Know what you want to get what you want

Ready for two loaded questions? Here goes…

Who do you want to become?
And, why do you want to become that person?

So much to unpack! The answer to these questions is the essence of one's purpose, and it can take a person months, or even years, to establish a full answer to these questions. For now, it's perfectly okay to just have a rough idea of the answers to these questions.

The thrust of this blog is to talk about prioritizing that seemingly endless list of tasks you must complete each day. It's so important that you prioritize in a way that you move the needle a bit each day, or perhaps each week, toward whatever purpose you've set for yourself. Hopefully your company sets a tone of purpose over profit – Harvard Business Review research shows that companies who do so outperform competitors. The same is true for people like you – setting purpose, both inside and outside work, tends to yield greater productivity and higher levels of satisfaction, in work and in life.

It's important to keep in mind that we are what we do every day. So if we aren't consciously including important tasks and activities that move the needle toward our purpose, we tend to fall back into a routine that may feel comfortable in the moment, but isn't moving us forward in a manner consistent with who we want to become.

This process is admittedly ambiguous and can feel overwhelming at times. One way to put some tangibility into it is to define some goals in the shorter and medium terms. In fact, those who set and strive toward formalized goals can increase their productivity by up to 22%. For example, choose a skill or an attribute that the person you want to become possesses, but because you are young and haven't had the chance yet, don't possess it yet. See if you can set a medium term goal (let's say 2-3 years out) that will move the needle significantly toward that person you want to become. Then set a shorter term goal that will provide a stepping stone and give you momentum and confidence toward achieving the medium term goal.

For example, let's say the person you want to become is an excellent and convincing speaker, but you in your young career simply haven't had the time or opportunity to develop these skills. A possible medium term goal then might be to sign up for and complete a class in public speaking (a more formal type of goal). A good short term goal then might be to spend "X" hours a month studying and practising the skills that a convincing speaker possesses (you choose what number "X" is).

This brings us to the topic of process. Let's say you decided that three hours a month would be a suitable number for you. Now you can establish a process whereby you commit (ideally in a daytimer) to 45 minutes a week, perhaps 15 minutes every couple of days, and studying and practising public speaking. And devote that time, no excuses! Monday, Wednesday, Saturday perhaps are your days of a committed and focused 15 minutes of learning and practising new speaking skills. Or any skill you find to be high priority, speaking is just an example. Or ideally, you will dedicate a few hours a week to self improvement, so you can follow this process for a few different skills and attributes that will help you move the needle toward the person you want to become.

But where does that three hours come from? It comes from prioritizing your time, affectively, which will start to eliminate some of the non-value adding activities we all tend to undertake. Spend a few minutes having a look at the Covey Time Management Matrix below.

This is a powerful diagram! Direct your attention to the Quadrant of Waste in the bottom right corner. These tend to be the comfort things that can keep us stuck. Almost all of us can find at least an hour a week to avoid here (much more for many). Start here, replacing these time wasters with the activities discussed above. We suggest you peruse the rest of the diagram for even more insights!

We’ve discussed a lot in this blog! Purpose, goals, process – these are healthy ingredients you want to embrace as you ponder and take those first critical steps in becoming the enhanced “future you” you so desire. Think about it, start the planning, and most important… lean into it – keep moving the needle toward your purpose!

References

Amire, R., Purpose at Work Is Only Profitable if You Do This One Thing. A Great Place to Work, May 10, 2022.

Pollack, S., A Strategic Guide to Goal Setting for Employees. ClearCo. August 28, 2023.

Ratner, K., Li, Q., Zhu, G. et al. Daily Adolescent Purposefulness, Daily Subjective Well-Being, and Individual Differences in Autistic Traits. J Happiness Stud 24, 967–989 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00625-7