Investing on purpose

In his book "Drive" the author Daniel Pink elaborates on three key elements for true motivation: Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery. As Scrum Master and Agile Coach, I support individuals and teams in determining their purpose. Without a clear purpose, work can become meaningless and dull. Having a purpose provides inspiration and focus toward a higher goal.

But purpose is not only relevant at work; it also matters in your private life. Knowing your personal purpose helps you to make choices and dedicate your scarce time and energy to what is really important to you in the long run. And that's why I dedicate most of the first chapter of my new book "A Scrum Master's Guide to Happiness" to finding your purpose.

During my monthly review last weekend, I experimented with a new format to find out if I was spending my time on the right topics for me.

Exercise: investment vs. purpose

First, I created a chart with two axes. The horizontal axis was for time & energy spent, and the vertical axis depicted contribution to purpose. Both axes had a relative scale, from none to maximum (I just love simplicity).

Then I wrote all my goals for this year on sticky notes. One by one I stuck them on the chart based on the time/energy I am investing and how that goal contributes to living my purpose: inspiring people to create happiness in their lives by sharing my personal experience.

It will come as no surprise that my book goal scored pretty high on both axes. Some other goals ended up in the lower left corner. For instance, the outside woodwork of our house needs painting later this year, but that doesn't add much to my purpose.

Next, I inspected if I was pleased with where I had placed my goals. Had I invested too much or too little in each goal, or was it just right? Could there be a better fit for my purpose? When I was pleased with a goal's position on the chart, I gave it a checkmark. When I thought I could do better, I drew an arrow to indicate in which direction I wanted it to change.

Insights and actions

The exercise was short and sweet with some interesting insights:

• Charity work is one way to realize my purpose, so I want to invest in that goal again. At the same time, I want to be critical of how much time I can afford.
• My daily exercise discipline sometimes suffers from a bad night's sleep. So I'm going to experiment with a bedtime routine to switch off on time.
• I spend most of my time at work as a Practice Lead. I realized that there is still room for improvement to live my purpose at work too: by inspiring and challenging others including myself.

Next steps

How about you? Do you feel comfortable with how you spend your time and energy? Or maybe a bit curious now to dig a little deeper?

Feel free to try out this exercise and figure out which insights it brings for you. You know best if it's worth the time & energy...

Take care and till next time!

Kind regards,

Herman / Scrumpy Dad

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