Keys to Filling Your Profession, Your Business, and Your Days with Purpose

There's a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" that has always struck me: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same." I mention this because we go through life chasing success. But how do you measure your success or failure?

After navigating through ups and downs, my take is that success means living each day more authentically, being centered, and doing what I want or at least loving what I do. A biblical phrase sums it up: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Maybe the biggest secret to living with purpose is treating yourself with the utmost respect and thoughtfulness. Ask yourself: Why do I do what I do? If your actions align with your thoughts, feelings, and gut, you're in tune with your purpose. But if you're living to fit others' expectations or old mandates, stop and rethink.

We all know people in religion, sports, politics, and business who push forward with their purpose against all odds. Watching Animal Planet shows that living life means constantly exploring, often in tough situations. Purpose drives you like nothing else, unlike obligations driven by external pressures or fear.

In sales, experts often ask: What's your unique value proposition? For me, nothing is more unique than being true to yourself and showing your authentic self, free and genuine. We make countless excuses for doing things we don't like: "I don't have time to stop!"; "I'm more of a thinker than a feeler"; "I'm like this and won't change." Even if you're not in your dream job, you can still work from your core starting today. If you want to respect others around you, start by respecting yourself completely.

If you feel far from your purpose, the first step is recognizing it and the second is urgently seeking it. Living with purpose takes courage because leaving your comfort zone to reach your goals means facing challenges. We all have fears we hide in many ways. The biggest fear might be showing our true selves, risking acceptance for who we really are. Staying in your comfort zone is like staying in a tornado shelter: it protects you from the storm but keeps you in the dark. No one forces you to stay there forever.

It's striking to think that in a hundred years, at best, we'll be a memory in a digital photo. Your life is now, and there's no time to live without purpose—this is urgent. This principle applies to your personal and professional life, your team's, your company's, and your country's. What purpose unites, moves, and drives you to cross deserts? I hope you dare to take that step. Living with purpose means living with integrity, feeling balanced, and being in the best position to give and receive your best self. The legacy you want to leave in others depends on being yourself, not trying to adapt.

We are Ricardo Ignacio Cavanagh and Pablo Jorge Pereyra Iraola, partners at www.integritasteam.com , where we offer consulting for professionals and organizations. Behind every company, every team, and every General Manager, there are people. Contact us if you find this interesting, and let's keep talking.