It ALL Starts With You!

With perspective for just how much power a clear purpose has had for me and Cindy over the last 25 years, how we’ve had to continuously hone that purpose, and how the clarity we developed has allowed us to intentionally chase that purpose, I believe it’s my responsibility to challenge you to take action on yours! Make no mistake, I’ll be poking at your just as hard about your organization’s purpose and help each of your team members with their individual purpose before we’re done. For now though, I really need you to take a deep look within.

As we started looking at the importance of identifying why each of us were ever willing to accept leadership responsibility, mainly because some days it just plain sucks to lead, I asked you to think long and hard about why you do what you do. More recently, I shared some very personal reasons for why Cindy and I have chosen to do what we do; not because our reasons should be your reasons, but because I wanted to offer you an example that may serve you in building extreme specificity around your own. With that big picture in place, let’s get down to what may be the hardest part of the entire process - especially for those of you who are as fast-paced and task-oriented as I am…

My goal through all of this has been to provide you with as much transparency as possible. In following that theme, the idea of introspection has been something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve shared a few times here how Cindy has built systems into our routine that essentially force me to slow down and reflect on what we’ve accomplished and what we need to focus on next. Those have been tolerable because we’re looking at results; ones we’ve achieved and ones we’ll be working on next. What I want you to consider now though has been, and still is, incredibly hard for me so I don’t take what I’m suggesting to you lightly.

The first question I need you to take to heart is whether or not you understand exactly why you do what you do. This is a matter of understanding yourself in a way that allows you to predict changes in emotion; how you’ll likely respond in various situations. I’ve heard and read quite a bit about emotional intelligence over the years, but I’ve found very few resources that were simple enough to help me develop it within myself so I could have this kind of understanding. We’ll look at this in more detail shortly, but I needed you to have this in mind before I could ask the next question.

What kind of legacy do you want to leave; personally and professionally? A generation after you’re gone, what kind of impact do you hope to be remembered for? If I’m being honest, this is just as hard for me to consider. In my late teens and early twenties, I felt ten feet tall and bulletproof. At close to fifty, that’s changed a bit. A reality we’ll all have to come to terms with is that our time on this ball of mud is limited. If we don’t have absolute clarity about the legacy we’re working to leave, is there any real likelihood that we’ll leave one that’s remembered beyond the next generation? As you consider this, I’d encourage you to consider it from both those perspectives, personal and professional, and give some serious thought as to how closely they’ll tie together when you’ve identified and are working toward a clear purpose that truly drives you. When that purpose is clear, I’m convinced our personal and professional lives develop a kind of cohesion that fuels everything we do. But connecting them won’t likely happen unless we have that deep understanding of ourselves, so that’s where we’ll pick up next time.