Hope, Purpose, Passion, Performance, Results

Hope, Purpose, Passion, Performance, all Lead to Results

We all learn life lessons as we go along, none of us were born knowing everything we needed to know to get us through our time here on earth. We all learn in different ways, some by watching, some by listening, and some by doing or experiencing. I have been blessed by so many people in this world who have taught me so many life lessons, and I am grateful for each person and every lesson learned.

May your journey be filled with people who inspire you, teach you, and keep you on a path of continuous learning.

One of the first life lessons I would like to share is about hope. Hope for me is the genesis of inspiration and motivation. When we have hope, we have power. Hope is certainly not a strategy, but hope is a foundation on which we build our goals and dreams. “The doors of hope swing widest on the hinges of encouragement,” – Zig Ziglar. When we feel hopeful, encouraged, and motivated, that leads to a better understanding of our purpose.

There are still many who share with me that they really do not know what their purpose is, as they say they haven’t found it yet. I struggled with this for a long time too, and some days I still wrestle with it, wondering if I am doing what the good Lord has placed me on this earth to do. For me, I have come to appreciate that we were put here to serve others with the gifts that we have been given. I love this quote by Nelson DeMille, “The problem with doing nothing is that you never know when you are done.”

We were not put here to do nothing, and that very thought should inspire our purpose daily, fueling our passion to live and serve.

Hope drive’s purpose, and purpose fuels passion. When our hearts and minds are filled with hope, it helps us to identify our purpose, and when that happens, the passion inside of us comes to life. Nelson Mandela put it perfectly when he said, “There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” It has been debated that finding passion can lead to discovering purpose instead of purpose leading to passion, whatever way it works, let hope be the spark of both purpose and passion.

When the spark of hope ignites the purpose and passion within us, we are now in a perfect position to act. Again, never sitting back and doing nothing, it’s about performance and getting things done. And when we are hopeful, purpose driven, and passion fueled, we cannot help ourselves at this point, we must take action. “Having a vision for what you want is not enough. Vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison. Well said, Mr. Edison.

The fifth lesson for today is this one, hope drives purpose, purpose fuels passion, passion primes the pump of performance, and performance delivered equals results. At the end of the day, it is about what we accomplished. What was the outcome of our efforts? Who did we serve? Who did we help? The definition of success differs for everyone, yet every definition of success will have some form of measurement of results. Earl Nightingale teaches a lesson in his program The Strangest Secret, he says that we do not achieve success when we become rich, we achieve success first by believing, doing the behaviors, and having the right attitude that leads us to our success.

The best way to get started on your way to getting things done is to create a list of all the things you are hoping for. Make room for hope, give hope a chance, and watch what happens.

How about you? Are there areas of your own life, personally or professionally, that can benefit from an infusion of hope, purpose, passion, performance, and achieving greater results? I would love to hear your story at [email protected] and when we can begin with a little spark of hope, to ignite the fires of purpose and passion, to elevate our performance, results will happen and that really will make it a better than good life.?

Michael Norton is the EVP of Enterprise at Sandler and an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager, and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.?