The Purpose Code – Book Review

Bestselling author Cal Newport has always written that “find your passion” is bad advice for young people.  The main reason is that it assumes everyone has a passion, and this creates nothing but stress and anxiety for those who don’t, arguably the majority of us. 

In his new book “The Purpose Code” (<- affiliate link) Jordan Grumet explores how similar reasoning can be used to explore the concept of purpose.  Here’s a glimpse:

Purpose

Grumet is in a unique position to have insights on this topic.  As a hospice doctor who treats and comforts those at the very end of their lives he’s had the hard and emotional conversations about life and death with many people.  Additionally, he’s been one of the leading figures in the FIRE movement for the past 8 years, which at it’s roots is really not about getting rich and quitting your job but more about using money as a tool to live a more deliberate and purposeful life.

The main overarching theme that runs through the book is that we should be pursuing what Grumet calls little P purpose, and not big P purpose.  The former is a process-oriented purpose that you can enjoy and get meaning out of, the latter is a goal-oriented purpose that often leads to failure and anxiety.

For Grumet himself his big P purpose was becoming a doctor, which he did.  And it didn’t fulfill him the end.  Then he found his little P purpose which was writing, podcasting, and being a part of the financial independence community.  He does a great job of detailing his personal journey to support the major themes in the book.

The Book

Much of the first part of the book is spent on explaining little P versus big P purpose and why the former is what you want to find or create and then spend your time doing.  He gives lots of advice as to how to find or create little P purpose. 

In part 2 of the book he dives into happiness and how it relates to purpose.  This section also has a nice exploration of trauma which I appreciated since I’m a strong believer that we all have traumas of some sort in our lives and how (or if) we’ve processed them significantly affects not just our mental and physical health but virtually every aspect of life. 

The next big theme of the book is what Grumet calls “the climb” which is finding something to pursue in relation to your little P purpose.  Start writing, pick up that guitar, start volunteering, try woodworking.  The climb could be anything really, as long as it’s helping you create and live your little P purpose. 

In the last section Grumet focuses on the bigger “so what” picture.  He argues that little P purpose is important mainly as a vehicle to engage with others in community and thus promulgate generational growth and legacy.  This, he argues, will minimize regrets.

My Take

I loved the book.  Grumet has an approachable and straightforward writing style that reads effortlessly.  While reading this book you will likely do what I did – a self examination to consider whether or not you have a little P purpose and if not how you might find one. 

I personally think little P purpose is probably a fungible and amorphous thing for most, meaning you could have more than a few and they could change over time or pop in and out of your life.  Grumet does allude to this but seems to focus on a more singular version of little P purpose. 

Having grown up in the dangerous urban chaos of Baltimore City, I sometimes felt I was reading something that would sound like an alien language to most of the people in my former life.  No one I grew up with in Baltimore is sitting around wondering about their purpose in life.  Most are avoiding phone calls from their probation officer, dodging debt collectors, or trying to manage 6 chronic diseases and not die at the young age of 49. 

Grumet does address this issue – the “privilege” of even being able to do this self-improvement work.  In the end the reality of my former friends in Baltimore or those on the edge of society and the fact that they’d very likely never relate to this book isn’t Grumet’s fault, it’s just reality. 

Grumet’s advice and wisdom is out there for those who have enough stability and sovereignty in life to pursue.  I guess the same can be said for any self-help advice. 

Takeaways

I follow the FIRE community online and am amazed how often I see posts or comments asking the “what will I do when I retire?” question.  It appears lots of people have no interests or hobbies outside of their job.  I could live 20 lifetimes and still not run out of things I’d like to do or try, or new hobbies that I have an interest in but just not enough time. 

Everyone can get something out of this book, but if you are one of those people who doesn’t have anything to retire to, this book is definitely for you.  Because if you retire to nothing, to a life of sitting around and passively consuming TV and entertainment, you’ll likely have a crisis of meaning and purpose. 

The Purpose Code is a great manual to prevent that.