Purpose gets a bad rap. It’s the domain of the out-of-touch woke millennials who spend more time thinking about working than actually doing it… and want to shirk the real work… right?
Wrong.
Purpose isn’t fluff – it’s a responsibility. If you don’t have the resolve and determination to do good sh*t, leadership is not for you. People management, maybe. Technical expertise, sure. But leadership? Not enough. Society deserves a lot more from the people with the influence and power to change things.
More importantly, if you can’t tap into people’s sense of purpose, you can’t motivate them. If you want people to care about your thing or get involved in solving problems, you can’t rely on assumptions and platitudes. People must deeply understand the 'why' before thinking about the 'what' or the 'how'.
"If you don’t know why, you don’t care how”- Simon Sinek
These conversations get woo-woo quickly, but connecting to purpose is not about transcendence or self-development. It’s about tapping into the potential to do work that matters by clarifying why it matters.
Mark Manson, author of Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope, tackles purpose head-on. He recommends seven things we should consider when trying to find ours. In brief, he suggests asking:
- What struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? The thing you’re most willing to struggle with and stick with is a good start.
- What did you love to do as a child that you were truly passionate about, even if you weren’t rewarded for it?
- What do you get obsessed with? The stuff that you get so focused on you forget to eat or sleep? Look at the principles behind those things and use them for good.
- How would you like to embarrass yourself? The more scared you are of doing something, the more likely you are to do it.
- What problem do you care enough about to start solving it?
- If you had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, what would you most want to do with your time?
- What would you want to be remembered for if you knew your life was ending?
Manson’s conception of purpose is ideal in its simplicity. Discovering your purpose is about finding the things that are bigger than you, not so you can accomplish world-changing achievements, but so you can spend your limited time as well as possible.
In a group setting, building a shared sense of purpose is the number one thing you can do to get people motivated, on track and creating something new together.
Are you spending your time on purpose?
Alicia McKay