TL;DR - my attempt at a "purposeful life" using a spreadsheet and maybe it could be of use for other Mustashians.
From reading many a posts on the forum, I feel that fellow Mustachians are trying to figure out what all life is about once they unplug from the toxic programming of: working more to consume more = happiness. And I believe that this is a stage that many of us (myself included) arrive at long before reaching FIRE. And I've noticed that post-FIRE Mustashians continue to struggle with this same question.
For me personally, I arrived at this stage once my finances were fully automated - from direct deposit paychecks and automated retirement contributions to a countdown clock for FIREing. Before this, I was living a typical financial sucka life - using restaurants as sources of food, exhibiting car clown behaviors, buying unnecessary crap, and then STRESSING OUT trying to pay for all of it, all the while feeling depleted of space/time/energy to actually live. And the stress of living the sucka life lead me to hanging out with friends at restaurant with nice "ambiance", to engage in complainypants conversations about money and life, all the while drinking a $12 glass of wine. Until I discovered MMM, FIRE, and my love of spreadsheets.
Spreadsheets have done wonders for my finances - namely awareness of where my money is all going AND an easy undeniable financial reality check. So, in trying to figuring out how I can live a purposeful life, I naturally opened a spreadsheet. Something about the lines and boxes helps put order to my monkey mind. And what was once an obscure "I want to live a purposeful life" began to take shape in columns and rows.
But first, I had to figure out what all would go in the rows. So I wrote down all the things that matter to me and the things that bring me joy. For example, my relationship with my family, friends, co-worker, and community is important to me. Meditation. Health. Hobbies & activities. Books I want to read, and things I want to do and accomplish. All of that fell into rows.
Then, the harder task was figuring out what went in the columns. For starters - How do I measure relationships?* I pondered this like a social scientist. Because measuring how long I meditated, or how long it took me to finish a book I've been meaning to read is easy.
*see below for my best guess answer right now for measuring relationships.
Row = what matters to you, what brings you joy, what you want more of in your life (time with family, friends, or more sleep anyone?)
Column = how you want to measure your progress.
Row1, Column 1: *Strengthening and developing my relationship with:
Row 1, Column 2: Person.
Row 1, Column 3: Date.
Row 1, Column 4: Numerical rating of current state. From 1-10; 1: needs improvement. 10: feeling positve, making progress
Row 1, Column 5: Free text - Current Subjective Experience, i.e. memories, laughs, thoughts, reflections.
Row 1, Column 6: Hopes and actions going forward
Repeat column 3-6 to add new dates and data.
Much like using spreadsheets for finances - the value of a purposeful life spreadsheet for me has been to build my own awareness, acknowledging what the current state is, identify what progress looks or feels like, AND then take action in the direction of progress. And the beauty of it all - I can add, modify, and change the column and rows to reflect the ever changing dynamics of the life I live.
May this be of use :)