Purpose: what is all the fuss about?
Having a clear sense of purpose can guide life decisions, influence behavior, shape goals, offer a sense of direction as it basically helps us create meaning.
It helps us make our personal answer to that existential and basic basic question of what is the meaning of all this.. of our why. And like Nietzche used to say “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how”.
The risk of not fuelling this spiritual dimension is the feeling of vacuum. An inability to find or create even meaning in life. This results in feelings of emptiness, alienation, aimlessness. And as you can imagine this is serious: it might become a feeling of regret of looking back on your life and feeling you made no difference, that your time on earth did not matter.
Basically we are talking about becoming a meh person.
And this, to many specialists has become the ailment of the modern age.
We celebrate that this issue of purpose has gained so much traction; in education of young children and teenagers, and in adults.. many times through the workplace.
Why has this become such a buzzword?
Some cultures have put too much emphasis on the individual level, on the self and all this talk about purpose at work challenges this. It puts the greater good back on the table. And this is a question of finding a better balance between individual needs and collective needs.. the needs of the team. or simply the needs of society.
We are all singular beings, but our singularities are connected to our surroundings. We are with others. And as teachers and leaders we’ve seen that the magic happens when we resonate with others.. it’s not about just expressing ourselves. The magic happens when that generates something for example when we receive the attention from others; when people gather around an idea that matters to us. This, being with others makes our existence less lonely. It makes us feel that our time on earth matters.
It’s going from what’s in it for me to what can I contribute, to how can I help.
Come and join us as we delve into why this is easier in some lines of work than in others and what we can all do to feel more connected to our own sense of purpose.
Remember: we can all have impact: even without leaving our house! with your kids, your family, your work, your team, your community. Something like giving advice to someone who just happened to be open to hearing it.. helping out younger co-workers, opening doors to others, true connection: that always brings about change.
Disclaimer: when we talk about WHAT YOU DO we’re not talking about your job. It’s not your position or job description. There’s too much pressure on your job, what you do is far wider than that, it’s how you relate, the relationships you build, the things you teach people. You in a broader sense. And we have to make an effort not to confuse who we are with what we do for a living. Because when something happens with our jobs, we lose our work identity.. and sometimes our identities… and that can break you down. So don’t go that way.
