3 tips for focusing on your purpose, principles and practice

What is your purpose? How can translate this purpose into clear principles and practice these in your daily life? Let’s explore how you can follow these steps in your own way.

1) You can focus on your purpose.

There are many exercises that people can use to define their purpose. You may have tackled some of these when attending workshops or reading books. Some modern writers lay claim to the exercises, but all stem from the eternal human questions:

“Who am I? Where am I going? How can I get there?”

Virtually all the exercises invite you to ‘start from your destination and work backwards’. They ask you: a) To define what you want to accomplish in life; b) To focus on how you can do something towards achieving these goals each day. Such exercises include, for example:

My Tombstone

The words that I want written on my tombstone are:

* She/He ________________________________________________

My Legacy

The legacy I want to leave behind is:

* To  ___________________________________________________

Success

Looking back when I am 80, the things I will have done
that for me will mean I have had a successful life are:

* To ___________________________________________________

My Obituary

The things that she/he did in their life were:

* To ___________________________________________________

My Purpose on the Planet 

My purpose on the planet is:

* To ___________________________________________________

 

Writing in The Power of Story, Jim Loehr describes how he helps people to clarify their ‘story’ – their purpose. When working with elite athletes, he says, an individual may start by saying: “I want to be Number 1 in the World.” But they then explore further. Being pictured on the front of Sports Illustrated will give a kick, but after their careers they may still have a further 50 years to live.

Jim Loehr talks about people needing to define their real, rather than false, purpose. This calls for finding some longer-term meaning. Athletes, business people and others go beyond being ‘Number 1’. Jim says that different people eventually come-up with different one-liners, such as: ‘To act as a role model for showing how people can fulfil their potential.’ Finding a wider meaning can ‘free them up’ and, paradoxically, help them to be more successful in their chosen field.

So how can you clarify your purpose? One approach is to start brainstorming around the exercises mentioned earlier. You will soon find that certain themes begin to reappear. This brings us to a crucial point: focus on the recurring theme. Try writing it in various ways, then settle on the words that feel right to around 80%. Do not worry about finding the perfect phrase through ‘word-smithing’. That will be a lifetime’s work!

Providing it feels right, go with your chosen sentence. For example, at the moment mine is: “To help people to build on their strengths and achieve their picture of success.” Certainly this can be shortened or lengthened, but the sentiment remains the same.

You will, of course, have your own philosophy of life. So try completing the following exercise.

2) You can focus on your principles

Your purpose is the ‘What’. Your principles are the ‘How’ – the guidelines you will follow towards reaching your goals.

Many people share a fairly common ‘What’. They often want to create a good life for their children, help other people and build a better world. People’s uniqueness lies is in ‘How’ they actually work to reach their goals. This is demonstrated in two areas: the specific principles they follow and how they practice these in their daily lives.

Johnson & Johnson is often quoted as an example of a company that followed its principles – especially when under fire. Faced by batches of its Tylenol medication being injected with cyanide, it returned to the first line of its ‘credo’. This read:

“We believe our first responsibility is to doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.”

Johnson & Johnson put its long-term reputation before short term cash and withdrew Tylenol from the shelves.

“That should be obvious,” somebody may say. I agree: but many individuals, teams and companies write grand principles, then refuse to follow these when the chips are down. They prevaricate, find excuses or muddy the waters.

Peak performers stick to their principles. I found this when studying successful therapeutic communities. They laid-out the ‘rules’ for people who wanted to join, saying:

“Here is the deal. We will help you to reach your goals. We do require, however, that you follow certain guidelines. We are stone hard on these rules. If you break them, you will need to leave.”

They were able to explain the key principles and show how these helped people to achieve their goals. People who broke the rules knew the consequences. Successful therapeutic communities followed their guidelines, especially when times got rough.

Bearing in mind your own purpose, try completing the following exercise.

3) You can focus on your practice.

Peak performers translate their principles into daily practice. Great athletes who aim to win an Olympic Gold, for example, plot the details on the road to reaching their destination. They maintain good habits to consistently achieve 8/10 – then occasionally produce magic to reach 10/10. Like William Blake, they believe it is possible: "To see a world in a grain of sand." They focus on the big picture, but also delight in delivering the daily detail.

“That is what I love,” explained one chef. “Buying locally produced food, preparing it lovingly and presenting it beautifully. That is my equivalent of creating a work of art.”

This is another lesson I learned from successful therapeutic communities. People were encouraged to take responsibility every moment of the day. Why? Many were in trouble because they refused to take charge of their lives or face reality. The key was to take responsibility – for their feelings, for their decisions and for their actions.

The communities encouraged people when they behaved in an adult and supportive way. But immediately confronted them if they failed to take ownership – such as failing to wash a tea cup they had used. Sounds trivial, but ‘getting others to clear-up after them’ was one of their symptoms. The communities believed-in translating the mutually agreed contract into daily actions.

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life,” said Viktor Frankl. “Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.” People feel more at peace when they are pursuing their chosen purpose.

Try tackling the final exercise on this them. Describe how you can translate your purpose and principles into practice in your daily life. Try completing the following sentence.

---

Posted on Sunday, February 27th, 2011 at 4:00 pm in Strengths, The Strengths Blog   |  RSS feed |  Print This Post |  Respond  |  Trackback URL