Purpose is not just a philosophy term. It makes starting easier and continuing possible.

What is your purpose?

What is your purpose? What is your why? It should be simple to answer, right?

But it’s not simple because it means:

• asking tough questions.
• navigating many responses.
• pushing yourself or others farther than you or they want to go just so you can get to a core of understanding.
• taking extra time and effort.

Because it’s not simple, or easy, very likely the answer will be a high-level paraphrase of the reality and it won’t have much value. It will not be significant enough to help you move through blockers that come up in your life, whether in career, family, or growth. And it certainly won’t help a team or others to stay focused when things get a little rocky.

An approach to learning your purpose

I saw a recent clip on LinkedIn where Simon Sinek demonstrates an inspiring approach to getting started with finding your answer to the question “Do you know your purpose?”. In true Simon Sinek style, he broke it down into easily understandable components for “why” and “what”.

The rendering factor in his approach is the emotional response you feel when you get to the right answer for you.

The advantages of knowing your purpose

Knowing the purpose behind what you are doing before you start gives you the advantage in preventing blockers before they start and navigating through blockers when they do arise.

• Serves as a decision filter that helps you to identify and eliminate distractions
• Helps to reduce the feeling of having too many options
• Makes motivation easier to achieve and sustain
• Reduces the friction caused by treating everything as equally important
• Fosters alignment across teams because it establishes clarity
• Reduces miscommunication when the purpose is shared (with stakeholders)

In essence, knowing your purpose creates a framework of clarity by removing the guessing games and reducing the gut reactions that can otherwise drive decision-making and project management into a rut.

The best part is that this strategy can be applied to personal and business processes.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are starting something new or if you are blocked somewhere in the middle, reconnecting with your purpose is the first step to getting unblocked.

Check in next month when I will share more tools to help you identify your purpose!