Following Your Purpose Is Harder Than Finding It, According to ‘That’s The Point’

Everyone’s obsessed with finding their purpose, as if it’s some mystical treasure waiting to be discovered. We scroll through LinkedIn seeing people who “found their calling” and assume they had some dramatic revelation that changed everything overnight. But what if the real challenge isn’t finding your purpose—it’s actually sticking with it once you do?

On That’s The Point, hosts Jon Volk and Kristin Johns sit down with Shannon Rogers, Kristin’s longtime friend who’s spent years as a missionary in Uganda. Her journey from curious college student to full-time missionary reveals a truth most people don’t want to hear: Discovering your calling is often the easy part. The hard work comes in the daily grind of living it out. 

Purpose often unfolds like a slow-burn Netflix series

Forget the Hollywood version of a calling where someone gets struck by lightning and suddenly knows their life’s mission. Real purpose is more like a slow-burn Netflix series—it takes multiple episodes (or in Shannon’s case, years) to reveal the full plot.

“I think it was a slow process,” Shannon explains. “I remember being in fifth grade and watching the movie, the End of the Spear, and I was like, missionaries are special people. Like you can only be a missionary if you’re special.” But that childhood spark didn’t immediately translate into action. It wasn’t until college when she read the Bible cover to cover that things started clicking: “That was when I got to Matthew and the Great Commission. I was like, this is for everyone.”

Most of us shift a lot between ages 10 and 25. What mattered in middle school usually doesn’t survive college, and the way you see yourself at 21 rarely matches who you were at 13. Psychologists call this stage “identity exploration.” It’s a season of testing things out, dropping what doesn’t fit, and holding on to what does.

If you’re feeling stuck because the early signs of purpose were vague, don’t sweat it. Experts say purpose often emerges through trial, error, reflection, and evolving values. The important thing is leaning into those early sparks, however small, and being patient as life writes the script.

When calling meets reality

After that college revelation, Shannon felt drawn to the Karamojong people in Uganda, but every practical path forward seemed blocked. She kept serving in other regions, waiting for the right door to open. Seven years later, it finally did. A missionary reached out with an opportunity to work directly with the community she had carried in her heart for nearly a decade. “I had total peace, because seven years ago I knew that God was burdening my heart with that specific people group,” she recalls.

Seven years is longer than many people stay in a job, let alone wait for a sense of purpose to take shape. And in a culture wired for instant gratification, that kind of patience feels almost impossible. Studies show Gen Z and millennials expect quick results across work, school, and even relationships. Constant exposure to fast feedback loops on social media, same-day shipping, and on-demand entertainment has conditioned many of us to crave immediacy. When answers or opportunities take years, it can feel like something has gone wrong.

Shannon’s story suggests the opposite: Waiting can be the most valuable part of the process. Those seven years weren’t wasted time, they were preparation time. She built skills, strengthened her faith, and learned resilience that would serve her later. The lesson here is simple but often overlooked. Purpose may not be ready for you the moment you are ready for it. The waiting is part of the work, and those in-between seasons might be exactly what shape you for what comes next.

Start where you are (not where you think you should be)

It’s so easy to feel like life hasn’t “really started” yet. You tell yourself you’ll be more consistent once you land the dream job or move to a bigger city. The problem is, waiting for the perfect setup keeps you stuck on pause. “Be faithful where you are,” Shannon advises. “People think, ‘Oh, the hardest thing is saying yes to the big thing’ like moving. That’s easy. Truly to say ‘yes’ to moving for some people is easy, but to be faithful every day is the hard thing.”

That hits, because most of us are wired to chase the next milestone. We’re conditioned by hustle culture to believe the “real” version of our purpose is just around the corner. But what if the not-so-glamorous things you’re doing right now—showing up to a job that feels small, learning how to manage your time, dealing with setbacks—are actually the training ground for what comes next?

The research backs it up. Psychologists say habits and skills you build in your current environment are the strongest predictors of how you’ll handle bigger opportunities later. In other words, the way you lead group projects, or how you navigate a boss who drives you nuts, reveals more about your future capacity than you might think. So instead of dismissing your current season as a placeholder, treat it like practice. Every time you show up fully where you are, you’re building the muscles you’ll need when the bigger opportunity arrives. 

Catch the full conversation on That’s The Point, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts.

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