To Truly Unlock Your Potential, You Must First Find Your Purpose
Remember these four things to create the conditions for extraordinary happiness and success
What follows is the story of a family taking a long walk together on a summer’s day. Their ears prick up when they hear noises coming from a partially constructed building nearby. Intrigued, they step off the beaten track and approach three builders who are all busy at work.
Why?
Dad spots an opportunity to ask a simple but searching question: “why are you doing what you’re doing?”
The first builder shrugs his shoulders, “gotta find a way to pay the bills somehow.” Fair enough, right?
The second builder pauses and points to the foundations, “it’s my job to make sure this wall is built to last,” he explains.
The third builder reveals a different motivation. He smiles and replies with calm conviction, “I’m here because I’m helping to build this place of worship — to create a stronger community and connect people with their God.”
You may have heard that parable, or a version of it, before.
It shines a light on the Purpose question, “why are you doing what you’re doing?”. This post is about how you can lead a better life by seeing things differently to other people, even when you’re in the same situation.
So what?
Purpose is a theme that shows up every single day, whether you realize it or not.
It’s an asset if you have it and a liability if you don’t.
A variety of roles in my career — from coaching business leaders and entrepreneurs to delivering customer-focused strategies — have highlighted that there are a wide range of factors influencing the performance of individuals and teams. And yet there is one common denominator of success.
It’s the same reason that the story of the three builders is so powerful because it gets to the heart of the matter: how much people identify with their purpose.
Why are you doing what you’re doing?
Exploring this question offers the potential to find your purpose but there is no guarantee you will like the answers.
That’s why I’m giving you four actionable strategies that bring me (and the people I’ve shared them with) consistent success. In fact, my family and colleagues tell me that they’re now able to do things that once seemed impossible and they’re significantly happier as a result.
It starts with your perspective.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Give and take
The first builder’s answer suggests his focus is on what he can get.
The second builder’s response offers something more — connecting his skills with what he does for a living — but it is task-specific.
The third builder tells us how he views the impact he’s making, and how the consequences of his hard work will serve the needs of others. His response transcends his own needs.
Standing the test of time
I have been privileged to work with great people in various countries across Europe. I have seen first-hand how the people who live by the message in this story are the same people who experience extraordinary happiness and success.
So, how can you demystify the Purpose question to do the same?
Treat your purpose like a verb, not a noun
Being active rather than passive means you can avoid knee jerk reactions — “Are you joking? Find my purpose? Like it’s something that’ll turn up in my sock drawer?” and burying your head in the sand — “Too big a question — too much pressure!”
By tweaking your perspective to view your purpose as something you live and breathe, you can overcome these common obstacles and move forward with more confidence and conviction.
To help you on that journey, here are 4 things purposeful people do:
1: Get abundantly clear on your values
Your perspective is inextricably interlinked with your values.
When you reflect on the Purpose question, what’s the answer you want to give — and why?
If you can’t (yet) succinctly articulate your values, here’s an example of a personal value assessment tool that can help you determine what’s important to you, what motivates you and areas you may wish to develop.
2: Develop a growth mindset: keep learning and keep learning how to learn
“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.”
The world and the way people live their lives is changing constantly.
The faster you can learn, the faster you can earn.
Some people think that your brain capacity is like your shoe size — that simply isn’t the case. It’s possible to increase your brain’s ability to learn and absorb information — you simply have to prioritize learning and consistently apply what you learn.
How many people haven’t got books on their shelf they haven’t read? If you’re not careful it becomes shelf help not self-help!
3: Use it or lose it
You can only truly benefit from the Purpose question if you use it and persistently act on the answers. The key here is to distinguish between what you decide to care about and what’s just noise.
Think about who you learn from.
Think about who you study with.
Think about who you socialize with.
If you are the average of the 6 people you spend the most time with — to live a purposeful life — choose wisely.
4: Empower others to find their purpose
To elevate your impact, ask ‘how can I put the needs of others before my own and serve something greater than myself?’
As the couple in this story were walking away from the three builders, the man turned to his wife and said, “the way those builders answered has already got me thinking…”
She turned to him and smiled, “like how we can help our kids see that life is more about others than themselves?” It’s amazing how married people can often finish each other’s sentences.
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
— Winston Churchill
If you want to make a billion dollars, help a billion people
It’s up to you how many people you impact as you pursue your purpose. The greater the number of people you help, the more doors you will open for yourself and everyone around you.
Will you choose to be liberated by the freedom you have to continually craft your purpose?
All three builders in this story are in the same situation. What differs is how they see things.
The more purposeful you become, the more you unlock your potential — you are more likely to be successful and have fun along the way if you remember it’s an iterative process, not a one-time event.
Which type of builder will you be?
