You’ve Found Your Purpose. Now What?

Finding your purpose is not a one-time thing. It is a never-ending process of discovery and rediscovery. If you think of your purpose as concrete and unchanging, you will become stagnant. The world will grow around you, eventually hiding you from view. But if you think of your purpose as something that is living, breathing, and evolving along with you, you will continuously improve and grow. Discovering your purpose is invigorating for you and your organization, so why would you do it only once?

There are infinite answers to the question “now what?” but two things to know are: (1) When you’ve found your purpose, you should strive to make it a part of everything you do. (2) Even when you’ve found your purpose, you should constantly re-evaluate it and improve upon it.

Purpose is something that you live, day in and day out. It is never-ending.

Purpose Is More Than a Goal

It’s important to keep in mind that a goal and your purpose are not the same. Goals are milestones that you reach in pursuit of your larger purpose. Unlike a goal, your purpose is not something that you can complete—there is no deadline. You achieve your purpose when you breathe it into everything you do.

In her blog titled “Growing with Purpose and Why it Matters,” Emily Rodgers puts it like this:

“Purpose is what makes the difference in someone who works hard to get a lot done and someone who makes meaningful contributions to their organizations and their community.”

Living with purpose is about more than what you accomplish. Missing a goal does not mean that you are undermining your purpose. Attaining a goal does not mean you are following your purpose. This isn’t to say that making and reaching goals is unimportant—it’s very imperative. But be careful not to get so caught up in individual goals that you lose sight of the larger picture.

Your purpose should be a part of your successes and your failures. And failing with purpose is infinitely more rewarding than succeeding without it.

Purpose Is Innovation

A never-ending purpose is what makes innovation possible. An ending suggests that something is complete, that it is as good as it can get—a mentality that stifles innovation before it can even begin.

During the pandemic, this is especially true. We cannot see COVID as something that gets in the way of our purpose; nothing can do that. However, we can take this as an opportunity to re-evaluate our purpose and adapt it to the new normal. According to an article by EY Americas, “How a higher purpose drives better innovation,”

“A 63.4% majority of executives believed that having a sense of purpose […] made their company more innovative and therefore more able to disrupt or respond to disruption.”

Using COVID as an example, your purpose may not have previously included the importance of personal and public health, but in today’s world, maybe it does. When you adapt your purpose in response to disruption, you will find that you are more equipped to face challenges, learn, grown, and find success. When the disruption ends, you will have proved that you are capable of innovation. Then, you can re-evaluate and adapt your purpose again, and the cycle continues.

Growing your organization, increasing revenue, or any business success is a product of your larger purpose.

Purpose is Rediscovery

You have to keep re-discovering your purpose, or else your organization will not be sustainable. This doesn’t just apply to a global pandemic either. It would be best to re-discover your purpose when anything comes your way, especially when those things look like roadblocks or wrenches in the plan or your path.

Even when things are going smoothly, you are still changing, and so should your purpose.

Have you discovered your purpose? If so, when is the last time you re-evaluated it? Check out my Got Purpose Assessment Tool™ for individuals or for organizations and start uncovering, refining, and unleashing your purpose today.