What's Driving Your Lineup?

Time magazine has a regular feature called "Postcard________." The March 2nd issue was entitled, Postcard: Beijing. The article discussed China's tough approach to those suffering with internet addiction.

The part of the article that caught my attention was a quote in the 3rd paragraph from the US Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. They classified internet addiction as "Behavior in which the Internet becomes the organizing principle of addicts' lives." Organizing principle... meaning their thoughts and actions were all organized to maximize their ability to be engaged with the Internet.

That got me to thinking. What if we tweaked the phrase a little to evaluate our own situations and our "organizing principles" to see what is most impacting our thoughts and actions? It might then read, "___________________ is the organizing principle of my day (or week or month or life). Taking a moment to reflect on our honest answer(s) might be helpful in determining if we are acting based on purpose.... or something less healthy.

What's the Purpose of Having Purpose?

So, what is the big deal about defining your purpose, values and goals, mission statement or whatever you might call it? Well, we talk about that a lot in Juggling Elephants. Consider a few benefits:

• With so much opportunity and so many options it is important to have a filter that will help you pick and choose between something that is good and something that is best. Especially when limited resources are involved like time and money.
• When you reach a goal or when you are in line with your purpose you experience a sense of accomplishment. Some call it self-actualization or inner peace. Accomplishment gives you a reason to feel good.
• Having a worthy goal or purpose to work towards can be inspiring and push us beyond what we would normally achieve. It can help us get up in the morning.
• Purpose can help drive our focus and keep us pointed in the right direction. It can also expand our vision in what we can accomplish as we focus on a particular goal, activity or task.
• As the old country song says, "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." It defines our quest. What we are willing to die for and what are we willing to let go because it really doesn't matter?

When was the last time you sat back and reviewed your purpose? Your goals? Do you have some type of mission statement? Does it need to be updated-or even created? Do it! Do it today, tonight or this week. Then be sure to review your purpose and goals regularly. As least weekly. You will see a difference if you do.

Stay True To Your Purpose

I came across the following quote yesterday. It reminded me of the importance of staying true to my purpose and not to be negatively influenced by those who are searching for very different ouctomes for their circus:

The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither fine clothes, fine houses, nor fine furniture.

-Benjamin Franklin

Purpose Makes A Difference-even for a culture

Geoff Colvin has written an insightful article, comparing the work habits of Americans vs. Germans, and in a broader light, those in the UK. It's entitled, Not So Lazy, After All. For years I too have heard of the long vacations taken by Europeans and the total vacation days they have in a year. Conventional wisdom has been that we Americans simply work harder. Turns out, that's not totally correct. According to one study, we actually work about the same amount. According to the research, We [Americans] do more market-based work, and Germans do more home-based work. Colvin does a superb job defining these differences in the article.

How do our differing purposes affect our lifestyle and culture? Colvin quotes the research done by Freeman and Schettkat: By working long hours and taking short vacations, Americans earn money to buy goods in the market. By working fewer hours and taking long vacations, Germans have more time to produce goods at home. (Example: Germans spend more time preparing meals (work at home) while Americans spend more money on restaurant meals-paid for by market work). Make sure you read the last sentence of the article-it spells out the ultimate impact of acting on purpose.

Interesting how acting on purpose affects us in so many ways.

Personal Strategic Planning

I recently did a Juggling Elephants training program where in the audience there were a group of strategic planners for the corporation. It was their job to work with executives to create the strategic blueprints for their business and measure the progress in accomplishing specific goals. They had tools and spreadsheets they used to lay out metrics, create milestones and measure movement.

As I was talking about purpose and setting goals one of these strategic planners raised his hand and said that he had created a spreadsheet that he uses for his Personal Strategic Planning. "There's an idea!," I thought. Why not create a "strategic plan" for your personal life? Lay out metrics, create milestones, gather feedback from your "customers" (significant others, co-workers, etc.) and measure advancement towards your personal goals and how you are aligned to your purpose. You could even graph it! What a great visual a personal strategic plan would be to see how well you are progressing towards achieving your dreams.