“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” Robert Byrne
It’s usual to have a goal for the day, particularly if you work in a high performance sector. Goals certainly have their place, but what if we added, or switched, to a purpose for the day? How much would that help us refocus and rechannel our energies? Goals can sometimes tire you, however having a purpose of the day can lift you. It also lifts your level of thinking to that of the whole reason why you’re here today.
If you were to ask yourself when you got up – “what is my purpose for the day?” – what would you come up with? The beauty is that it could change every day, and you can pick or choose depending on how your feel. In fact if you write it down, it may well help you identify some hidden values.
So ask yourself this: “The purpose of my day today is……”
It may be around listening more attentively, leading more authentically, communicating more succinctly or interacting more lightheartedly.
It may be around giving your kids some of your fun side, helping them go up a reading level or tackling their latest lego project with them.
Your purpose of the day will of course change depending on circumstance. Looking back, when I used to live in Tuscany many years ago, I still remember my daily purpose vividly. Improve my Italian while sampling a new Chianti every day. Life felt simpler then, helped by a crystal clear purpose (depending on the number of glasses of Chianti of course!)
I reckon we can simplify our daily life by clarifying our purpose of the day.
For teams or groups, the purpose of your day may be:
- To create a better client or customer experience
- To achieve better communication flow between divisions
- To increase your behavioural safety on site as a team
Once you have your purpose of the day, it can improve your performance by automatically taking you to that bigger picture, that all important WHY, and can therefore help stop you getting bogged down in too much overwhelm, procrastination or distraction.