The Power of a Definite Purpose

To this point, we’ve looked at how important it is for each of us to lead with a clear purpose, I’ve challenged you to really consider why you do what you do, and we’ve worked through some ideas we can each apply to intentionally design love and purpose into our routines. That said, each of those have been mostly focused on our thought process with a splash of practicality mixed in. Now it’s time to roll our sleeves up and get some shit done!

I’m frequently asked why Cindy and I have chosen to do what we do. And that single question has A LOT of different answers! Sometimes the person is really asking “how are y’all able to work together and stay married?” Other times, it’s more about “why were you willing to take the risk of going into business for yourselves?” And every now and then, the person asking actually wants to know how we landed on the specific space we work in. As you can probably imagine, I’ve learned to make sure I understand what someone actually wants to know before I rattle off a dissertation covering all my views on life and the world we live in (because not many people are prepared for that tinfoil hat soapbox talk)...

Before we wrap up our complete look at the importance of leading with a clear purpose, both for ourselves as well as for each individual we lead, I’ll get very specific in sharing mine; not because I think it’s something any other person needs to rally around but because I want to provide you with clarity of how you can develop your own - and how it can evolve over time. For now though, I’ll share this brief perspective… 

Cindy and I recently visited with her aunt and uncle in North Carolina. Cindy and her aunt have always been close but they hadn’t seen one another in person since Cindy’s mom, her aunt’s older sister, passed away over six years ago. While the trip wasn’t anything extravagant, we didn’t have to get vacation days approved in advance. We had several projects to wrap up in advance but we simply blocked several days on our calendars about 45 days prior to the trip. Being able to drive Cindy to and from, mixing in a dash of business along the way there and back, was more than a little fulfilling!

Before I go on, I need to clarify something… Cindy is certainly capable of driving herself, I just didn’t want her to have to make the trip alone. And she realized quite some time ago that I’m going to drive from whatever spot I occupy in the car so I just as well be behind the wheel!

Another response I give to that relatively vague question, once I identify what the person is really asking, goes a bit deeper. As I write this, Cindy is getting our taxes prepared for our CPA to work his magic. (I’ll fight the urge to lash out here about how much I hate our tax system and how our gubermint fails miserably in being even mediocre stewards of the taxes they pillage from us.) Based on the initial numbers, 2023 was our best year in business to date, but our total revenue (not profit) was still far less than our taxable household income the least year we both held full time positions. So when that question is really asking how we landed on the specific space we’re working in and the approach we’ve chosen to take, the answer is incredibly easy for me to provide but often difficult for many to understand.

In the foreword to The Master Key to Riches, Napoleon Hill says, “We have never yet found a truly happy person who was not engaged in some form of service by which others were benefited. And we do know many who are wealthy in material things, but have not found happiness.” Simply put, I know firsthand how much the work we do can impact every aspect of anyone’s life who is not only willing to listen but willing to engage and apply the tools we’ve built to their own role - whether they’re leading others in that moment or not! I can say that with confidence because I know how much it’s impacted my life and career over the last twenty-five years. 

Moving forward here, we’ll begin digging into how anyone in a leadership role can begin developing a definiteness of purpose that can serve as their driving force through even the nastiest crap that can be thrown at them as they lead and we’ll look at how that initial definite purpose can (and will) evolve over time.