Why Finding Your Purpose is Important
===
[00:00:00] So in one of my earlier podcasts, I talked about the military planning construct of strategy, operations and tactics, and how that can fit with defining your life objectives, and ultimately the job that you take.
[00:00:23] I want to explore a little more of that first piece, that strategy piece there, and what that means in deciding what you want to do. What kind of life you like, how do you want your life to be? And that's again, like I said, in that other podcast, that's the most important part of it, of the whole construct here is to get the big picture first. So as you're doing that, I think it's just important that you think about your purpose in life.
[00:00:56] Now I'm going to give you a little example from my own experience. My professional purpose when I was a young man was to be the best Marine Corps officer I could be. That was very fulfilling. There was so much to learn about being a Marine Corps officer from the leadership perspective of things, to the technical perspective of equipment and how they function to the tactical perspective of how to employ that equipment.
[00:01:27] Having that purpose focused me. It allowed me to think about what do I need to be reading? What do I need to be studying? Who do I need to be talking to?
[00:01:37] But like most things, everything has an end and when it was time to leave the Marine Corps. I went into the corporate world and ultimately became a vice-president who led a business unit within a large defense contractor. Then my professional purpose shifted. It really became twofold. One was to provide an analytic support to the Marine Corps. So one was to provide the Marine Corps with the best quantitative and qualitative analytics support that we could. The second, was to run the business unit in a way that developed people, my people and and was profitable. You have to obviously do that in the business world .
[00:02:27] I did that for a number of years and frankly, toward the end, I kinda lost that purpose a little bit. I think. The folks that I had brought on board and developed were capable of doing much of what I was doing. And in some way even felt like I was in their way. So I was going through the motions ,if you will, at work. And I don't think I was contributing as much as I could have for that reason.
[00:02:54] Unfortunately at that time, toward the end there, my wife had significant health issues and I felt like I needed to be home to take care of things and take care of her and make sure things were done. So I left, I quit the job and just decided to stay home.
[00:03:15] When I made that decision, it was amazing how clear and focused my life became. I now had a purpose and that was to help her with this very serious health issue. So when I look back on it like that, I think it's really important as you think about the strategic level and what it is you want to do that you think about your purpose.
[00:03:44] If you've read any of Victor Frankel's work and I highly recommend you do, he says "It's not what I want from my life. It's what does this life want from me?" It's critical that you find that meaning and he believes that finding a purpose in taking responsibility for yourself and other human beings is that meaning.
[00:04:09] And if you have that really strong, sense of why you're here. What you're doing with this great thing that you've been given called life. Then all the other stuff falls into place. How you're going to achieve things becomes much more doable because you know the why. So I think it's really a important part of the overall plan for your career and your life that you get the strategic part and that you think about what the purpose is.
[00:04:44] Now, you're going to have a personal side of that as well. I brought some of that in when I talked about why I left the corporate world. You'll need to do that yourself. My intent here is not to be a life coach, but really a career coach so I'm just focusing on the professional side, but you need to look at the personal side as well and your purpose.
[00:05:02] Think about your family. Think about your close friends. Think about your community and what it is you're you are called to do and put that into action within the context of your career planning. I believe you'll have a much more satisfying career and life. Thanks for listening.
[00:05:25] I look forward to your comments. Thank you. Bye.
