Discussing purpose, in its true essence, is a favourite pastime of mine. Even at a family gathering! I see my children in the corner of my eye, rolling their eyes - “Here she goes again”.
Many years ago, while in the Creative Industries, I encouraged students to consider what made their hearts sing. What lit them up from the inside out?
In a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Get’ moment before travelling to New York City, I emailed Simon Sinek’s team and requested a meeting. They spoke the same language as me (at the time not many did) to an international audience. How amazing it would be to meet them! A time and date were set for a gathering at their New York office! That meeting didn’t happen but in typical failure-to-success style, it led to an in-person meeting and to the creation of a workshop series with Peter Docker, Simon Sinek’s right-hand and co-writer of Find Your Why. I have delivered that workshop (at an organisational and personal level) many times, remaining in awe of the courage and commitment of the participants.
I ran these sessions during a retreat I curated on a Greek island pre-COVID. I was living on purpose and what I was doing aligns with my purpose today, to transform lives through the opening of hearts and minds. That’s not how I expressed it at the time. One of the guests on the retreat, in the middle of the Why How and What session expressed out loud, after I had shared my Why ‘statement’, “That’s not your why”. There was a silence on the yoga deck where we were holding “class”. All eyes were on me. How would I react? I was dumbfounded for several seconds, looked up at her and said, “I think you are right!” We spent the next half hour working on my why. You teach best what you most need to learn.
Working in the ‘purpose’ space doesn’t mean you continually celebrate success. It does ensure the failures are continuous stepping stones to success. Because you dare to redirect and alter the conversations to get to where you need to be. That’s what gets you out of bed in the morning. The lessons you learn are gifts. Easy to say (write) and harder to absorb when in the depths of despair. Right?
Purpose is a discovery. It can take an hour or a year. The words may change. The essence remains the same. So will the feeling it invades your body, mind and soul with.
My favourite conversation with Peter Docker was when we shared experiences on discovering our purpose/why/drive/passion. I had finished expressing to Peter that it was a ‘kerklunk” moment, where I ‘fell” into the central space of my body. “Oh no”, said Peter, "For me it was popsicles! I was jumping up, popping, elated”.
We both found a future of service to humanity in different ways. The magic is in finding it. The adventure is getting there and the trials that follow. If you have thought that talk of ‘purpose’ and ‘why’ is fluff, reconsider. Finding what you are meant to be doing is a gift to yourself and to everyone around you.
#purpose #thoughtleadership #innovation
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Purpose is a discovery. It can take an hour or a year. The words may change. The essence remains the same. So will the feeling it invades your body, mind and soul with.
Purpose is a discovery. It can take an hour or a year. The words may change. The essence remains the same. So will the feeling it invades your body, mind and soul with.
