Embracing unchanging principles in your own best way

Purpose is the golden key to personal and business happiness.

There are a few unchanging principles to apply in your own best way to live on purpose. Here’s 3 of my tried and tested favourites:

1) Get crystal clear about where purpose sits with your mission and vision.

I love the following two lines from the wonderful book Metaskills by Marty Neumeier:

“Purpose exerts the most influence over a system. Purpose after all the reason system exists.”

“In a healthy organisation, goals support the mission and vision while the mission and vision support the purpose.”

In this blog post I use these insights from Marty and one of my own to demonstrate the power of purpose as your key success driver.

Bernadette Jiwa looks at this another way suggesting “The Story-Driven Business Framework

1. PURPOSE: Why we exist.
2. VISION: Where we’re headed.
3. VALUES: The beliefs that guide us on that journey.
4. PLAN: How we will deliver on the vision while staying true to our values.”

Read more about this here. 

2) Meet with your team and use a technique known as the ‘five whys’. 

Start by answering the question What do we do? Then ask Why? several times.

In a great book ‘Scaling Up’, Verne Harnish and the folk at Gazelles suggest “keep asking until you get to your version of “saving the world” and then back up one step.”

Here’s my personal 5 why’s exercise as an example:

What do I do?
I inspire purpose-driven business owners and leaders to fully appreciate and get the best out of themselves and other people.

Why?
Because more people being the best version of themselves means better workplaces.

Why?
Because better workplaces mean better homes and communities.

Why?
Because better homes and communities mean better towns, villages, and cities.

Why?
Because better towns, villages, and cities mean better nations.

Why?
Because better nations mean a better world.

Your turn!
Who will you become? What will you do next?

3) Do the Positioning 101 exercise by Matt Church.

Here’s my most recent completion of the exercise as an example for you which also includes Matt’s own responses:

Bonus exercise here that I found valuable on discovering purpose in one minute from Dan Pink.

Be remarkable.
Ian