Life Crafting as a Way to Find Purpose and Meaning in Life

Abstract

Having a purpose in life is one of the most fundamental human needs. However, for most people, finding their purpose in life is not obvious. Modern life has a way of distracting people from their true goals and many people find it hard to define their purpose in life. Especially at younger ages, people are searching for meaning in life, but this has been found to be unrelated to actually finding meaning. Oftentimes, people experience pressure to have a "perfect" life and show the world how well they are doing, instead of following up on their deep-felt values and passions. Consequently, people may need a more structured way of finding meaning, e.g., via an intervention. In this paper, we discuss evidence-based ways of finding purpose, via a process that we call "life crafting." This process fits within positive psychology and the salutogenesis framework -an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, instead of factors that cause disease. This process ideally starts with an intervention that entails a combination of reflecting on one's values, passions and goals, best possible self, goal attainment plans, and other positive psychology intervention techniques. Important elements of such an intervention are: (1) discovering values and passion, (2) reflecting on current and desired competencies and habits, (3) reflecting on present and future social life, (4) reflecting on a possible future career, (5) writing about the ideal future, (6) writing down specific goal attainment and "if-then" plans, and (7) making public commitments to the goals set. Prior research has shown that personal goal setting and goal attainment plans help people gain a direction or a sense of purpose in life. Research findings from the field of positive psychology, such as salutogenesis, implementation intentions, value congruence, broadenand-build, and goal-setting literature, can help in building a comprehensive evidence-based life-crafting intervention. This intervention can aid individuals to find a purpose in life, while at the same time ensuring that they make concrete plans to work toward this purpose. The idea is that life crafting enables individuals to take control of their life in order to optimize performance and happiness.

For the Greater Good? The Devastating Ripple Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis

“…As several studies have suggested ways forward from here in terms of the economic impact ( Boone et al, 2020 ; Zetzsche, 2020 ), as well as ways to boost the human immune system in order to prevent people from getting sick ( Nilashi et al, 2020 ; Taghizadeh-Hesary and Akbari, 2020 ). In order to make sure that some of the negative mental health effects are counteracted, this calls for effective evidence-based interventions ( Wilson, 2011 ; Figueroa and Aguilera, 2020 ), that can be made available online and are scalable ( Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ). Although tele-health and video consultation can alleviate the immediate problems associated with the lock-down, ( Barsom et al, 2020 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ), there may not be enough staff to effectively treat all people that will need mental health care in the aftermath of the global lockdown ( Figueroa and Aguilera, 2020 ; Torales et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Although tele-health and video consultation can alleviate the immediate problems associated with the lock-down, ( Barsom et al, 2020 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ), there may not be enough staff to effectively treat all people that will need mental health care in the aftermath of the global lockdown ( Figueroa and Aguilera, 2020 ; Torales et al, 2020 ). Next to giving the public more information about effective coping styles ( Ibrahimagić et al, 2020 ), an interesting avenue is to make writing interventions available to the wider public, that have proven to have many (mental) health benefits ( Lepore and Smyth, 2002 ; Schippers et al, 2015 ), as well as performance benefits ( Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ; Schippers et al, 2020 ). This type of care could even be delivered by a life crafting chatbot ( Dekker et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions is related to the human capacity to bounce back from negative experiences and is related to human flourishing ( Fredrickson, 2001 ). Specifically, functional coping processes and the experience of positive emotions can be accelerated by a process of expressive writing about one’s ideal life (for reviews see Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ). Prior research in a student population has shown that a brief, 4–6 h written and staged goal-setting intervention, that includes both writing about ideal life and goals, with goal achievement plans, improved academic performance ( Morisano et al, 2010 ; Schippers et al, 2020 ), and has been shown to close the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap ( Schippers et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Prior research in a student population has shown that a brief, 4–6 h written and staged goal-setting intervention, that includes both writing about ideal life and goals, with goal achievement plans, improved academic performance ( Morisano et al, 2010 ; Schippers et al, 2020 ), and has been shown to close the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap ( Schippers et al, 2015 ). As it seems that for many people their purpose in life needs to be redefined, for instance as a result of job loss, life crafting offers a way to find (renewed) purpose and meaning ( Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ). Meaning in life has been associated with numerous positive physical and mental health outcomes, such as (mental) health, adaptive coping, and decreased mortality ( Heintzelman et al, 2013 ), and is a protective mechanism against mortality salience and existential anxiety (for a meta-analysis see Burke et al, 2010 ).…”

“…On the basis of this, people formulate concrete goals, order these in terms of importance and write detailed plans including goal monitoring and “if-then” plans. The third part then is about making a photo with a statement communicating their goals to the world, be it friends, or co-workers (for reviews see Schippers and Ziegler, 2019 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ). Using this online intervention, I hypothesize that people will experience accelerated functional coping and this may serve as a way to restore well-being.…”