How to stay on purpose in 2022

For many years I have been telling audiences that the problem with life is that “It’s so daily!” We tend to think that our lives and the organizations we lead become shaped by a few large decisions we make once in a blue moon. But in fact, a life full of purpose, happiness and a successful career is created mostly by small decisions we make every day, or even many times a day. Let me tell you about my friend, who has a healthy and active ninety-five-year-old father. His secret: every day, for almost thirty years, he has made the choice to go to the gym and use the rowing machine. This is a simple daily choice that helps maintain his excellent health. Many of you have heard me say that “habit is destiny,” and I believe it to be true more than ever at the start of the year.

With that in mind, I wanted to suggest a few things we can do every day to make it easier to stay on purpose in 2022. Think of these as a few simple ideas to make sure we experience purpose and impact. These three simple habits will take only a few minutes each day, but they will make a big difference if we do them every day.

The three habits are:

Start your day remining yourself of your purpose.

Many teams start their meetings by reading their purpose or mission statement. They do that to remind themselves why they are working and what they hope to accomplish. Similarly, each of us should start our day reminding ourselves of our purpose in life and our purpose as a leader. As many of you know, my purpose is to inspire and embody compassion, kindness and intentional living in every interaction while helping to accelerate the shift needed for the Earth to regenerate and for humanity to thrive. By reading my purpose every day, it gets me pointing in the right direction.

Every day identify one way you can live your purpose TODAY.

The second habit is to think about the day ahead asking yourself, “Where and how can I live that purpose today?” In doing this, you will begin to ensure that the activities of your day make room for your purpose, but also make it more likely for you to live your purpose through every opportunity that arises. A client recently told me his purpose was to inspire people to be their best selves. When I asked him how he was going to live his purpose that day, he told me how he was going to enter a tough conversation with a young branch manager who was struggling with decision making. My client had already resolved to be 100% direct with the branch manager because this person’s fear of being disliked by others was clouding his judgement and causing production delays. In other words, fear was holding him back from being his best self, and my client felt called to provide inspiration.

Have a Purpose gratitude moment at the end of every day.

Finally, at the end of every day, take a few moments to reflect on your day and ask yourself, “How did I live my purpose today?” Once you recollect those instances, take a few breaths and be grateful. I once heard Tom Peters say, “We must celebrate that which we want to see more of!” When you take a few minutes in gratitude to remember how you lived your purpose today, you will not only feel good about the day, but will naturally create more of those moments.

A gentle reminder to leaders: if you want to see more people living your company’s purpose, you sure as heck had better celebrate it when you see it.

Here is wishing each of you a year on Purpose!