The Myth of Hustling Your Way to Purpose

For as long as I can remember even in my childhood, I have had a deep desire to discover and fulfill my purpose – that is, the way I am particularly gifted to contribute to and serve my community and beyond. Maybe it was my Christian upbringing that planted this seed in my mind so long ago, but it’s been an ever-present theme in my life’s pursuit. At Trusty Oak, we had a purpose statement that served as a reminder of why we do what we do, and what’s funny is that our purpose statement even had the word purpose in it.

“Purpose-fulfilled people change the world.”

I’ve always had an inkling that my individual purpose is to support others in discovering and fulfilling their purpose, because I believe wholeheartedly in the Trusty Oak purpose statement. When people are aligned with their purpose, something magical happens.

I used to think that finding my purpose would come from achieving more – more success, more clarity, more proof that I was on the right track. So I hustled. I performed. I over-functioned in every direction that felt “right.” And for a while, that worked. Until it didn’t.

What I’ve come to realize is that clarity around purpose doesn’t come from striving – it comes from alignment. From telling the truth about who you really are, and having the courage to live from that place. It’s our authentic selves that put the soul into the work we do.

In a world that rewards performance, authenticity can feel like a risk. But I’m learning that it’s actually the most reliable compass we have when it comes to knowing what deserves our energy and attention.

So if you’ve ever felt stuck between doing what’s expected and living what’s true – this is for you.

What Gets in the Way of Authenticity

But here’s the catch: even when we want to live authentically, it’s not always easy to know what that really means – let alone how to do it. There are so many things that get in the way.

For one, we are receiving mixed messages about what being authentic means. The theme is everywhere – be real, be raw, be you! But so often it comes with strings attached. “Be yourself, but not that way.” And still others think that being authentic means sharing all the things on social media without filtering ourselves for the public. I don’t think true authenticity can be boiled down to expressing quirks or telling our truth online.

Secondly, we carry stories that tell us we have to earn our worth. We absorb expectations about what success should look like. And for many of us, there’s a long trail of internalized beliefs – about what’s acceptable, what’s desirable, what’s safe – that keep us performing instead of being.

If purpose flows from authenticity, then it’s worth looking at what’s keeping us from living that way in the first place. Let’s look at three of the most common barriers blocking us from our authentic self.

1. Shame

For me, this barrier lurked under the surface for decades of my life. Subconsciously, I believed that there are parts of me that needed to stay hidden in order for me to be loved and accepted by others, and even by God. When I finally acknowledged my shame and faced it squarely with courage, I was able to see how shame was driving me to mute my soul’s deepest desires. I could also see how keeping some of my truths hidden prevented me from intimacy and connection with others. How ironic that my reaction to hide things so I could be loved and accepted was the actual thing that kept me from deeper love and acceptance!

2. Performance

When we give ourselves to the process of striving to be really good at things, it’s very easy to gradually and unknowingly confuse value with productivity or perfection. This is where hustle culture becomes toxic and those who believe they must work harder to show their worth get lost in the sauce, and look up one day to realize they are burned out. The reason performance is a barrier to authenticity is because when we believe our value is measured by our output, we approach everything we do with the end in mind instead of recognizing the gift of the present. We may achieve a lot of amazing things, but eventually feel like we’ve lost ourselves in the process. Our authentic self is buried somewhere under the bedlam of our many achievements.

3. People-pleasing

The third barrier to true authenticity plays out as we put on different masks to navigate through life. This may feel like benign different versions of yourself – the “work version” of you, the “visiting parents” version, “first date” version, “game day” version, and “home alone with no one watching” version, too. There’s nothing inherently wrong with bringing a specific tone or persona to different areas of your life, but if you frequently edit yourself to be palatable instead of true, that’s when it becomes a barrier to knowing what makes you unique and expressing yourself authentically.

The good news is, these barriers don’t have to define us forever. Authenticity isn’t something we arrive at once and for all – it’s something we practice, over and over again, in small moments of truth-telling. And when we begin to remove the masks and quiet the noise, something starts to shift. We notice what lights us up. We start to feel when something is “off” because we’re finally attuned to our own inner compass. We recognize the gap between who we’ve been performing to be and who we actually are. And in that space, something powerful begins to emerge: clarity, energy, even purpose.

What Happens When You Reclaim Your Authenticity

When we begin to live from a more authentic place, the changes aren’t always dramatic on the outside, but they’re unmistakable on the inside. We feel less fragmented, less at war with ourselves. Decisions start to feel more aligned. Relationships become more intimate and honest. We begin to trust ourselves again – our intuition, our values, our sense of timing. And that trust becomes the soil where clarity about our purpose can grow. You might still be doing many of the same things – showing up at work, raising kids, creating, leading, building something meaningful – but the why beneath it starts to shift. You’re no longer performing to be good enough. You’re contributing from a place of wholeness.

For me, reclaiming authenticity wasn’t a single moment – it has been and continues to be a series of small, intentional yeses to the truth. Yes to vulnerability. Yes to taking one step, even if I can’t see the next after that. Yes to the love that made me feel most alive. And slowly, my life began to reorient – not around what I thought I should do, but around what felt deeply aligned with who I really am.

Over the past few months, something interesting has been happening as I’ve intentionally experimented with new ways of authentic expression.

For example, I’ve recently started wearing clothes that I feel like reflect my artistic taste. I’ve been attending events centered around wellness practices like yoga, qigong, breathwork, and sound baths, and I linger a bit afterward to connect with new people. I’ve also allowed myself to be curious about others, asking questions instead of talking about myself as much.

One day, my wife and I were walking downtown after seeing one of our favorite bands, and a stranger complimented me by saying they liked my outfit. That felt really good especially because I had changed my look a bit from my normal clothes and I felt confident in this revised style. Another day, two different people approached me after an event and both made comments about my “energy” and how they felt drawn to connect more after noticing my calm energy.

I think these interactions are small ways to highlight how when I stopped trying to fit into a specific persona or identity and allowed my true taste to show, it was as if I became magnetic. I don’t necessarily want a lot of attention, but the takeaway for me has been that when I lean into what lights me up and what I’m uniquely gifted to offer, the right people, opportunities, and energies seem to come into alignment with my path.

My efforts to embody true authenticity have helped me see how discovering purpose can become more organic – less of a search and more of an emergence.

When we reclaim our authenticity, it becomes a lot easier to understand and pursue our purpose. It works on micro and macro levels. When I’m authentic in a single conversation, I might realize my purpose in that moment is to invite a deeper connection with another. When I’m authentic in my vocation or job, work doesn’t feel like work and I can see my purpose unfolding as I take one step at a time.

The surprising part? Living from your truth doesn’t just unlock some grand, future purpose – it clarifies the meaning of this moment. Aligning with our authenticity isn’t just about making life-altering decisions or big career shifts. It’s also in how you speak to a stranger, how you listen to your body, how you show up in your relationships and routines. It’s in your tone of voice, your curiosity, your honesty.

In other words, your purpose isn’t waiting for you “out there” – it starts to emerge right here, in your daily life, when you choose to live aligned with who you really are.

Let Authenticity Be Your Compass

And that’s the thing I’m learning about living from my truth – it doesn’t give me a step-by-step blueprint. It’s not a map with every twist and turn labeled. But it is a compass.

When you’re in touch with your authentic self, you start to sense which direction is yours, even if the destination isn’t clear yet. It’s like the needle of the compass steadying after a long time spinning. You might not see the whole path, but you no longer feel lost.

Authenticity doesn’t promise ease. But it does promise alignment. And alignment brings peace and a level of confidence – better said as “courage” – to step into the unknown.

I’m living in this lesson right now. I’ve got my authenticity compass out and I take time every morning to tell myself the truth through journaling. Being honest with myself first each day sets me up to notice alignment or misalignment with anything I am giving my attention and energy. I spend time in quiet solitude, too. It’s in these moments, whether praying or meditating, that I am able to recognize a felt sense of alignment with my purpose – even when I don’t have the whole map. I think this liminal season of my life is teaching me how immeasurably valuable my authenticity actually is, and how this is the tool to keep in my favorite pocket as I discover what’s next.

Journal Prompts

So I’ll turn the compass toward you now. If this post resonated with you, consider journaling with these questions:

• What part of you have you been editing or hiding?
• What would it look like to stop performing and start listening to your life?
• What truth are you ready to reclaim?

You don’t need to answer these questions all at once. But maybe today you can begin by noticing. Noticing the spaces where you feel most alive. The moments where you feel most like yourself. The quiet inner yes that rises up when something is true for you.

An Invitation: I’m Preaching Sunday, August 17th

At 10 am, August 17, 2025, I have the special honor to be a guest preacher at my church here in Austin, TX. I’ll be sharing more of my personal story – how reclaiming authenticity changed not only my life, but also how I understand my purpose. If this speaks to you, I’d love for you to join me at The Vine – either in person here in Austin or online for the livestream. You can find all the details for how to tune in on Youtube, Facebook, or in person at https://www.thevineaustin.org/.

The journey to purpose isn’t paved with certainty – it’s paved with truth.

You don’t have to hustle your way into clarity. You don’t have to earn your worth or prove your path to anyone. You simply have to return to the truth of who you are, and let that truth lead the way.

Your authenticity is the compass pointing you toward your purpose. Be courageous and take the next step.