close
Search:
Abraham Maslow once wrote, “It isn't normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement,” but I contend team members ought to try to prove Maslow wrong. Aldous Huxley perhaps provided a positive antidote, when he wrote, “Knowing who in fact we are results in Good Being, and Good Being results in the most appropriate kind of good doing.” It is critically important to know thyself ... if one wants to achieve a sense of purpose in life or at work. [caption id="attachment_15987" align="alignright" width="377"]Shutterstock Shutterstock[/caption] Kelsy Trigg, a leader in the high-tech space, was having dinner with me one night in 2011 when she shared her personal purpose statement. Kelsy highlighted something that night that really made me think.
  • Do people who exhibit purpose define themselves with some form of personal purpose statement?
In the words of Huxley, does this definition aid “good being and good doing”? Kelsy's working life purpose was and continues to be a journey. Whether as an independent contractor or analyst working for banks and insurance companies, or as a leader (director, head, vice-president) in high-tech, she is highly regarded. But the path to purpose came with a few bumps along the way. Although Kelsy is someone who continuously puts purpose before profit, she had to sort through what gives her true meaning in life and at work. Her giving attitude, thoughtful character and open mind are carefully mixed with operational zest and a high degree of business stratagem. Today she is a consummate and balanced professional that sees her career as a journey of exploration. Over that dinner, we launched into a discussion about purpose, specifically about one's personally defined sense of purpose. Kelsy pulls no punches. Her purpose is a testament to her character, and to her self-created definition of how she lives life, both at work and personally. Though it was likely years in the making, when Kelsy put pen to paper, the words came easily and she distilled it into:
  • I decide to live my life filled with joy.
  • I decide to be generous, open-hearted, and loving.
  • I decide to show up whole-heartedly and be present.
  • I choose courage, integrity, peace and love.
This personal purpose statement has served Kelsy well. Her ability to define who she is and how she will operate—deciding to live and work through the behaviors and attributes outlined above—helped vault her to a level of work that continues to be grounded by her purpose. But Kelsy did not have this clarity until her late 30s. Her prior experiences, roles and organizations helped her to develop enough acumen so that she could reach a point in her life to define what truly mattered. Indeed, over another dinner in 2015, Kelsy divulged how important the personal purpose statement had become for her.
“For me, the language ‘I decide’ is very powerful, whether it’s deciding how I show up or deciding what my next step in something is. This doesn’t ensure a particular outcome or necessarily impact those around me, but it does provide a sense of grounding and choice about how I respond to my internal and external environment, no matter what my surroundings hold. When I internalized this, it brought a sense of calm for me.  My happiness is my responsibility. How I show up is my choice.”
Two points come to mind with respect to Kelsy:
  1. Defining yourself through a personal purpose statement is an important step in the quest for workplace and life purpose.
  2. Individuals should not be afraid to revisit the statement over time to determine if it continues to resonate.
In his seminal 1989 book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey encouraged people to create a personal mission statement within the second habit, "Begin with the End in Mind." While it may seem like semantics, I would prefer to call it a "Personal Declaration of Purpose." This differs from Covey's "Personal Mission Statements," for it is purpose that one is seeking to declare and then establish, not a mission. The question a successful team member is continuously asking and answering—who indeed is creating a personal sense of purpose—is:
"Who am I in life and at work?"
There is no one right answer, nor should it be viewed as a competitive task against peers and friends. It is an ongoing definition not a one-time commandment. It can occur in your 20s or your 90s or at several points in between. Philosophers and leaders like Plato, Socrates, Heraclitus or Pythagoras, were alleged to have bandied about the maxim “Know Thyself” in the agora on many an occasion. Self-understanding—knowing oneself—is essential to this. It leads us to surface a critical point. Personal purpose is the perpetual journey to continually develop, define and decide your what, who and how. When we ask these questions we commit to develop, define and decide our calling, our personal purpose. We pledge to begin knowing thyself. Constantly redefining who one is in life and at work increases the likelihood that your personal purpose will be realized. Being relentless in the quest for personal purpose is key to achieving the sweet spot. An excellent starting action is to define one’s self through a personal declaration of purpose. It may change over time. That can actually be healthy. The key point, however, is to take the time to define it and, ultimately, to know thyself. Just like Kelsy. PurposeEffect_3D____________________ PS. Read more in my latest book, The Purpose Effect: Building Meaning in Yourself, Your Role and Your Organization Download Chapter 1 ... for free! Audible version now available, too. (I'm the narrator!)
WORK-LIFE BLOOM

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

Find out if you’re currently blooming, budding, stunted or in need of renewal through the Work-Life Bloom Personal Assessment.

START ASSESSMENT  

Testimonials

  • Dan Pontefract’s keynote on the importance of workplace culture in employee engagement was excellent.  Dan used his vast leadership experience to provide our conference attendees with practical strategies to build teams that are engaged and committed. His relatable, real-life examples were thought provoking, memorable and very personal, creating a connection to the audience. I would highly recommend Dan as an entertaining keynote speaker who delivers content that is relevant and actionable.

    Michelle Hillyard, Director SCU
  • We are so proud to have had you at our event. Your talk was a big hit. It moved us. We can’t thank you enough.

    Malin Björnell, Salesforce
  • Dan challenged us to have clarity of purpose, both as individuals and as an organization. He related inspiring stories drawing on his experience in business, technology and academia. As he said, ‘There is no ownership without belonging.’

    Christian Pantel, D2L
  • Fantastic engaging talk for our global partner summit. Thank you so much, Dan!

     

    Barb Kinnard, CEO Response Biomedical Corp
  • Dan not only brought his presentation to life with his charisma, but also content, style and presentation finesse. Our members were especially interested in his thought provoking and top of mind topic on the future of work and how we’re going to be leading the next generation of leaders.

    Cheryl Goodwin, CPA
  • Dan is a conference organizer’s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.

    Director and General Counsel
  • Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.

    Hermann Handa, FCT

Media Appearances

sidebar hashtag menu home office pencil images camera headphones music video-camera bullhorn connection mic book books file-empty files-empty folder folder-open price-tag barcode qrcode cart coin-dollar coin-euro mobile user users user-plus user-minus key lock unlocked glass mug spoon-knife fire bin switch cloud-download cloud-upload bookmark star-empty star-half star-full play pause stop backward forward first last previous next eject volume-high volume-medium volume-low volume-mute amazon google whatsapp twitter dribbble behance behance-black github appleinc finder windows8 skype pinterest pinterest-o chrome firefox edge safari opera file-pdf file-word file-excel html-five asterisk search search-plus search-minus cog arrow-circle-o-down arrow-circle-o-up edit share-square-o check-square-o arrows question-circle arrow-left arrow-right arrow-up arrow-down mail-forward expand compress eye eye-slash comment twitter-square facebook-square camera-retro cogs comments thumbs-o-up thumbs-o-down sign-out linkedin-square external-link sign-in unlock feed bell-o arrow-circle-left arrow-circle-right arrow-circle-up arrow-circle-down globe filter arrows-alt link paperclip bars envelope linkedin rotate-left bell angle-left angle-right angle-up angle-down desktop mail-reply mail-reply-all chain-broken chevron-circle-left chevron-circle-right chevron-circle-up chevron-circle-down html5 unlock-alt youtube-square youtube-play dropbox stack-overflow apple windows trello female male arrow-circle-o-right arrow-circle-o-left wordpress file-image-o paper-plane paper-plane-o share-alt cc-visa cc-paypal cc-stripe bell-slash bell-slash-o facebook-official trademark registered wikipedia-w question-circle-o