PURPOSE

Goals, focus, time management, productivity, a few buzz words of the month.  Are you hearing them too?  They are all very “January” and important.  Truthfully, I began this post with the intention of talking about productivity. We need it to get the results we want.  But as I was writing the word productivity I immediately felt the energy drain from my body.  Is it just me or do words do this to you too?  I think my sensitivity to the word “productivity” has something to do with the idea of “more”.  And in my experience most of us aren’t looking for more to add.  We aren’t longing for more layers to our already bursting at the seams roles and responsibilities in life.  And yet for some reason it’s where we turn our attention, first. Productivity is not our starting point.  Before productivity, we need purpose.  

 

What is purpose? It's a reason. Purpose illuminates our path to productivity.  The word purpose just lands differently doesn’t it?  Humor me.  Say each word out loud and take note of what you feel in your body–productivity vs. purpose.  Purpose pulls and productivity pushes.  Purpose isn’t what or how you do what you do but why you do it. It's often a combination of your VALUES + PASSIONS + SKILLS.  Depending on the season of life, you can have more than one purpose.  Before you dig into the nuances of productivity and the strategy you’ll use to get the results you’re after, check-in.  Do you have a compelling purpose?  A bigger why?  A strong purpose will support the hard work and process of getting to where you want to go.  

 

Clarity of purpose is your north star.  The lever that will help move the needle for you this year.  It’s critical and I want to help.  I’ve created a Discovering Purpose worksheet for you here to work through.  To refine and maybe even remind you of what or for who you are doing it all for.