My husband gave my son a daily calendar for his 11th birthday last week. It has a motivational quote on it for each page of the year. As my son flipped through the pages of his gift, he looked back and forth at Shannon and me waiting for the punchline. Shannon then said to him, “Fisher, I guarantee that if you read every one of these motivational quotes…” (now Fisher and I were wide-eyed and waiting on the edges of our seats for his next words) “…that you will have read 365 motivational quotes this year!” Then we all had a good laugh.
Isn’t that true, though? There are countless books, blogs, podcasts, memes, social media posts, speakers, videos – so much noise out there inspiring us to do better, to be better, to work smarter. The goal is always excellence, efficiency, beauty, perfection. Giving us tidbits of advice on how to be a better leader, a better worker, have better relationships, be a successful entrepreneur. Motivating us to be kind, authentic, act, go! Start a business with nothing but your expertise! Awaken the giant within! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…PERFORM! Get promoted, start a business, influence others, make money, change the world, experience fulfillment, have success!
We are certainly not lacking tips about what to do or how to do it. We all agree that being an authentic leader is the right thing to do. Acting with purpose is the right thing to do. Being efficient and excellent are the right things to strive for. Most of us want to fulfill our purpose in our careers and in life. We agree fulfillment and success are good outcomes. So why is there so much noise about these things, and why are so many of us still striving to get there? Do we lack motivation? Do we lack knowledge? Do we lack ability? Why is there such a gap between what we want and what we have? What we know we should do and what we choose to do? We are all good people starting with good intentions, so why do we fall short of achieving what we set out to?
I say it comes down to two things:
1) We lack clarity on what our bigger purpose, vision, goals, and dreams are, or
2) We’ve lost touch with our bigger purpose, vision, goals and dreams.
We don’t lack motivation, drive, knowledge or ability. We simply get confused by what the bigger picture is, what that flag on the distant hill is, and where it is. We get caught up in busyness and chaos, we too easily follow others when we should stand firm on the path we determined to follow. At work we follow orders that aren’t aligned with the mission without asking questions or pushing back. Ultimately, we lose focus. We don’t need to read another book on motivation or see another meme on our social media about the qualities of good leadership. We need to shut off the noise and get back to the simple basics of:
1) Clarity: knowing our purpose, passion and vision, and
2) Focus: staying on the path we outlined to get there.
That’s all. Easier said than done, sure. But imagine if all the activities you did in one day were the RIGHT activities aligned with your purpose and vision. How much further would you be on your path? How much better would you feel at the end of the day? If we don’t understand our own passion and purpose, we will be too easily led by that of others and we will find ourselves lost, confused, and further from achieving our own dreams, our own definition of success. And if we don’t create a plan to get there, well then we’re just dreaming. What are you doing right now? Is it in your area of focus? Is it on the path to your vision? If not, why are you doing it?
The obstacle in the way of success is ourselves – it happens when we veer off track from our vision, our focus, our purpose.
How would you feel if at the end of this year you could point to what you did rather than how many pages you read about doing it? Are you lacking clarity on your bigger purpose, mission, and goals? Do you need help with a detailed strategy to get there so you can focus to achieve it? If you answered yes to either of those, what are you going to do about it? If you need help with this, reach out to me and I will guide you to achieve more this year than you ever have.
