This past week I had the opportunity to spend a couple focused hours with entrepreneur, strategic consultant, and organizational guru, as well as a personal mentor of mine, Bob Morris. By focused, I mean the kind of experience where both the mentor and the mentee drill down deeply into an issue together to come up with an useful understanding and solution. This is not a pleasant and non-strenuous lunch where the mentee "reports" and the mentor dispenses wisdom.
I have been trying to make this his kind of intensive interaction with a mentor an every-couple-of-months habit, and so should you.
I don't normally share the content of these summits since, along with being somewhat messy (there is just as much debate and as there is agreement), they are also usually pretty personal. But, Bob shared an observation that I thought we'd all benefit from.
In his experience, folks who take action to live their purpose end up in 1 of 3 situations:
Of these 3 situations, very few people experience the 1st one. Remember that that the number of folks who really take the time to gain some true clarity around their individual purposes and then real action on that insight is really small. I hope you count yourself among that small group. But, the folks that experience the 1st situation are a tiny minority of that already tiny minority.
I am sorry, but the rest of us get 2 or 3.
Personally, I believe 3 is unacceptable. If the action you took was meant to express your purpose, then emotionally tuning out is a crime against the people were meant to benefit from your action taking. I've been guilty of this and I bet many of you have too. If you're in this situation now, then please get yourself into 2. In fact, I believe the difference between 2 and 3 is making the choice to find an exit.
If you find yourself in situation 2, then before you exit (or get yourself booted) please make sure your reasons for exiting are good. Remember, there is good quitting and there is bad quitting. A prerequisite for a good exit, is that the exit will give you the space to take another shot at getting yourself into situation 1. You can find indicators of a bad exit here.
Of course, your goal is to find yourself in the 1st situation. I've been there a couple of times at it is as good as it sounds. But, it won't last forever - the best you can hope for is that you'll die while this is happening your life. Once a situation stops being the of the 1st type, it's your duty to make sure it becomes a good version of the 2nd type.
Be well,
Sterling Lynk
I have been trying to make this his kind of intensive interaction with a mentor an every-couple-of-months habit, and so should you.
I don't normally share the content of these summits since, along with being somewhat messy (there is just as much debate and as there is agreement), they are also usually pretty personal. But, Bob shared an observation that I thought we'd all benefit from.
In his experience, folks who take action to live their purpose end up in 1 of 3 situations:
- The actions they take and their purpose line up, they work through the challenges, and they really grow.
- They take action. But then they either either quit or they are fired (often literally). Whether they voluntarily stop or not, and for whatever reason, the essence is that they exit the project, job or whatever activity that was meant to be an expression of their purpose.
- They take action. But then they lose the passion that empowered that action and, for whatever reason, just hang out. This happens to a lot folks who have a paid job they thought expressed their purpose. Instead of exiting, they retire on the job, still going through the motions and putting in the time. Often these folks transfer that passion to another activity (purposeful or not).
Of these 3 situations, very few people experience the 1st one. Remember that that the number of folks who really take the time to gain some true clarity around their individual purposes and then real action on that insight is really small. I hope you count yourself among that small group. But, the folks that experience the 1st situation are a tiny minority of that already tiny minority.
I am sorry, but the rest of us get 2 or 3.
Personally, I believe 3 is unacceptable. If the action you took was meant to express your purpose, then emotionally tuning out is a crime against the people were meant to benefit from your action taking. I've been guilty of this and I bet many of you have too. If you're in this situation now, then please get yourself into 2. In fact, I believe the difference between 2 and 3 is making the choice to find an exit.
If you find yourself in situation 2, then before you exit (or get yourself booted) please make sure your reasons for exiting are good. Remember, there is good quitting and there is bad quitting. A prerequisite for a good exit, is that the exit will give you the space to take another shot at getting yourself into situation 1. You can find indicators of a bad exit here.
Of course, your goal is to find yourself in the 1st situation. I've been there a couple of times at it is as good as it sounds. But, it won't last forever - the best you can hope for is that you'll die while this is happening your life. Once a situation stops being the of the 1st type, it's your duty to make sure it becomes a good version of the 2nd type.
Be well,
Sterling Lynk