Unlocking Purpose

‘Activity without purpose is the drain of your life.’

Tony Robbins

Purpose has been called the new competitive advantage in the workplace, not only for people like you and me, but for organisations and businesses in every sphere. You might also call it finding meaning, life purpose or mission.

To find purpose in your work makes sense to me. It gives you a spring in your step, the drive to get things done and the grit to get through when it’s tough.

1. Target shooting

Finding purpose is like target shooting for me. I grew up in a shooting family. My father was Captain of the South African team for many years, so we had a gun room like other people had a pantry.

We shot in the heat, cold, dust and rain to get a bullet into the middle of a target. We travelled long distances to shooting events across South Africa, even to Bisley in the United Kingdom. All that to make a hole in paper with a bullseye diameter of 510mm, 900 metres from the target.

But no matter how good a marksman you were, you were still up against the elements. There were two things that would take your bullet off course, no matter how carefully you pulled off the shot. Wind and heat. You had to learn to read the flags and the heat mirage rippling under your target, before adjusting your sights for the perfect shot.

Once your shot was fired, you waited for your marker, who sat safely in the butts below the targets, to indicate the value of your shot. You hoped to see them point a disc at the bottom right-hand corner of the target, that would indicate a bullseye!

The very worst thing was to see the stick being waved slowly from side to side across your target. Your heart sank. It meant you had missed your target entirely. With our equipment and skill, it was highly unlikely you had missed a target. It meant you had put your shot on a target alongside yours.

With sometimes 100 targets alongside each other, that was possible, but hugely embarrassing. Many shottists will tell you miserably about the ‘miss’ they fired years back. Its memorable for all the wrong reasons. You also got no score, and the person whose target you shot on, got the higher value of the two shots on their target.

As I contemplate careers and purpose, I am aware of how many possible targets there are for us all. Our purpose is to hit our own target, as close to the middle as we can get. But in life, how do you know which is yours? There are no easy tests. No fool-proof systems. No counsellors who can tell you with certainty. You may discover important clues along the way, but you must identify the target yourself.

Here are some thoughts on discovering purpose in your work and life.

2. The many faces of purpose

‘Follow your passion’ is popular advice to find workplace bliss. But many passions have nothing to do with your career, even less with your mission. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow those things you are passionate about, but purpose is driven by those things in the world that you want to do something about. Purpose can very often come from those things that make you mad, and from problems you may be struggling with.

Purpose might also show up in more than one area of your life. You may find purpose in your work life, or in family life, or your community, or indeed in any cause that matters to you even though it doesn’t bring in an income.

I think we can miss our purpose by searching for that profound “something” that will change the world or change the course of history. For the world to go around we need people to be doing all manner of jobs that fulfil their purpose. To grow food. To pack supermarket shelves. To create art. To design beautiful buildings. To manage money. To clean school buildings. To provide legal support. To provide humour. To drive trains. To drive organisational change. To sew up wounds. To be a part of big business. To write. To make music. To provide care to the aged. To find homes for rescued animals.

3. Purpose lives in your day job

We had a holiday home at the seaside, and like many homes there, it had a septic tank for the toilets. It worked perfectly during the year but had a way of blocking when we had guests on New Years’ Day. And so, we would call Uncle Norman, an active Elder in the local Church whose purpose was to serve the community any way he could.

When he arrived with two long wires, a pair of gloves up to his elbows, and his large smile, no visitor would be more welcome. When last was your local plumber the most important person in your life?

Your purpose may not be in the workplace at all. It may be to raise your children to be good people in the world.

Rose Kennedy was reputed to have said that her purpose was to bring up presidents. She said: “I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honourable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it. I tried to allow my children to take risks, to test themselves. Better broken bones than broken spirit”.

4. Your purpose may not be at work

Perhaps your purpose at this stage of life is to be a good Grandparent and fulfil a role that parents cannot.

My Mom-in-law was the custodian of our family history. As an artist she would spend weeks creating hand-drawn birthday cards that captured the highlights of each person’s year, always with cartoons of our dogs, making comments from the side lines. She created photograph albums that captured every age of our children, never missing an important event or special occasion. ‘Stoep parties’ were her speciality to lift flagging spirits. This together with her unconditional encouragement to us all, was a purpose we will treasure always. And if Grandpa at 90 wasn’t helping me edit everything I write, you wouldn’t be reading this.

5. Your purpose may not be popular

But your purpose may not be popular. Gretha Thunberg at age 15 skipped school every Friday to sit in front of the Swedish Parliament to demand tougher environmental policies.

She launched the “Fridays for Future” Movement that encouraged students around the world to stay away from school to protest their government’s environment policies. When addressing MPs in the UK Houses of Parliament, she said: “But I don’t care about being popular. I care about climate, justice, and the living planet.”

It can be hard to forge your own path when you don’t have the support of people around you. Well-meaning people and family may encourage you to follow a more traditional or profitable course, or to do something that is ‘safe’. Many people won’t agree with, or even understand your journey. But then, it’s not their journey, it’s yours. Just because it’s not popular, doesn’t mean it’s not right for you.

It would be great if finding your purpose was a simple, predictable process with easy answers and you were guaranteed to find it by a certain age. Some people know from an early age how they can live the purpose that is theirs. Others only discover their path in stages, and many make their biggest impact in later years.

Jane Goodall has become a voice of hope in the world, but she didn’t set out to do that. She started by doing research with chimpanzees in the wild, when she was not formally qualified to do so. Her love for animals developed into her lifelong passion and commitment to save them, and us.

Maybe it’s time to find your own voice in a sea of opinions.

Steve Jobs said: “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

6. Your purpose might grow over time

There is no timeline that says you need to find your purpose by age twenty-three, or forty nine!

David Attenborough at 93 years, after many years in broadcasting, is using his television series to celebrate the natural world, but also to focus on the growing threats to our planet.

In one series he focuses on the growing problem of plastic waste, showing baby birds feeding on bits of plastic, coastlines covered in pollution and marine environments teeming with plastic waste. A report by Global Web Index showed that 53% of people surveyed in the US and UK reduced their single-use plastic due to what is now called the “Attenborough effect.”

I don’t imagine he saw that purpose at the age of thirty. If you don’t feel like you have a clear purpose yet, keep doing what you are driven by and keep moving forward. Maybe you are still learning the skills you need for a purpose later in your life.  

7. Your purpose may not be in the front line

But not everyone operates in the front line or appears on the cover of Time Magazine.

A project such as David Attenborough’s also needs cameramen, administrators, drivers, hoteliers, people who provide funding. You can be part of something that matters to you in any number of roles. There is a story of Winston Churchill visiting one of the coal mines during the war. When he stopped to ask a coal miner what he was busy with, the answer was ‘I’m supporting the war Sir’.

In Corporate life we often speak about ‘line of sight’, the extent to which individuals can see how their role supports the mission of the business.

Even if you are not actively involved, you can support a cause you believe in by not buying non-recyclable plastics, by adopting a rescue dog before you buy one, eating less meat or whatever it is you believe will make a difference.

8. Your current role may be preparing you for your purpose

Your current role, even if you are not enjoying it, may be preparing you for your purpose without realising it. Just because you are not having a good time in your current job doesn’t mean it’s not where you need to be.

Consider the insights you are gaining in your current job. What skills are you learning? What networks are you creating? Is your purpose locked inside the experience and knowledge you are gaining there? How are you learning to manage office politics, and yourself?  You may be learning what doesn’t work so you can make better choices in the future.

You may be creating your purpose, one day at a time, but haven’t noticed it because you are so busy looking for it.

9. Your purpose might come from pain

Rick Warren has said ‘If you want to find your purpose in life, find your wound.’

Following your passion doesn’t mean you ride a rollercoaster of unbridled enthusiasm for something. Sometimes what we have struggled with becomes a passion, something we care about so deeply, we want to fix it. Maybe it’s something you get angry about, or sad about, or something that continues to fascinate you, something that is calling you do something about.

Consider the things that have hurt and hindered you. Perhaps hidden in there is hidden a message that this is your purpose. Just maybe everything along your path has prepared you for what you need to do now.

I was a lousy student, and I struggled academically at every stage of my learning journey. With a supportive family, and access to good education, I struggled to make any kind of career choice when everyone else seemed to have got it right. That turned out not to be true, but it seemed like that to me. I did every career test, but they led me nowhere. There were too many choices, where to start?

Many years later I visited my first-grade class, it smelt just the same. And on the door was a poster that read ‘The world is waiting for your skills.’ I was speaking about that at the Business School that same evening, different words, same message.

Maybe your mission is right where you are right now.

10. You don’t have to be ‘more’ in some way

You may be waiting to be ‘more’ in some way before you can pursue your purpose. Maybe you think you need to be older, smarter, more qualified, more experienced, more eloquent, or have more money.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs dropped out of college. Greta Thunberg was a teenager who had Asperger syndrome. She says it helped her see things from outside the box and in ‘black and white’. “It makes me different” she said, “and being different is a gift, I would say.”

There are many people far from the limelight who are making a huge contribution, and not without obstacles.

I was invited to do an evaluation project on enterprises that were run by blind people. They had received business training, and the financial institution that had funded it wanted to know the impact it had. I gathered a team of trusted colleagues, and we visited enterprises on the outskirts of our major cities and in remote rural areas.

After an inspiring morning visiting enterprises around Johannesburg, we drove to the town of Sasolburg in the Free State.

We approached a container with no obvious branding, the headquarters of The Tebelo Association, led and inspired by Tebelo herself. Inside I found the most committed and vibrant group of people with generous and heart-warming smiles. Their blindness was no obstacle to their joy. Our meeting on plastic chairs in a busy container was something I will always remember. ‘Before the training’ they said ‘we were in a dark area, selling with a dark mind. And then dark things became light as we learned to build the business.’ And so, with a growing range of products, better efficiencies, accurate record-keeping, and marketing through media, they had trebled their income and trebled the number of customers who came through their door. Any corporate would be lusting after that kind of growth.

After a short tea break, I came back to a most astounding gift. This group of people who were winning singing competitions, and singing on the radio, would sing for me. And the container rocked with music, with harmonies and with such passion and joy, it brought tears to my eyes. There was more energy and passion in that container than I have seen in many of the corporations I have worked with. Fuelled by purpose they had achieved what corporations spend millions on. A productive environment and a great place to work that is focused on people and gets results.

Their purpose extended beyond their detergent business. They were helping to send blind children to special schools where they could learn braille. They also helped educate parents who came to see them about blindness. They opened their doors to help older people who had gone blind later in life and taught them how to use the Universal Ballot Template so they could vote. Their commitment to educating and upskilling the blind community knows no bounds.

Even with my expensive business education and experience in the workplace, there was nothing I could teach them, not a thing. I was learning from them the secret to following your purpose, no matter the obstacles in your way. And doing so with joy.

Perhaps you have everything you need to pursue your purpose, you just have to make a start, and weave your carpet as you go.

11. Purpose can be a spiritual quest

I believe that careers are also a spiritual quest. Many people grapple with that age-old question ‘Why are we here?’ or more particularly ‘Why am I here?’

Dick Bolles has written the most beautiful guide to ‘Finding your mission in life’ from the perspective of his own faith. A complete version of this can be found in the blue pages of his best-selling book What Color is your Parachute. In it he says that God has made us unique so we can contribute something here on earth in a way that no one else can contribute in quite the same way. Our mission, he says, has three parts.

The first is to seek God, ‘from whom we came and to whom we will return’.

The second is to ‘do what you can, moment by moment, day by day, to make this world a better place’.

The third is to ‘exercise the talent that you particularly came to earth to use – your greatest gift which you most delight to use, in the places and settings that God has caused to appeal to you the most’, and to ‘fulfil those things God most needs to have done in the world.’

I have shared this with many multicultural groups who have told me ‘That’s OK, there is a Universal spirituality that connects us, and we know how to apply this to our own faith’.

In the Chapel at Matjiesfontein Village, a special place for me, hangs a copy of ‘The Desiderata, found in Old Saint Paul’s Church, Baltimore, dated 1692’. I have read it more times than I can recount. This version was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana. But it holds an eternal wisdom that shows we are not the first to grapple with this and there is a universal wisdom as old as time.

‘Go placidly amid the noise and haste’ it invites us. ‘Keep interested in your career no matter how humble’. ‘Be yourself….’ ‘You have the right to be here…’ ‘Whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul’.

It also reminds us that ‘with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.’

12. Purpose comes at a cost

It’s easy to get caught up in the romance of fulfilling your purpose, but following your purpose is not free.

Following your purpose may come at a price. It may mean getting out of your comfort zone. It may mean getting up at an unearthly hour to study or write your book. It may require travelling extensively or saving money to fulfil the next part of your mission. It may mean giving up a well-paid job with comfortable benefits to start your own business. If you read the personal stories of many people who were apparently an overnight success, you will discover the risks they took and failures they experienced along the way.

It may mean raising your voice that contradicts how things have always been done. Maybe you have been told ‘That’s not a real job’ ‘That won’t pay’ ‘You have no way of creating that kind of change in the world.’ ‘How can you challenge that?’ ‘You won’t make any difference; the problem is too big’. The Dalai Lama said: ‘If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.’

Nelson Mandela followed his purpose at huge personal cost. You may not have to spend twenty-seven years in prison, but if you think the price is too high, remember that not doing what is important to you, has a price too. Ignoring your purpose can affect your health, your psychological wellbeing, your relationships, your energy, and a nagging sense that you are not doing what you came here to do.

 Albert Ellis said: ‘Most things worth having require some sacrifice, usually more than you expect.’

Yours might too.

13. Purpose and money

Making choices about what you want to do with your career is not instead of making money. It’s deciding how much you want to earn, then deciding how you want to earn it, so you earn a living and do something that matters to you.

Your purpose might generate your income, or you decide to support your purpose from other work, which creates a purpose for both. That’s up to you.

14. Lessons from the shooting range

As you seek your own purpose, here are some thoughts and lessons from the shooting range:

1. You get more than one shot. Don’t give up just because your last shot wasn’t successful.

2. You need feedback after your last shot, so you know what to correct. Feedback is critical. Ignoring it could leave you shooting in the dark.

3. Shooting is about being considerate to your sporting colleagues, celebrating their wins as well as your own. Look after the relationships around you, none of us operate alone.

4. No amount of positive thinking can replace good equipment, reliable ammunition, and well- honed skills. They are the tools of your trade. Never stop developing the knowledge, skill and behaviours you need to fulfil your purpose.

5. Shooting, along with many other sports, takes self-management. We all have days when we feel energised and invincible, and other days when everything is an effort. Self-management means actively looking after your health and your energy. It also means treating yourself kindly when you are tired, when you screw up, and when you need some time out.

6. Give up comparing yourself to anyone else. On the shooting range, the person alongside you has their own target, challenges, and successes. Watch other people, learn from them, but don’t compare yourself to them. Their journey is different to yours.

7. On the shooting range, you are only as good as your next shot. You can be leading the field, then lose it with a single shot. Focusing on the prize can distract you from firing a good shot. In the working world, you may only be as good as your last task. Focus on doing the best you can, every time.

8. Go for the bull! I once asked my father if we were going to practice on Saturday. I will always remember his kind answer. ‘You know Andrew, you never go to practice. You only go to shoot bulls!’ So go for your plan A, go for your own target, and aim for the centre.

9. Sometimes, even with your best shot, the weather changes unexpectedly, or the flags give you conflicting messages. Let go of what you have no control over, make adjustments, then try again. Work with what you can control, then take your next shot.

10. There is no prize for shooting on someone else’s target, in fact you get zero points. There is no prize for fulfilling someone else’s purpose, so go after your own.

11. You need to aim at your target. That seems so obvious, but if you aim at nothing, you will hit nothing, and that’s a wasted shot.

12. You need to pull the trigger. That too is obvious. Imagine just lying on the mound aiming, imagining where your shot might land, then talking about where you think it might land if you took the shot. You would get some strange looks from the people around you. They might wonder why you came to the shooting range at all. If all you do is aim, but take no action, you get no score.

13. After your bullet has made a hole in the target, it ends up in the mound of sand behind it. It hits the dust, as we say. At the end of our lives, we hit the dust too. Many people say on their deathbed they don’t so much regret what they did, but what they didn’t do. Whatever you do will take effort. You may as well do something that matters to you.

My wish for you it that you find your own target, take aim, pull the trigger, and shoot right in the middle of it.

©Andrew Bramley, Career Warriors® 2022. All Rights Reserved.