Start with what you love
Look back at activities you’ve loved, including ones from before or alongside family life, and what made them matter.
A new stage at home
Empty nest: what do you want this new stage to be about?
The empty nest is the stage of life when children have grown and left home. It brings more time, fewer daily obligations and a chance to choose what to give your energy to next. A good first step is to work out what motivates you, so the things you add to your life feel worthwhile to you.
PurposeLife’s eight-step purpose discovery program helps you do that, drawing on your own experience, with an AI coach to help you explore your answers.
What is empty nest syndrome?
“Empty nest syndrome” is a popular name for the feelings some parents have when their children leave home, from pride and relief to missing them and wondering what comes next. It isn’t a medical diagnosis. Alongside the change comes something new: time and attention that are yours to direct.
If sadness or worry stays with you or makes daily life hard, talk to a doctor or a licensed mental health professional. PurposeLife is a purpose discovery program, not therapy.
“The children are grown. What do I want for myself now?”
“I have time again. How do I want to use it?”
“I’d like to pick up what I set aside years ago.”
Illustrative questions for reflection.
What should I do now my children have left home?
Start by looking back. Raising a family built skills and strengths you still have, and there may be interests you set aside along the way. Name the activities you’ve loved, at home, at work and in between, and what you enjoyed about them. Then explore possibilities that fit and try one before you commit: work, volunteering, learning or something new.
How do you find a new purpose for this stage of life?
Choose a long-term goal that matters to you and plan toward it. For years, much of your time may have been organized around your children, and that relationship continues in new forms. A new goal adds to it. It draws on what you’ve learned about yourself and gives your time a direction you’ve chosen.
The eight-step purpose discovery program
How do the eight steps apply to an empty nest?
The same eight steps, from reflection to action, in four stages.
Understand yourself
Recognize your top five character strengths, including the ones family life asked of you.
Explore and try
Find possibilities that fit, from work to volunteering to learning, then try one in real life.
Give your purpose a plan
Choose a long-term goal for this stage and build a road map with practical next steps.
89
adults aged 50 to 85 in a randomized controlled study
The research behind the method
What does the research show?
In a randomized controlled study of 89 adults aged 50 to 85 (Brackman, 2017, Australian Catholic University), adults who received the program developed a stronger sense of purpose than those who did not receive it during the study. The benefits were still present three months after the program ended.
Participants were assigned by chance: 46 received the program and 43 were offered it after the study. Gains showed on all five questionnaires about purpose, and on three of them, people who started with the least sense of purpose gained the most.
PurposeLife uses the same method today, with an AI coach to help you work through it.
Not ready to start? Get the short guide.
Get a short guide: the 8-step method, the research in plain English, and a first exercise you can do today.
How it differs from a general AI assistant
A purpose discovery program, with a coach to guide you.
ChatGPT and Claude can help you explore ideas. PurposeLife guides you through a complete, research-tested method for discovering your purpose.
Its coach draws on guidance developed from the research and experience with people who used earlier versions of the program. It helps you explore what motivates you, work through the exercises and turn what you discover into a long-term purposeful goal.
What will you have at the end?
A long-term purposeful goal you chose yourself and a plan to work toward it. Everything you write is saved, so you can return to it. Along the way you’ll build:
- A record of the activities you love and what you enjoy about them
- Your top five character strengths, with examples from your own life
- A shortlist of possibilities, and what you learned from trying one
- A road map with next steps, dates and people who can help
- Your purpose statement, in your own words, if you choose to write one
Who created PurposeLife
Who is behind the method?
Dr. Levi Brackman created PurposeLife. He started his working life as a rabbi and later became an entrepreneur in finance and technology, thinking carefully about his next purposeful step at each transition. He developed the method through a program to help young people discover their purpose. It became the subject of his doctoral research at Australian Catholic University, which also studied purpose in adults.
About Dr. Levi BrackmanWhere can you read more?
Articles
Common questions
Is this only for parents?
No. PurposeLife is for any adult who wants to discover their purpose and decide how to live it out. This page is for people whose children have left home or are about to, and the program works from your own experiences, whatever they are.
Is PurposeLife therapy?
No. PurposeLife is a purpose discovery program with an AI coach. It isn’t therapy or medical care. If you’re living with ongoing low mood, anxiety or distress, a doctor or licensed mental health professional is the right place to start.
How much time does the program take?
You work at your own pace. Some steps are reflection in the app; others ask you to talk to people or try something in everyday life. Your work is saved between visits, and you have 12 months of access.
What does it cost?
$149, paid once. That includes all eight steps, the AI coach and 12 months of access. There is no subscription, and you can cancel for a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
I’m thinking about going back to work. Will this help?
It helps you work out what you want that work to be about. Step 6, Trying things out, helps you find people to talk to and questions to ask, so you can learn what a role is really like before you decide.
See pricing and refund details or email levi@purposelife.ai.
Want the short guide first?
Get a short guide: the 8-step method, the research in plain English, and a first exercise you can do today.
Your purpose starts with you
Discover what you want your life to be about.
Eight guided steps, based on a method tested in a randomized controlled study, with coaching from the start. Explore your motivations and turn what you discover into a purposeful goal.
From discovery to action
Complete program
$149 paid once
12 months of access, including your AI coach. No subscription.
Your saved work stays readable after access ends.
$149 USD total, including applicable tax.
- All eight steps, from reflection to a purposeful goal
- An AI coach built for purpose discovery, in every step
- Explore what drives the activities you love
- Your strengths, and a library of directions to explore
- Real-world exploration, your road map and purpose statement
- 12 months of access, with coaching included
14-day money-back guarantee. Cancel and refund from your account. How refunds work.
Your own experiences are the starting point
Give your purpose the attention it deserves.
Work through the program in your own time, with a specialist AI coach to help you explore what matters to you.
Look across the activities you love, recognize what motivates you, and choose a long-term purposeful goal. Then build a road map toward it.
Your work is saved between visits. You can start today and take the time you need to reflect.
Curious about where you are now? Our free six-question purpose check gives you a snapshot of your current sense of purpose.
Take the free purpose check