My Purpose Drives Me Forward: Sense of Purpose and Thinking About the Future in Daily Life

A sense of purpose in life may promote health by fostering a future-oriented perspective, but little research has examined whether purposeful individuals think more about the future in everyday life, or whether this varies by age. This study investigated links between sense of purpose, age, future-oriented thinking, and physical activity. A total of 256 younger and older adults in Canada and Hong Kong ( M age = 48.0, SD = 24.6, range = 18–85; 68% women) completed electronic surveys three times daily for 10 days, reporting their current thoughts and how future-focused they were. A subset also reported physical activity at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. Multilevel models showed that individuals higher in purpose reported more future-oriented thoughts over the study period, controlling for demographics and self-rated health ( b = 3.48, 95% CI = 0.61–6.35, p = .017). This link did not differ by age group. However, future-oriented thinking did not mediate the relationship between purpose and 6-month changes in physical activity. These findings suggest that adults who are higher in purpose think more about the future in daily life, regardless of age. Further research is needed to determine if and how future-oriented thinking connects sense of purpose with health behaviors.