How to avoid the catch when finding your purpose

When I first started thinking about this topic, I thought about finding a different title because I’ve written about purpose already, if you want to read that article, it’s here. You could look at this article as part 2, though I will explore the full scope of the topic here too.

Finding your purpose can be unexpectedly complex.

As we're about to discover, purpose has a catch. Whereas everyone is inspired find their purpose, embrace purpose and bring purpose into your organisation and to your market, there's a catch. There's an obstacle that can get in the way, and I think one of the reasons more leaders aren't more successful in embracing the idea of purpose, whether it's in the for-profit or non-profit world, is they're not aware of the catch and they unknowingly bump up against it.

It could be argued that early on in the evolution of a business, or early on in your career, purpose is not all that important simply because you are focussed on staying afloat, growing your business or planning your career path. So when you are getting started, purpose can be seen as a ‘nice to have’ one day soon. Meanwhile, you need to sell your stuff, you've got to account for stuff, manage stuff, read stuff, lead your team and get paid. Purpose often hovers out there somewhere as something you’ll look at in the future, but eventually you’ll bump into the question ‘why am I doing this?’ and ‘what is this leading to?’. Eventually purpose becomes a big deal and the sooner you can address this vital topic, the sooner the path to your future will become clear. Read this about Be-Do-Have

Purpose is always associated with vision.

Whether it's a product, vision for a product or service, something new or making something better, there's always a connection between vision and purpose. Purpose provides the momentum to move you towards your vision and through life’s barriers that would otherwise slow you or trip you up. For anyone who is trying to solve a problem that they feel is important, the act of trying to solve that problem is associated with a preferred picture of the future, which is vision.

Purpose has a catch; there's a twist and it’s actually hidden in the definition.

Here’s a generic definition of purpose; Purpose is the reason for which something exists or is accomplished. This means that purpose is a means to an end. We all know the analogy in sales of not selling the drill, sell the hole, and don’t sell the newspaper, sell the news, don’t sell the sausage, sell the sizzle. If you look at any product or service and say, what's the purpose of this product? The answer to that question is always a means to an end. And there's the catch.

Most people, from business owners to employees, are not willing to be a means to an end. Most of them want to be the end, and they want something else to be a means to their end. But if you're an end, you can't be a means to an end. This is why so many people resist the idea of purpose. They don't think of it in terms of creating a means to someone else’s end.

When you commit to becoming a means to an end, you commit to something bigger than yourself, you can unlock purpose and build a business that scales into future generations. Read this about how leaders can let go.

Stop selling your products and services and start selling your purpose.

I hope you’re getting the idea that purpose forms the core of everything we do and why and how we do it. Simply asking the question ‘what is my purpose’ is the wrong question, and that can lead you down the wrong path. I certainly understand why people ask it. We've all asked it, myself included. I’m sharing this with you today because I asked the wrong questions too. Let’s explore….

What's behind the question ‘what is my purpose?’. In other words, you want to know your purpose so you won't be without purpose again. ‘Why am I here?’ - you want to know why you’re here so you’ll know why you’re here. Even though these are not necessarily poor questions, I don't think they get us to purpose. I think it just brings us back to me and my end. My advice is this - as long as you're hung up on ‘what is my purpose’, and ‘why am I here', you're probably not going to get there because purpose is about becoming a means to an end, a means to someone else’s end.

What's a better question?

Perhaps by suggesting those questions are the wrong questions, you may think I know the right questions. I don’t think I necessarily know the right questions, but I can suggest better questions – questions that can lead you to your purpose. Rather than ask ‘what am I here for’, you could ask yourself ‘who am I here for’. Or, as you look at your team and your organisation, ask the question ‘who are we here for’.

If you’ve been following my blog, articles and posts for a while you will have heard or seen me discuss the importance of building authentic professional relationships and the social economic benefits that can be unlocked through them. Like the catch in purpose, there’s always been a catch in relationships. That catch is self-interest. If I’m more interested in what I can get from a relationship, that relationship will always struggle to be authentic and therefor productive. Because purpose is a means to someone else’s end, all the while you’re thinking ‘what’s in it for me’, you will struggle to unlock your purpose.

To really embrace a life of purpose, whether it's in the marketplace or the non-profit world, and to really stand out in an increasingly competitive world, you must accept that you need to move away from being an end and become a means to an end that is not you.

Purpose has a price.

Some of you may know that back in the 19th and 20th centuries, pharmacy and chemist shops sold a huge range of drugs designed to help people with their health problems. This included all manner of things which we have now found to be harmful, and the shops have subsequently stopped selling them. While I was researching this topic, I came across what I think is a great example of purpose having a price.

Larry Merlo is the CEO of CVS Pharmacies and in 2014, not that long ago, CVS became the first major pharmacy chain to stop selling cigarettes and some other tobacco related products. Many of us didn't know this happened. In fact, we go into pharmacies today and we know they don't sell cigarettes or tobacco related products. It never even crossed our minds that somewhere along the way, somebody took the first step, a decision to sacrifice profit for purpose. Larry’s message was clear; The sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose, because our purpose is to help people on their path to better health.

Putting purpose ahead of profit initially cost them millions and they knew and planned for it. But Larry and the board decided that they wanted their company to embrace the idea of purpose, even though it cost them, they became a means to an end and the end wasn't all about them. Big decision. Other companies began to follow suit and now they’ve become an industry leader because people will always rally behind purpose over profit.

Purpose is the pathway to meaning.

When an individual or a company embraces the idea of purpose, they become a means to an end. You cannot have meaning in life, or your organisation cannot have meaning in the marketplace, if you are not willing to become a means to an end that is not you or the organisation. When people say ‘there has to be more to life than this’, or they say ‘there has to be more to growth in business than this’, what they're really saying is there has to be more to life than me. Those who devote themselves to themselves, or an organisation that devotes itself to itself will ultimately have nothing but themselves to show for themselves, and the same is true for an organisation or a company. If it's all about the organisation, that's all they'll have to show for it.

When an individual or an organisation decides to do something that's not just about themselves, they will have more than themselves to show for themselves, and more than themselves to grow into future generations of their organisation.

I appreciate this idea may seem a bit tricky and you may think it unnecessarily complicated, but I hope you’ve followed this train of thought this far because you’ve bumped up against trying to find your purpose for yourself or your business. And it’s the catch in purpose that’s getting in the way. We know that everyone should embrace purpose, and there is a price and there is a cost, but the advantage and reward is meaning. You can’t have meaning in life as long as it's all about you. Your business or organisation cannot have meaning in the marketplace if it’s all about the business, who you are and what you’re doing.

Thank about how many times you’ve seen social media posts that are all about what someone has done or what they’ve achieved. Celebrating their own achievements rather than the achievements of those they serve. There’s a quote I think is relevant here, and I can’t remember from whom. It goes “If it doesn’t matter when you’re gone, it doesn’t matter now”. I think that has a lot to say about how much we have all become distracted by all types of media noise, and who can shout the loudest about their achievements. Anyway… ?

Let’s discuss what you can do to take this idea forward.

Earlier I suggested that a better question to ask yourself is ‘who am I here for’ or ‘who are we here for’, and here are three additional questions to help you move forward.

The first is - Begin looking at everything you are currently doing through the lens of meaning.

You can start by asking yourself ‘are you willing to pay the price to position your business or organisation to be more about purpose than just about the company?’ By paying the price, I don’t necessarily mean sacrificing profit as CVS did, but are you willing to invest to unlock purpose or are you happy to remain average. As I said earlier, those who devote themselves to themselves will ultimately have nothing but themselves to show for themselves. But if you devote yourself to more than yourself, you will ultimately have more than yourself to show for yourself.

We learned this from funerals.

A great funeral is when there's a life worth celebrating, and a life is worth celebrating when it’s a life that was given away. The value of anyone's life is always measured in terms of how much of it was given away, but you don't give away your life until you're willing to become a means to an end. The eulogy never reads ‘we’re here to celebrate the life of xxx, he didn’t really do anything but look after himself’. Now translate that into your organisation. When it’s time to handover your business to future generations, what will you be remembered for – a life of leadership serving your team and clients, or a life spent serving the company.

As you begin looking at everything you do through the lens of meaning, look for the sizzle in every sausage!

The second question to ask yourself or point to think about is – Pay attention to what stirs your heart. What do you find yourself thinking about when you can think about whatever you want to think about. What leads you down the path of something that might take you beyond you or set you up to be a means to someone else’s end. In your business, what wrong are you trying to right, what injustice are the products and services you provide solving for others that create a means to someone else’s end.

Thirdly and arguably most importantly is - Surround yourself with on purpose people.

We all know the quote “you are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with”, but there’s science behind that. Research published by Kings College London showed that when two people are in each other's company, their brainwaves begin to align. The research goes on to say that the more we study engagement between people, we see time and time again that just being next to certain people actually aligns your brain with them. Something happens in our brains to physiologically align ourselves with the people we're around. It goes on to say - the people you surround yourself with actually have an impact on your engagement with reality beyond what you can explain. And one of the effects is you become alike. Of course, this mirroring of unconscious behaviour works both positively and negatively. When you surround yourself with can-do people, you believe you can do too, and when you surround yourself with people who won’t do, you begin to believe you can’t do.

By surrounding ourselves with people who embody the traits we prefer, over time we will naturally pick up these traits. Surrounding ourselves with on purpose people is actually a strategy if we really are serious about getting to the place where we're willing to take the step and make a sacrifice to do something meaningful with our lives, and build a meaningful purpose in our businesses that is not all about ourselves.

In the book Dare to Serve by Cheryl Bachelder, she says “The point of purpose is to determine how you will serve others’ bottom line. If you don't have a plan to serve others, you don't need a purpose”.

I hope this article has brought clarity to understanding the catch in finding your purpose. I’ll leave you with these final thoughts. Are you willing to serve others or just serve yourself and your organisation? Are you willing to be a means to an end that isn’t you? If you are, you are on your way to embracing a life of meaning and purpose and if not, you're going to miss out. When you’ve retired from your role or company and people gather to celebrate your life, will they have a rich track record to celebrate, or they will have to make things up.

Find out more about purpose by reading my other articles, and book a call with me to talk about the future of your business.