20 Secrets to Find Fulfillment in Life

What is fulfillment in life? More so, why does it matter? Because we live only one mortal life. We come into this world naked and also depart naked. This segues to if only there were a report card of of life published, it would be a narrative of how we lived our life. That also means did we live our life to our fullest potential? And how did we help others in this world to live a better life? To live a fulfilled life? In this post, I will share 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life.

I consider myself to be extremely fortunate and am immensely grateful for it. But there are so many people in the world who are not as fortunate. In terms of access to education, healthcare and work opportunities. In a nutshell, a better quality of life.

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.”

– Tony Robbins

Prologue

It was the summer of 2019. My family had gone to India to visit our relatives. The schedule for me was to work and get back home, then repeat the cycle again daily. So for me it was all the time by myself. Therefore, it gave me a lot of time to think and introspect. Then I was thinking about how my life is going. Although work was fulfilling but then a question loomed. Is the goal of my life only work, work and work? Or only earn money to retire one day? Then, when I retire financially secure one day, what would I be working on? Can I live a retired life doing no work? Then should I die one day reflecting on my deathbed that I lived only for myself?

There are so many people in the world who could have lived a much better life only if they could get some timely advice, some encouragement and guidance.

It is then the idea of starting this website dawned. So with this website, could I find a medium to help others? More so, could this website become a catalyst to help each other in the world? By sharing my experiences and learning, and providing a platform for others to do the same?

What is Fulfillment in Life?

The way I would define fulfillment in life is our ability to live our life by realizing our full potential. That would also include finding our purpose in life and then thriving to achieve our purpose. In this post, I am going to share my 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life. The purpose of the post is also to help you introspect your secrets to find fulfillment in life. Since we all are different, everyone of us will probably have our own secrets to find fulfillment in life.

What Drives Fulfillment in Life?

Then I have been thinking over the past two years, what would be all the drivers to find fulfillment in life? As a result, I came up with the overarching themes of finding fulfillment in life. It also took me a lot of critiquing my thoughts on my theory of what drives fulfillment in life.

On this website, I crystallized my thoughts and understanding into 10 drivers to finding fulfillment in life. They being Gratitude, Selfless- Contribution, Purpose, Learning, Livelihood, Health, Relationship, Leisure, Quality of Life and Self-Actualization.

• Gratitude

• Selfless-Contribution

• Purpose

• Learning

• Livelihood

• Health

• Relationship

• Leisure

• Quality of life

• Self-Actualization

20 Secrets to Find Fulfillment in Life

Then, if we try to understand how we can find fulfillment in life, then it would get into what are the specific things if we do, we can find it. More so, it would have us foray into what are the secrets to find fulfillment in life? So here are the 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life.

Find Contentment

Being content might sound like a mirage in our materialistic life. Then the question is, does it to you?

Why is it most of the time we are not content with what we have? Why do we hanker for more and more? This segues to why can’t we lead a minimalist life? That is a life wherein we keep and just have what we really need.

I strongly relate happiness to contentment. If we want, we can search for happiness in small things in life. And we don’t need to be millionaires to find happiness. Since we can find it in small deeds.

Many times, poor people lead very contented lives. Then how do they find happiness, even being poor? As long as they can meet their basic needs and live a life with a minimum quality of life, finding happiness is all about being content with what we have. And not brood over what we don’t have.

Once we can meet our basic needs, any positive change can be a source of happiness. Let’s imagine in Asia’s largest slums Dharavi in the heart of Mumbai, India 1 million people live within 0.8 square mile. Most of the people living in Dharavi live in a single room or double room, some of them are two-storied with the average size of the room being about 120 square feet, which houses 4-10 people. So do residents of Dharavi find happiness and moments of joy? Of course they do.

Show Gratitude

Contentment stems out from gratitude. Oxford Languages defines gratitude as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”. So how does showing gratitude help us find fulfillment in life? Fulfillment is a state when we can feel that we have done the fullest with our lives. The best that we wanted to do and the best that we can do with our lives.

When we feel and show gratitude, we are thankful to god and everyone around us to help us reach where we are and be thankful for we got. This also means we don’t crib about what don’t have. Rather, continuously work on improving ourselves and our capabilities to achieve more. Which essentially means we should always strive for excellence. Because life is a journey of continuous improvement and achieving the best in us. Hence, gratitude not only helps us find happiness in life, more so gratitude helps us find true inner peace.

Have Hope

Hope is probably the most powerful pillar to find happiness. And try to live a fulfilled life. We all live in hope. And if we have it, it can stand as a sound foundation to look forward to a better future for us and our next generation. And no matter how we lived our lives, if we can give our next generations a better future or at least can hope for it, we can probably be happier and can die in peace.

According to the World poverty clock, as of May 30, 2021, the world has about 717 million people living in extreme poverty. The top 3 countries being Nigeria ~87 million, India ~84 million and Republic of Congo ~66 million. They live on less than $1.9 per day. So how do they live life? They live on very meager means and live on hope for a better future. So what is that we can learn? There is hope for all of us no matter what difficult situation we may go through.

Strive for Better Life

I would say that to live a fulfilled life; we need to strive continually to live a better quality of life. According to Wikipedia, “Quality of life (QOL) is the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life.” There are several factors that drive quality of life in any country. They include, but not limited to, education, healthcare, corruption, safety, freedom of speech and opportunities for livelihood.

Did you know Canada is the best country in the world for quality of life? Countries that rate high on quality of life also rate high on happiness index. Find out more about the 15 top happiness index countries in the world.

We all can strive to live a better lives in countries we live in. But many times immigration provides an opportunity to improve the quality of lives primarily for our next generations.

Give Back Selflessly

Giving back selflessly stems out from a sense of gratitude. And positively affects our health, self-esteem and helps us live a more fulfilled life.

Learn more about why and how to give back to our communities and the world at large.

Learn Lifelong

I have recently enrolled myself for my online MBA after over twenty years of work. Hence the question may why do I want to do my MBA so late in my career? The answer to that question is not straightforward. Although there are possibilities that my MBA might help with my career in my current organization to move into roles that usually desire an MBA but that is not the primary reason.

A MBA is a significant commitment of my time, then why am I wanting to take on this commitment with probably diminishing returns for my job career? The more I think about it, the answer I get from my inner self is that I like continual education. I like to gain knowledge related to my work. I closely relate the MBA to the work I do at present. There are several aspects that I already practice or come across in my day to work. So I think my MBA extends to learning more about my work and my ability to do my work across multiple functions by applying broadly.

Discover Your Passion

Most of us work full time or part time. And many times, the work we do for a living may or may not tee up with our passion. So in the rat race to make a living sometimes with don’t get time to discover our passion. Once we can discover our passion, we should nurture it and preferably build a career around our passion..

Read more about ways to find your passion in life.

Love Your Work

Loving our work stems from how close is our work to our passion. If we enjoy our work, we will probably love our work. More so, we spend about one third of our life at work. So, without loving our work, work will become a burden. Would you agree?

Our love for our work could be an immense source of fulfillment in our lives. As a result, we would feel fulfilled by the sheer joy of doing the work we do, irrespective of how much we earn from it. Because money is something that follows or is a lagging indicator. So primarily, our love for doing something drives how much depth and breadth we can achieve, not the lure of monetary success. Read more about how to enjoy your work.

Do Your Duty

In Hindu mythology the Bhagavad Gita states “do your duty, but do not concern yourself with the results”. This is profound, is it not? In today’s material and results driven world, it is possible for anyone to do something expecting nothing as a result or return?

When we stop expecting anything from what we do that might be a immense source of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Exercise Regularly

How do we feel when we do any physical activity, it might any sport, going for a run or simply walking through the by-lanes? Did you know exercise triggers release of endorphins and dopamines in our body, which regulates our mood and happiness?

Learn also more about why we don’t take care of our health even when we all know we should. To live a fulfilled life, we need to focus on our health. This is easier said than done for many of us. Would you agree?

With this, we have covered 10 out of the 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life. Let’s read about the remaining 10.

Rejuvenate Yourself

This might not need any introduction. Would you agree? To lead a happy and a fulfilled life, we need to recharge ourselves so that we can be productive. So it is imperative we take time and rejuvenate ourselves in ways that best works for us. For some, spending time with family and friends can be a great way to recharge and for some, doing something they are passionate about can be an immense way to rejuvenate.

Read more about how to rejuvenate yourself at work.

Travel

This might be the quintessential way of finding fulfillment in life for travel lovers. Something to reflect and ponder. Why do we travel? Travel may not only be a getaway or leisure activity, it might be the way we learn from experiences. We can go to school to get educated, but often we learn from our experiences. And there might not be better ways to gain new experiences than travel. What does travel mean to you?

Build Relationships

If you thought fame and money are what we what drive a fulfilled life, think again. Robert Waldinger, director of a 75-year-extensive study of adult development, concluded that the most important contributor to living a fulfilled life is having strong relationships. 

It is our relationships, both in our family and friendships we build at work or socially that contribute to our fulfillment and happiness. It provides an immense sense of security and belongingness that no money or fame can substitute.

Learn more about secrets of for a long-lasting relationships.

Practice Stoicism

Stoicism comes from the word stoic. It is a philosophy, which teaches indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief, or joy. So how does stoicism help us drive fulfillment in life? Stoicism helps us maintain our composure and emotional balance in adversity. More so, it helps us react to difficult situations with calm and thoughtfulness.

How many times we go back and think we should not have reacted in a way we did? And how many times we repent having said something at the heat of the moment what we should not have said? Because word can make or break relationships, so it is imperative we choose our words thoughtfully. It is not possible to take back words we have spoken, only way out is to apologize or make up for it with additional efforts and endeavors.

Show Humility

Oxford Languages define humility as a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness. Humility is a virtue. In today’s world of outspoken and brash leadership, cutthroat competition and need to outshine in the corporate world, where do virtues like humility live?

It lives in our psyches. And with that, we look for humility, either consciously or subconsciously, in our leaders. Just imagine about your favorite leader and why you think a leader is your favorite? What makes them stand out and worthy of your respect?

Live Simple

Why living a simple life helps you find the fulfillment in life you are seeking? Living a simple life declutters our lives and helps us focus on the vital few that we really cherish and yearn for. We come into this world naked and will leave the world the same, then why do we hanger for materials or stuffs? Why don’t we yearn for experiences and learning? How we de step back and reflect what we really want from our lives?

Learn more about how to declutter and lead a simple life. Also read more about how to lead a minimalist life.

Meditate

This might not be easy in the literal terms, not sure how many of you really practice meditation. So, in simple terms, meditation is our ability to focus consciously on our breath. Hence, it is probably the simplest form of meditation.

The purpose is to divert our mind from the day to today distractions and relax our mind. It is a way to rejuvenate or recharge our minds as well. Sounds interesting?

Understand Yourself

By understanding yourself, I mean try to spend time with yourself.

Reflect. Introspect and try to answer the questions that we ask ourselves. So in this journey, we learn more about ourselves, who we are really and what we really want? Because everyone is different. For it is us only who can help us understand ourselves.

Find Purpose in Life

Life is a journey, and we live to find our purpose in life. Since we all are unique, we will probably have different purposes in life. It is when we try to understand ourselves we try to find the unique purpose of our lives.

Learn more about why most people don’t fine find their purpose in life.

Realize Your Potential

This is probably the pinnacle of the journey towards finding fulfillment in life. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they also termed it as self-actualization or self-realization. In simple terms, is essentially means our ability to realize our fullest potential.

As it may sound like, we may not realize our fullest potential because life is all about continuous improvement and striving for excellence. What matters is the journey towards realizing our potential. Which also includes our ability to find out what could be our fullest potential and making the stride towards it.

With this we covered all the 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life. What do you think about these secrets? Do they resonate with you?

Conclusion

In a nutshell, these 20 secrets to find fulfillment in life may or may not be your secrets. These may just act as starting point or ideas to consider which you may need to think through. Introspect and reflect, and come up with your own secrets.

Please share yours as well in the comments and let me know if these ideas makes sense.