Connecting Your Individual Passion with a Business Purpose
Everyone craves meaning and purpose in life, but few people can actually fulfill it at work. What is purpose? To put it simply, it is the definitive statement about the difference you would like to make in the world. For many, having or finding a purpose is what causes the struggle or the feeling of not having a focus.
Passion is often what compels someone to start or join a business. Over time, you may feel this passion wane and hear yourself saying, “I just don’t have a passion for this anymore” or “How do I get my mojo back?” When we get pulled into the day-to-day, we get bogged down with the constant grind and focus on issues (such as things are not going to plan or it is taking longer to get there than we planned), and our passion for what we are doing gets tested. Passion is great for inertia, but it is not the spark that keeps the fire burning.
If you have a purpose and can articulate it with clarity and with passion, everything makes more sense and you feel good about what you are doing. You have more confidence in making decisions, and how to get where you want to go. Purpose comes from something much deeper than passion and is more powerful and can tap into a “universal human truth.”
Often people struggle to really understand and feel comfortable claiming their purpose. The declaration of the purpose is what causes the most resistance. What if that is not my real purpose, then what? This resistance typically is a hint at the direction you need to explore. This resistance comes from fear. It could be the fear of your purpose being too big, or fear that you might actually achieve your purpose. There are a number of reasons for resistance, but the important thing to keep in mind is that going after this resistance or obstacle head-on is often what leads to the answer, the solution, the purpose.
Passion Categories Exercise
Follow your instincts and relax. Take a look at the books you like to read, what movies you like to watch, what things you love to do and would be happy to do for free all day long. Look back on your life to date and journal about what struggles you have encountered and how you overcame them. Think about defining moments that have impacted you in a big way. Look at all the various aspects of what you have a passion for and start to group these items together. You’ll notice that some basic categories begin to form.
When I did this exercise, I wrote down the following passion categories:
– Branding and graphic design
– Helping people
– Business and solving problems
– Personal growth and spirituality
– Animals
– Nature
– Family and friends
– Motorcycles and racing
– Adventure
I drew three or four interconnecting circles and put a category in each circle. I took a look at what happened when I combined these items together and started journaling and brainstorming around these unique overlaps and what happens when I bring these categories together.
The intersection of these categories is where I found the purpose for myself and my business.
My purpose aligned with my business: I help business owners discover their brand life-force and how to leverage their business purpose to have a greater impact on the world.
A higher purpose provides great energy and relevance to a business and its brand. Having a deeper purpose to what we do as an individual as well as for our business makes our lives more complete, which is also a powerful motivator and force. When times are tough, focus on your greater purpose and not the day-to-day challenges. Purpose is not something that we should take for granted; when we do, our purpose loses its energy and ability to drive our actions and success.
When your purpose is clear, leadership teams are empowered and can make quicker, better decisions; can lead with clarity and conviction; and have superior overall performance. This form of leadership drives and leads your culture creating the life-force behind your brand. And that life-force manifests itself in every aspect of your business, allowing you to go beyond what you thought possible and to have a greater impact.
“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
—Nelson Mandela
Author:
Alan Wallner
President/Visionary of Conscious Branding
Journal Point
Watch your day as a movie and see what happens. By observing your work environment, you can make a change. Step back and see it for what it is.
Step outside your company instance and view it.
- What do you see?
- What do you like, don’t like?
- What would you not change?
- What would you change?
- What could you do better?
Think about it spiritually.
- How do you want to make people feel?
- How do you want to feel?
- What good can your business do for others?
- How do you give back?
- What kind of people do you want to be around?
- What kind of people do you want to attract?
- How do you contribute to the greater good?