Is Your Purpose Puzzling You?
By James M. Rink
Is Your Purpose puzzling you? If so, it’s time to end your frustration.
Stop being puzzled by your Purpose and start putting your Purpose puzzle pieces together.
You have all the pieces of your Purpose puzzle already. You just need a strategy on how your Purpose puzzle pieces fit together.
No matter where you are in your life, whether you are a business CEO, executive, parent, Millennial or Gen Z worker, now is the time for you to discover your life’s Purpose.
The longing for Purpose in today’s culture can be puzzling.
Millennials and Gen Zers don’t work for a paycheck they want a Purpose. They are looking to Purpose driven companies to partner with. Gen Z, also called the ‘Change Generation’ is the most entrepreneurial generation yet, 72% say they want to start a business and believe the world’s problems can be solved by doing so. This is Purpose.
To help our Purpose puzzle, here’s a lesson I learned from my father and puzzles.
My father always loved building puzzles. In his retirement years he spent hours and days working and building them and then proudly framing his completed puzzles as works of art in his garage. If I ever had a doubt at what gift to buy him; a clever puzzle game was a hit.
When my father was 79 years old, he entered hospice care as his life was coming to an end. During this season, he was frustrated and wrestled with his questions, ‘Am I leaving a legacy?’ and ‘Did I live my life like I was designed to live it?’
On his death bed, my father’s life Purpose was puzzling him as he was trying to make peace with the world he was preparing to leave.
I don’t want you to be at the end of your life asking yourself the same questions.
Shortly after my father’s death I decided to devote more of my life to helping people just like you define exactly what is their life’s Purpose.
It’s better to take a few hours together now and define your life’s Purpose then to spend a lifetime hoping and unsure what your Purpose is.
My father always said you build the border sides of a puzzle first. This is the frame of the puzzle. You do this by finding all the puzzle pieces with a straight side. Once you have the border sides connect you have a framework to fill in.
25 years ago, I was searching for a framework as I was building my Purpose puzzle. I discovered that visionary business founders like Walt Disney, John Nordstrom and Steve Jobs all used Purpose Statements as a business strategy to make their dreams into business realities.
After looking at hundreds of visionary business Purpose Statements, I discovered a trend. They each used words about FEELINGS, ACTIONS and PEOPLE.
Thus, I wrote the Purpose of You and its Formula or framework to write your Purpose Statement.
Feelings + Actions + People = Purpose
Your Purpose is your competitive advantage.
What feelings do you love to feel and love to give to people? Here are a few feeling words to help. Pick your 3 favorites…
Love Happy Secure Gratitude Alive Inspire
Pride Joy Peace Safe Patient Freedom
Hope Passion Compassion Care Serenity Fascination
Knowing your core Feelings that you want to give (Actions) to People is your framework to building your Purpose puzzle.
Feelings + Actions + People = Purpose
Stop being puzzled by your Purpose and start putting your Purpose puzzle pieces together.
If this blog speaks to you, I believe it is because your Purpose is calling you to a better life. I invite you to follow me on social media @JamesMRink and subscribe to my blogs and learn at PurposeOfYou.com
Cheryl Desantis - Chief People Officer at SmileDirectClub calls Purpose of You is THE team development opportunity for our times.
