Finding Your Purpose

Notes from my continued reading on Conscious Capitalism:

Besides the day you were born, the most important day in your life is when you figure out the purpose for which you were born.

Purpose is the difference we're trying to make in the world.

How do you find your purpose? Look where your talents and the needs of the world cross.

Even further, then, they show a four-way Venn diagram with your purpose being the intersection of what you do well, what you love, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for.

Questions to help discover your purpose:

• Why was the organization originally founded?
• What were the guiding principles that this organization was founded on?
• What spirit or intention must be preserved and captured in our purpose at all cost?
• When we are at our absolute best, what is going on?
• When we love what we are doing, what is going on?
• When we’re failing, just getting by, in a slump, or not that interested in our work, what is going on?
• What is the ultimate impact we hope to make?
• When we’re at our best, what difference do we make in the lives of the people we serve?
• What is our organization’s greatest strength; what do we have the potential to be the best at in the world?
• What are we most passionate about? What do we love the most about what we do?
• Where can we have the most meaningful impact? Which big problems or needs in the world are we capable of and passionate about solving?
• What would people reward us for? What products and services would our customers happily purchase from us?
• What do you love most about this company or this brand?
• What does this company or brand do for you that no one else does?
• If this company or brand ceased to exist, what would be lost? What would you miss the most?
• At the most basic level, what do we have to offer people?
• Functional benefit: what does our offering enable people to do?
• Emotional benefit: how does our offering make people feel?
• Ultimate value: what is the ultimate value of these functional and emotional benefits in their lives?
• What is your heart calling you to do?
• What is absolutely essential for the purpose to be truly meaningful?

Roy Spence paraphrases Aristotle, that we should do good rather than simply be good. We need to change the story, bring competitors together, and use our strengths to serve a higher purpose.