Purpose
I seem to be stuck on this concept lately. Maybe because I am getting older. Maybe because I own my own business and have flexibility to decide what I will work on and what I won't. Whatever the reason, I feel the need again to express how important purpose is -- in everything you do.
Purpose comes from within and it is unique to each and every one of us. Purpose is why you do what you do and it is what gives your life meaning. Purpose is doing work you love and getting better at it, helping people, seeing people develop or making a difference. Purpose is not "meeting plan".
As I work through As I work through a "mega" proposal to do a huge piece of work, I get unfocused, I get frustrated, I get refocused. I am tired.
Late yesterday, I somehow rediscovered my purpose. I had temporarily misplaced it as I waded through "mega" proposal to do a huge piece of work for a client. I was trying to figure out how to do what the client asked for. Then I realized, “I just can’t own this. It won’t work and I don’t want to do the work as defined.” After many iterations last night, my purpose allowed me to refocus. I rewrote the proposal, again, made the work much smaller and focused on what IMPACT is good at and what gives us life -- our purpose.
I do what I do because I really enjoy coaching, I am passionate about helping and I love being a little part of helping people be better. That is my purpose and IMPACT's core purpose.
After the rewrite, I wrote to our coaches, "I can now breathe..." I wrote that not because I was holding my breath but because the air had lifted off my shoulders and I felt refreshed.
If the client likes our proposal, it will save them significant money. More importantly, we have stayed true to our purpose and have not been swayed by trying to be everything to everyone in pursuit of the big payout. We all feel good about that.
And the work will be really fun which is the best test of purpose.
