When it comes to being productive and successful, having a sense of purpose is key. Purpose gives you direction and motivation, which in turn helps you increase your personal effectiveness. In this blog post, we will discuss three important reasons why finding your purpose is crucial to maintaining high performance. We will also provide a list of questions that can help you uncover your own personal why. Let’s get started!
- The first reason why having a sense of purpose is important is that it gives you direction. When you know your purpose, you have a clear goal to work towards. This helps to keep you focused and on track, which makes you more productive. Think of it as your personal GPS. The more direct route will not only save you time but save you money getting there.
- The second reason why having a sense of purpose is beneficial is that it provides motivation. Purpose gives you a reason to keep going, even when things get tough. It helps you to stay focused and motivated, which in turn makes you more effective. We all want to think that work and life will always be smooth sailing but the truth is that it sometimes throws up a number of unknowns that really challenges us deep down. Having the motivation to stay on track or get back on track to achieving our goals is crucial.
- The third reason why having a sense of purpose is important is that it increases your momentum which helps with your personal effectiveness. When you have a clear purpose, you are able to build momentum. When momentum is against you, everything seems hard, regardless of how clear your goals are and how you would like to achieve them. When momentum is with you and aligned to your purpose, everything seems easy and possible.
I remember, in my previous profession when I was a financial planner, I was doing well with helping my clients build their wealth. However, I was often personally challenged with the reasons people gave for accumulating wealth. Some common responses included “To have enough to retire on”, “So my family is taken care of financially”, or “I just want to have more money”. These were good reasons, however they lacked real purpose.
When I trained as an executive coach and started delving deeper by asking more probing questions, that was when my clients started to really open up and share more profoundly. It was no longer just to have a comfortable retirement but to have the freedom to do all those things they have been putting off for their whole life that they couldn’t afford to do before. It was not just to take care of their family financially but to make sure that the wealth they worked so hard for could still be there to look after the educational needs of future generations. It wasn’t just to have more money but to always have choices in life that was not limited by money.
When people find their purpose, money then becomes just one of the enablers. It’s not the only one. To live a life with purpose, you also need time. And that comes a full circle back to the question of personal effectiveness. We rarely come across anyone who says that they are living to their life’s purpose and also wasting time.
Now that we’ve discussed why having a sense of purpose is crucial, let’s take a look at some key questions that can help you uncover your own personal why.
-What are your passions?
-What are your values?
-What do you want to achieve in life?
-What makes you happy?
-What do you want to be known for?
The list doesn’t end with the above questions but it’s a good starting point. Asking yourself these questions can help you to start uncovering your personal why which may lead to other key questions. If you are stuck, watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk and read his book “Start With Why“. Or sign up for our email series on “Finding Your Why”.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Find a coach that will be able to prompt you in the right way or simply get in touch with us. Once you have a clear understanding of your purpose, you can start working towards becoming more effective in all areas of your life.
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