Most organisations today are purpose focussed. Objectives have moulted from strategic to purpose driven. Actually purpose is the true direction in life and business. How beneficial it would be to all of us if we instinctively took actions which are purpose triggered. Often, in all our hectic action of life, we deviate from our purpose and waste a lot of energy in purpose less activity.
As we all know, purpose is just not a goal to reach. It’s much more than that! Purpose fills many vessels. It can be about your own purpose of life or what you want to be and mean to the world. Or it can be the purpose of the organisation you work in. It can also be broken into short term purposes or a long term purpose. For Communicators, the purpose for a campaign. Whichever way, purpose serves two needs. Firstly it clarifies what you are setting out to achieve and secondly it defines your parameters of effort and keeps you focussed and single minded. It also augments measurability of efforts and channelisation of energies in the right direction. Yes, you can create a spontaneous response that prioritises purpose as the lighthouse in the sea. Develop a ‘purpose triggered mindset’.
Identify the purpose
The first step towards evolving to this new mindset is to clearly identify the purpose. Put pen to paper and finger to keyboard. Also put your thinking cap on. First ask yourself why do you need to do what you need to do, what do you want to achieve? Once your why’s are clear you have a somewhat hazy vision of your purpose. Then you move on to what you need to do to achieve your purpose and how you would achieve your purpose. While you churn with the why’s and hows you will further refine your purpose to make it achievable otherwise your purpose will just remain a wish and another pie in the sky. Ensure that your purpose is real and can be converted then into SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) goals
Create purpose paths
Once you have clearly articulated your purpose, you need to chalk out a road map to achieve your purpose. If you develop a ‘Purpose Triggered Mindset’, you will spontaneously identify your purpose and create your purpose path. It will be an auto response for any purpose you pursue. As mentioned earlier, we are juggling with various purposes at any given point of time. These could be our purpose as a professional, purpose of our assignments or overall purpose of our life. A purpose path gives you the broad direction of how you would achieve your purpose and takes into considerations obstacles and challenges in your path. But as they say, nothing is cast in stone. Change keeps happening, therefore your purpose path is dynamic, even though your purpose remains fixed.
Track progress constantly
When you evolve into a ‘Purpose Triggered Mindset’ you will track your progress on your various purpose paths constantly. Even the mighty Titanic could not achieve its purpose of being unsinkable because of a small oversight on tracking its purpose! While you track progress, you might need to change course to avoid unanticipated pitfalls and unforeseen challenges. Achieving your purpose also comes with timelines and discipline, just as any goal comes with a deadline. As you track the progress of your purpose constantly you should add value and enrich to ensure that the quality of achieving your purpose remains the best. You will need tenacity, vision, drive and above all a positive outlook to achieve your purpose fully.
At work, purpose is not about you, but about who you serve in your role. If you are in professional services it’s all about the clients you serve and their purpose. Above all with your mindset if you are authentic, sincere and value driven, you will achieve the bull’s eye in your purpose!
“Part of being an authentic leader is knowing what you don’t know and accepting lessons from all directions.” — Carol Cohen
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