1500 - 2000 / Mission Statement

7 Ways To Find And Set Your Life Purpose Goals Objectives [Friedrich Nietzsche]

By Effluo | Published June 2, 2022 | No Comments

Viktor Frankl, in his phenomenal work on the Man’s Search for Meaning, provided exceptional insights into finding life purpose goals objectives.  Within his writings, he referenced and quoted Friedrich Nietzsche as one of his sources of inspiration.  Viktor Frankl’s famous quote, “If you know your why you can overcome any how”, he actually attributed to Nietzsche.  

The Paradox

Let us begin by defining this paradox.  Viktor Frankl was a survivor of two Nazi concentration camps.   Friedrich Nietzsche was not only the favorite philosopher of Hitler, but copies of his book were actually distributed to the Nazi soldiers.

How can the work of one man affect the lives of two completely different people with absolutely different values and beliefs?

A Note on Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most brilliant, misunderstood, vilified, and controversial philosophers of our history.  His dictum of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” has appeared in multiple songs, films, and TV series.  Many know of him, but not much about him. 

Nietzsche wrote prolifically, and he himself is partly to be blamed for being so misunderstood.  Many of his writings are just a list of short aphorisms, without explanations or elaborations, leaving much for misinterpretation.  However, with remarks such as “there are no facts, only interpretations,” you may argue that all interpretations of Nietzsche are equally valid.  

He was a very radical philosopher.  Whatever your opinions are of him, his work is truly a force to be reckoned with.

The Paradox Explained

Let us begin with Nietzsche’s status as the official philosopher of the Nazi party.  In his work Simply Nietzsche, Peter Kail provided a great explanation of this phenomenon. 

In the later part of his life, Nietzsche suffered from a mental health condition, manic depression, that led to psychosis.  He was eventually put under the care of his mother. 

As Nietzsche’s health declined, his fame grew.  His sister, Elisabeth, took control of Nietzsche’s guardianship and began to control his image.  A word on Nietzsche’s sister.  She was an anti-semite and a devoted follower of Hitler.   She was the one responsible for the pseudo publication of the book The Will To Power, mythologizing him according to her twisted conception of the world.   This carefully edited and twisted image resulted in him becoming the figurehead of the right-wing movement.

Peter Kail summarized this with the following.  “Because of this intentional (mis)appropriation, Nietzsche became known as the official philosopher of the Nazi party, a painful irony since he decried German nationalism and antisemitism in equal measure.”

As a result, a person like Viktor Frankl, that studied the authentic works of Friedrich Nietzsche, understood that Nietzsche did not support German nationalism or anti-semitism.  A person less familiar with the life and the genuine works of Nietzsche will remain with a very conflicted view of this truly fascinating individual.

Why Review Nietzsche and His Thoughts on Life Purpose Goals Objectives?

Friedrich Nietzsche was a powerful thinker who inspired many throughout history.  People love to hate him and yet cannot ignore the power of his words.  Let us then jump right into his thoughts on life purpose goals objectives.

Become who you are! ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

His philosophy could be summarized in this one quote.  Similar to Stoics, who advocated living to your own nature, Nietzsche challenged the reader to reject the morality of the masses and rely on their own creativity to discover how they can best serve the social good.  In other words, know yourself and use that knowledge to serve others.

The list of seven ways to find your purpose, goals, objectives were based on the following four works of Friedrich Nietzsche:

Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book For All and None

Beyond Good and Evil

Twilight of The Idols

Schopenhauer as Educator

1 Know Your Why

When one has one’s wherefore of life, one gets along with almost every how.  – Friedrich Nietzsche,  The Twilight Of The Idols

In other words, if you know your why you can overcome any how.  Viktor Frankl elaborated on this statement in his work the Meaning of Life.  Three Ways To Find The Meaning Of Life article discusses Viktor Frankl’s work in detail.

Viktor Frankl stated that the key difference between people who survived the concentration camps and the ones who did not; was a defined purpose for their suffering and day-to-day life. 

As you set specific goals make it a practice to identify ‘why’ you want to achieve the goal.   Having clear objectives for goal achievement is closely tied to knowing the “why” behind these goals.  

As you begin identifying the “why” behind your goals you will begin to formulate an idea of what drives you.  You will begin identifying what you value in your life, which in turn becomes your life purpose.   If on the other hand, your “Why” does not fully resonate with you keep asking yourself “why”.

The 5 Why’s Exercise

If you ever studied Six Sigma you may be familiar with the exercise of “5 Why’s”.  In order to get to the root cause of any problem ask ‘why’ you have this problem.  To the answer, again ask ‘why’, and keep doing it until you get to the root cause.

Try this exercise and you will see the power of this approach.   The fun thing about this, is there are no wrong answers as long as you are being honest with yourself.

Download the free goal details worksheet PDF to help with finding the why behind your goals.

2  Avoid Absolutes

Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of health; everything absolute belongs to pathology.    – Friedrich Nietzsche,   Beyond Good and Evil

Pathology is the science of the causes of diseases.   In this statement, Nietzsche states that everything absolute belongs to pathology.  Absolutes stop growth. 

A person in search of knowledge will continue to pursue it, once that person decides that they have reached the peak of knowledge, the growth stops.  This is the pathology.  

Many mistakes have been made throughout history because people followed absolutes.   There was a lack of objection and questioning of these absolutes.  

As you continue through your journey of life, continue to grow, continue to learn, and definitely continue to question the status quo especially as it applies to your personal journey. 

3  Chose Your Own Path

You have your way.  I have my way.  As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.    – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

Nietzsche did not specifically say this, he put these words into the mouth of Zarathustra, a fictional character.  In this case it is safe to assume that Zarathustra is speaking for Nietzsche. What this means is that there is no one single goal that applies to all persons. 

Whatever enhances your will to power is what is good for you.  

It is important to know, if something works for you or is good for you, there is no reason to believe that it will be good for anyone else.  Likewise, what is good for someone else does not mean it will be good for you.

Your life purpose goals objectives is not to determine what you should live for, but rather to discover what in fact makes you want to live.  Or, what makes you feel most alive.

This is exactly what Viktor Frankl tried to relate in his book.

The point is not what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us. – Viktor Frankl

4  Develop Your Individuality

Insanity in individuals is something rare—but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. – Friedrich Nietzsche,  Beyond Good and Evil  

Have you ever looked at history and wondered, what were they thinking?   Likewise, have you ever looked at society today and wondered, what are they thinking?   Individually people seem to be rational beings, but in groups and mobs the rationality seems to disappear. This is truly a fascinating phenomenon that has been studied by social psychologists for over a century. 

The concept of individuality has a strong presence throughout the writings of Nietzsche.  He was a strong proponent of the power of individuality. Do not be afraid to be your authentic self. Develop your individuality and use that for the greater good.

It is difficult to be understood, especially when one thinks and lives gangasrotogati [Footnote: Like the river Ganges: presto.] among those only who think and live otherwise—namely, kurmagati [Footnote: Like the tortoise: lento.], or at best “froglike,” mandeikagati [Footnote: Like the frog: staccato.] (I do everything to be “difficultly understood” myself!)  – Friedrich Nietzsche,  Beyond Good and Evil 

Reminder, it is important to remember that if something works for you there is no reason to believe that it will work for someone else.  Nor does it mean that it should be understood by everyone around you.  

Do not carve a path for yourself and then expect or force others to follow you or understand you.  Another quote that some attribute to Nietzsche, very clearly explains this idea.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.  – Unknown

If you are being your individual self and your are not being understood by people around you, that is OK. You were created and put on this earth to be yourself, not anyone else. To paraphrase the scriptures, everyone cannot be an ear or an eye, every individual has their role to play.

5  Embrace Independence

It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a privilege of the strong.  And whoever attempts it, even with the best right, but without being OBLIGED to do so, proves that he is probably not only strong, but also daring beyond measure.  – Friedrich Nietzsche,  Beyond Good and Evil 

Nietzsche was fiercely independent and believed that it is possible to reach your personal ideal.  To begin with, you cannot reach independence if you follow the masses.  And secondary, you cannot do it unless you fully discover what you are dependent on.  

• Do you depend on someone to make you happy? 
• Do you depend on someone to take care of you?

One of Aesop’s fables has a story called The Dog and the Wolf. 

A hungry wolf meets a well-fed dog and asks how he is so much better off than him, the wolf.  Dog explains all the benefits he gets from his owners and how he is always very well fed and taken care of. 

Wolf noticed a crease on the neck of the dog and asked what that was.  The dog answered that his owners put him on the leash during the day so he would not run around and be rested to guard the house at night.  Wolf’s response was “I’d rather be free than fat.  Liberty is what I want and what you offer cannot take its place.” – Aesop   The point is that freedom is worth whatever price we must pay for it.

The price for independence is high, and it can be frightening to be your authentic independent self.   But consider this, no price is too high for owning yourself. 

6 Create a Dancing Star

One must have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.  – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

Let us look at the word chaos.  Immediately upon hearing it you may think of mess and disorder.  And you would not be wrong; this is exactly what chaos means today. 

To Nietzsche, however, chaos meant something very different.  He was very interested in Greek culture and his use of the word ‘chaos’ is derived from the ancient Greek definition of it. 

In Greek mythology, Chaos was a creator of deities such as Gaia (earth) and Tartarus (underworld).  A creator god. 

Of interesting note: In Phoenician culture Chaos was also a primeval creator deity.  In Chinese culture, Hun-tun is a deity representing chaos.  Chinese mythology states that from Chaos evolved time and space and a fixed-point Tai Chi.

Chaos as it stands here is a creative force.  Discovering this creative potential within you will give you the power to create your own dancing star.  Your dancing star is your unique contribution to the world. 

To paraphrase this quote it would sound like this.

You must discover your creative potential to create your unique contribution to the world.

Be it a thought, music, art, a novel, or any sort of creation that makes this world more fulfilled and beautiful.

Without music, life would be a mistake.  – Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of The Idols  

7 Give Back and Share Your Love

A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.  – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil 

In other words, if you continue to receive from life, from society, from people around you, but you do not reciprocate and give back, you are only harming yourself. 

Here Nietzsche points to the soul, stating that if it does not itself love it betrays itself, and its dregs come up.   Dregs are the most worthless parts of something, the remnants of liquid left in a container together with any sediments.  If you do not give back to society your own soul will become polluted with its own sediments.   

The meaning of life can, therefore, be found in doing good for others.  Contributing to society and showing love to people around you.  By creating something of value for others enriches your own life in the long run.

What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.  – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil 

Summary

The common theme of finding the meaning of your life and your purpose goals objectives is to discover who you are as an individual, what drives you, and use that to improve the world around you.  Reject the morality of the masses, find your creative potential and discover how you can best serve the social good. 

No one can build you the bridge, over which you must cross the river of life, but yourself alone.  There are paths and bridges and demi-gods without number, that will gladly carry you over, but only at the price of your own self.  – Friedrich Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator

Your life purpose goals objectives is to live the life that only you can live. To live any other life, to follow the dreams of other people is too high of a price to pay.

7 Ways To Find and Set Life Purpose Goals Objectives

• 1  Know Your Why
• 2  Avoid Absolutes
• 3  Chose Your Own Path
• 4  Develop Your Individuality
• 5  Embrace Independence
• 6 Create a Dancing Star
• 7 Give Back and Share Your Love

There is in the world one road whereon none may go, except you: ask not where it leads, but go forward. – Friedrich Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator

Latest posts