Does business success and money matter if you’re not doing something you love?
One of the basic foundations of business coaching is to help people zero in on their purpose, the thing that makes life and work interesting, rewarding and fulfilling.
Often, clients come to coaching who have achieved what others may think of as “business success”, who are making tons of money but still aren’t happy. When that happens, there’s usually something missing, and that something usually has to do with “purpose”.
It’s hard to stay motivated and consistently have the drive to keep on keeping on when you’re not deriving any fulfillment from what you do. Running a business isn’t always easy, there are problems, obstacles to overcome, yes it’s sometimes a lot of hard work…but what’s the point of doing all of this, if you’re not doing something you really care about?
Hugh MacLeod summed it all up succinctly on his gaping void post on this very subject. It’s part of a series of “cartoons drawn on the back of business cards.” This one was inspired by Tim O’Reilly, of O’Reilly Media. Hugh writes:
Gaping Void, Hugh MacLoed
“What’s there to say about Tim that hasn’t been said already? He’s one one of our great Internet and technology visionaries. I was fortunate to meet him a few months ago at Supernova in San Francisco. A really charming, well-mannered guy in real life.
The cartoon above was DIRECTLY inspired by a personal mantra of Tim’s, “Work On Stuff That Matters”. And of course, it’s the fact that we’re mortal (and life is short) that gives Tim’s mantra its sense of urgency. If we lived forever, we’d be more inclined to just sit on our butts all day long…”
Have you connected with your purpose? Are you doing work you love? If not, let’s talk.
Susan Martin, Business Sanity
