Purpose.

A small word that feels like it's everywhere.

Do you have it?
Do you need it?
Where is it (damn it)?

I read recently that the term “find your purpose” has increased in books by 700% over the last two decades.

I get why it's such a common concern, though. Have you ever had that unsettling feeling?

The one when you're ticking all the boxes - a good career, decent income, respect from others - but something inside whispers, “Why isn’t this making me happy?”

Maybe you're a successful consultant who suddenly wonders if you only chose this path because your dad always said, “make money, then you can do what you want.”

Or you're running a business that looks impressive on paper, but deep down you're feeling like you’re an imposter.

If this rings true, you're definitely not alone.

And here's something that might surprise you: that nagging feeling might not be about you at all.

The family success recipe

Think about your family for a moment. What did they teach you about work and success?

Not just the obvious stuff they said out loud, but the quiet messages, too.

Did your parents work incredibly hard because their parents struggled financially?

Did your grandmother never get to pursue her dreams, so education became everything in your household?

Maybe your family always played it safe because taking risks felt dangerous.

These aren't always bad things. Our families pass down the wisdom that they think helped them survive.

But here's what's interesting: sometimes we end up living their unlived dreams instead of our own.

You might be unconsciously following a “family success recipe” - a set of rules about what's important, what's safe, and what's worth pursuing that got handed down like a treasured cookbook.

Except nobody asked if you can stomach the ingredients.

**Rewrite your purpose story**
**At this year's Summercamp**, Lana Jelenjev invites you to explore where your sense of purpose began, how it’s been shaped by family and culture, and what still feels true today.
Let go of old scripts, and get clear on a purpose that feels aligned.

When success feels empty

Anne-Laure Le Cunff in conversation at The Happy Startup School

Neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and bestselling author of Tiny Experiments, our Fireside guest Anne Laure Le Cunff, had it all.

A clear career ladder she was climbing, work that had her flown around the world, and the prestige that comes from working at Google.

A life-threatening medical emergency - the surgery for which she tried to postpone, for fear of impacting her team - was her much-needed catalyst.

When asked “How’s life?” on a rare trip home to Paris from San Francisco, she noticed how flat her voice sounded. As she writes,

“I hadn’t ever asked myself this. I was too busy, always focusing on finishing the next deliverable or hitting a bigger target .. I stopped asking what I wanted out of my day or even out of my future.

My mother was terrified when I told her I was going to leave my job at Google. I was jumping into the unknown while renouncing a prestigious and, most importantly, secure job many people aspired to.

It took years for her anxiety to subside - and only after I had proven that I could keep a roof over my head and food on the table.”

Le Cunff’s mother was born in Sidi Okba, Algeria, which attracted spiritual leaders and was where “Arabs and Bedouins met for the commerce of spices, camels, and fabrics.”

I have immigrant ancestry on my mother’s side; it’s not a stretch for me to imagine where that anxiety about financial security might come from.

This happens more than you might think.

We inherit our family's fears, their unfulfilled ambitions, and their ideas about what's possible.

Then we mistake these inherited patterns for our own calling.

When you're living someone else's script, work can feel like you're constantly trying to prove something.

But when you're following your actual purpose?
It feels different.
Calmer.

More like coming home to yourself.

You start noticing:

You feel energised by your work instead of drained
You care less about impressing others and more about doing meaningful work
Your decisions feel right in your body, not just logical on paper
You're evolving naturally instead of forcing everything

And I have a big permission slip to write for you right now. It says, “It's okay to disappoint people.”

This might be the hardest part: giving yourself permission to choose differently than your family expects.

Maybe that means leaving the family business.

Or starting one when everyone thinks you're crazy.
Or choosing curiosity over security, like Le Cunff.
Or choosing security, if it flies in the face of the family tradition of “following your passion.”

Because living authentically actually honours our families more than living their unlived dreams.

When Le Cunff followed her instincts and developed Ness Labs, who knows? Perhaps she was manifesting the spiritual and entrepreneurial energy of her mother’s place of birth.

And I'm going to whisper a little secret. Psst, come closer.

It's this: You don't have to stick with the same story forever, even if it's been successful.

Your purpose is allowed to change.

You're allowed to outgrow what once fit perfectly.
You're allowed to change direction when you change as a person.

This doesn't mean throwing away everything you've built.

It means asking yourself: “What parts of my current path feel genuinely mine? And what parts am I doing because I think I should?”

Sometimes the shifts are dramatic: career changes, new ventures, completely different lifestyles.

But often they're subtler: changing how you work, who you work with, or why you're doing what you're doing.

Starting to rewrite

If any of this feels familiar, here's where you can start:

Notice what you're trying to prove, and to whom. What would you choose if you truly believed you had permission to disappoint people?
Pay attention to your energy. What work feels alive versus what feels like obligation?
Ask yourself: if your family's story about success wasn't the only option, what would you choose?

The goal isn't to reject everything you've inherited, but to consciously choose what fits and lovingly release what doesn't.

Your ancestors didn't have the choices you have now.

And sometimes the most honouring thing you can do is live the freedom they couldn't access.

If this exploration feels important to you, Lana Jelenjev will be diving much deeper into rewriting your story in The Purpose Pod at Summercamp.

One of our three course leaders on Vision 20/20, it's a wonderful opportunity to meet Lana in person and spend time in her gracious and transformative energy.

Sometimes the most transformative work begins with simply asking: “What if this story I'm living isn't actually mine?”