are in life in any particular moment, and asking yourself if you’re living the life the way you want to live.
“Students begin the course seeking out one true purpose and learn early on that it’s a journey and it can look different as one experiences changes and what is important to them changes,” said Clark, who has helped teach the course for the last six years and also works as an academic advisor. “As we go through different stages of life, our strengths, values, interests, and passions can change and we can re-evaluate what it means to live with purpose.”
For one of the assignments, students are asked to interview someone in their life who they believe is living a life of purpose. Another is to write about their culture as they define it, and how it impacts their sense of purpose in their own life.
And throughout the course, students lean on one another for support, and learn that we’re all different when working to define each other’s individual purpose. “I think students can feel a freedom from hearing from each other and knowing each of them is on an individual path,” Clark explained. “What’s great about the class is we’re not asking anyone to drop their culture. We really allow them to keep their values and explore how they may be different from those of their fellow classmates.”
Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer, director of the Bakken Center, noted many of the courses students take in college are focused on content or skill acquisition related to their particular area of study. She believes the Living on Purpose course is a great addition to one’s education, as it helps them ponder what they really want to do in life.
“Living a life with purpose is very connected to overall wellbeing. Very interesting research is emerging on the importance of purpose in our lives. For older people, not having a sense of purpose is connected to an increase in mortality. There is strong evidence that purpose is important at every age and stage of life,” Kreitzer said.
Finding Purpose through Self Discovery
At one point, Kreitzer received a handwritten note from a PhD student who was just getting ready to graduate. She wrote that the Living on Purpose course was the most important course she had taken at the University of Minnesota, as the course put her life in perspective and helped her sort out what was most important to her moving forward.
“Reading comments throughout the years is most gratifying as a teacher,” Broad said. “There are many ‘aha moments’ during class assignments.”
“It has really impacted my role as an advisor,” Clark added. “It deepens some of my conversations with students and allows us to talk about the ‘why’ in their decision making.”
Looking forward, Kreitzer said the plan is to continue to expand accessibility to the course. It is currently available to undergraduate students with sophomore status or above.