Managers, leaders, and business owners come to work everyday with a wide variety of mindsets. Sometimes the focus is on the next big problem or maybe it is about the next big deal. Priorities vary day-to-day.
Regardless of the topic du jour, there should always be a tie to your purpose. Losing sight of one’s purpose has tremendous, and sometimes lasting effect. I ask again, are you leading on purpose?
Of course, there’s a little play on words here. We all can lead intentionally if we choose. We can mean to do something, say something, or purpose to be something. These are all noble causes.
I am talking about the ultimate purpose that you sense for your life. Have you been able to connect with the fire within that excites you, drives you and gets all your faculties engaged to tackle the day? Do you see a long-term fulfillment in what you are doing at work, at home, and in your community?
Sadly, too many of us fall into a routine of home, work, and pleasure that fulfills nothing. Time burns on the clock. Days, weeks, and months slip away. Then one day, you wake up and ask “what is this all about”?
Adolph Coors IV was the first person I heard utter these three questions:
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- Where am I going?
Mark Twain famously said
There are two big days in a person’s life; the day you were born and the day you figure out why.
Before you elect to take on leadership responsibility, you owe it to those whom you are selected to lead, to figure out your purpose. Failing to understand one’s purpose is a recipe for certain failure. Even more so, operating contrary to a purpose that has been found is futile.
John Maxwell eloquently describes two key dates in everyone’s life:
1. The day you find yourself; finding that ultimate sense of purpose for your life.
2. The day you lose yourself, doing the things you were intended to do, aligning that purpose found in step 1 with an all-consuming dedication to giving back, going full speed at the height of your purpose.
Does this sound too ethereal? If it does, then you, my friend, have not reached that point in your journey here where these things matter to you. One day you will.
Ah, but for those who read this and shout YES! We need to talk. I’d love to open a dialogue with you about your journey. Maybe you have only just begun. Or maybe you are midstream, finding the pathway to this fulfillment, day by day, step by step.
And for a few, very blessed people, you may be operating in that wonderful abandonment of having found your purpose and lost your way (in a very good way) doing what it is that is in such perfect alignment.
Regardless of where you are on that path, I’d love to connect for more private talks. If I can guide you to finding more clarity, then I’d be honored to serve. Or maybe you just need a little tune-up on the way.
Lastly, if you have not yet begun to define the purpose and map a course for life change, I would be very glad to be the first coach to come alongside and help you find that definition, shape the destiny, and give you momentum.
Here’s a short video I shared recently titled “Can YOU Handle the Truth?”
