Last week we introduced The Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP). Today's Second Installment of the EPP examines Purposeful Intent. You may ask yourself, "are not purpose and intent of the same ideology?". They are exactly not....which introduces our problem. Too often we are given a directive, which formulates our purpose, and we perform said directive...without intent. This makes our lives a collection of meaningless tasks between clock punches. This is a waste!
What's Your Purpose?
Next week we will examine the inability of most organizations to bring meaning to the never ending task list. Today, I am going to ask you to define purpose for yourself. You cannot rely on your organization to assign Purposeful Intent, so you have to create it.
When you develop the ability to find personal meaning in every chore you free yourself to choose the life you wish to have.
It is a fairly simple process: When assigned a task ask yourself is what it means to you...and prioritize accordingly.
We have seen studies that convey that 70% of all workers are actively disengaged. That's probably a low estimate and the premise could be flawed. If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that our company will open the doors, turn on the computers and supply some coffee. The rest is up to you. I repeat...
The Rest Is Up To You!
There is no such thing as the perfect job. Every company has people who have become irrelevant and seek to destroy the ambition of the optimistic. But, we don't need to sell our belongings and journey to Alaska to find our purpose.
We find ourselves caught up in the myth of work hard, play hard. That we have the determination at work to win and then we take off our tie and escape to lunacy. This creates a double life: stress out and decompress. Make money, spend it and hide in your cubicle until the hangover subsides.
There is one absolute in every day: If you think today will suck, it will! If you find the ability to put your energy into that which matters you will be 100 times happier at work.
Here's how you can develop Purposeful Intent:
Avert Your Ego
Set Sensible Priorities
Have a Back Up Plan
Leave it!
Every task will take twice as long if you are intent on having your way. How our egos drive our goals and how silly that is. We have calls about calls, meetings about meetings and the only reason for this is so someone can receive confirmation that their opinion is valued....who gives a shit!
You will be amazed how much less stress exists in your day when you stop caring about having your name on the slide show. Let the insecure fisherman cast their dwindling line...and keep feeding them bait.
Your opinions will not be missed, you will spend less time doing things you wish not to, and you can get on with what actually matters.
Get Over It!
"I just want to get it over with" - this premise means you don't want to do it, so why do it? When someone tells you they are too busy it means they are willing to do a bunch of things that are not applicable to their grandiose intent. More precious living moments wasted!
...at some point you have to push back and just not do it!
Playing With the House's Money
Fact: if you have 100 prospects in your pipeline you will not care if one of them goes in another direction.
Fact: the mundane tasks of your job are avoidable if you don't care about losing your job.
I mean not to inspire a careless attitude...in fact, the opposite.
You can perform your job the way you want based on what is important to you. If you are genuinely great at what you do, your company will value your personal intent to empower organizational success. And if they don't, someone else will.
Our problem is that we forget our awesomeness...and we let others pretend to determine it for us.
Don't Undervalue Your Existence...Determine YOUR Worth...and Let That Drive You!
Don't Forget to Remember!
Dave
