Every purpose will be a passion, but every passion won’t be a purpose

Be careful when people tell you to follow your passion.  Follow every real purpose.  Evaluate every real passion.

When I was a preteen I had a passion for Michael Jackson.  My life’s goal was to one day meet and marry him.  I waisted many hours dreaming over his pictures and pining for the day we’d finally meet.  When I was in my 20’s I had a passion for wearing all of the latest fashions.  I worked in a mall and waisted most of my paycheck on clothes I didn’t need and couldn’t afford.

Passions like these can lead you astray, but purpose always leads you to your appointed destiny.

If you are passionate about something, ask yourself two questions:

1. Does pursuing this passion elevate me?
2. Does pursuing this passion elevate the people around me?

If you answered yes to both of these questions, you may have found your purpose.  If you answered no to either, you may have found your distraction (or worse, your addiction).

Let me be clear about something.  Some people interchange the words passion a pleasure.  I might say I have a passion for good food.  But, what I really mean is, I take pleasure in good food.  As long as you can distinguish between what you were meant to do (purpose) and what you enjoy doing in your leisure (pleasure), you are in a safe place.

Don’t confuse talent with purpose

You may have the talent to sing, but that doesn’t mean you should strive to be the next Celine Dion.  Only do so if it’s your purpose.

My niece has a wonderful ear for music.  When she was a young child, she could listen to a song, then duplicate the melody on a piano.  When she attended high school, her music teacher would repeatedly tell me what a pleasure it was to work with such a talented student.  But, after high school, no matter how much I begged and pleaded, she refused to continue her lessons.  She wasn’t the least bit interested in pursuing a career in music.  It wasn’t my niece’s passion or her purpose.  I was wrong to try to force her to pursue something she had no interest in doing.  I learned a very important lesson from this experience.  Talent doesn’t always equal purpose.  But, purpose always equals passion.

Why rewards don’t work

I’ve heard many coaches and productivity teachers expound on the merits of setting up a reward system for accomplishing tasks.  I am of the mind, that when you are purposeful in your actions, the satisfaction of knowing you have been purposeful is reward enough.

Have you ever heard of an artist promising to treat herself to a pedicure if she finishes a painting she’s been working on for weeks?  Of course not!  The reward is in the doing, in the creating, in the promise of a completed work of art that expresses what is held in her mind.

Rewards are what people, functioning outside of their purpose, use to convince themselves to be more productive.

Find your purpose, I promise you, you will be productive.  As a matter of fact, it will almost be impossible to suppress your productivity once you do.

Spinning around in circles

Years ago, when I was a stay-at-home mom, I was a super “Flybaby” (Flylady.net term) for all of 6 months.  During that time, I was a cleaning machine. I thought I was cured of my procrastination forever.  But, after every floor of my house was clean and organized, I crashed.  the reason I crashed: I hadn’t yet discovered my life purpose.  I was spinning my wheels, but going no where.  In the end, I was right back where I started, at a place of no purpose or direction.  I didn’t even know I was supposed to have a purpose.  I thought my roles and responsibilities as a wife and mother were all that was required or needed to keep me motivated.  Over the years, I’ve come to realize, my calling is the only thing that can motivate me to act in accordance with my roles and responsibilities.

Without purpose we are either immobilized or simply spinning around in circles.

The cure for procrastination is purpose

There are people who are doers/servers. They are created for and motivated by doing for the sake of doing.  These are wonderful people; I thank God for them.  But, I am not one of them.  I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to overcome procrastination.  I’ve tried every trick in every book… none of it cured my lack of motivation.  Those “tricks” were merely temporary fixes, but nothing caused me to permanently change.  I’ve come to realize, you can learn how to work more efficiently but only purpose can motivate you “to” work at all!  Certainly one can find temporary motivations:

• The threat of a large tax penalty may motivate you to finally file those back tax returns.
• Relatives calling to say they’ll be over in an hour may motivate you to clean the pile of dishes sitting in your kitchen sink.
• A letter saying you have one semester to pull your grades up or be placed on academic suspension may motivate you to pull a few all-nighters to get a passing grade.

But, theses are external, and most importantly, temporary.  If you want to overcome procrastination at its core, you’ve got to identify with your purpose.  Why are you here?  What contribution are you suppose to be making?

You’ll know when you’ve discovered your purpose when you can answer yes to these two questions:

1. Would you actively participate in this endeavor, even if there is no personal financial gain?
2. Would you actively participate in this endeavor, even if others already do it (some even better than you)?

An example of this would be an artist who loves to paint.  If you asked that person, “would you paint even if no one purchased your artwork?”  A real artist would say, “Of course! Yes! I can’t stop painting; it’s what I’m born to do.”  Then, if you asked them, “would you give up painting if you discovered someone else was better skilled?”  Their reply would most likely be, “Never! I paint because I must express what’s within me, not because I am the best.”  So it is true of everyone, we must be purposeful as an expression of who we are and why we were born.

Purpose is the glue that brings everything in life together in a meaningful way.  I get up as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning because I desire to engage my purpose.  I don’t procrastinate because my purpose ignites me like a rocket and I can’t wait to express it throughout my day.  Life without purpose is drudgery.  Everything is too hard, too arduous, too complicated.  Tasks like paying bills, calling customers, cooking dinner, writing a paper, studying for an exam, even washing my face can be just too difficult without a reason why.

You may have come to this blog looking for productivity information to help you move forward in your life endeavors.  You may even be looking to take on some one-on-one productivity counseling.  But, before hiring someone to help you with Workflow and GTD, stop for a moment and ask yourself this question:

“Am I trying to force myself to do what I was never meant to for the sake of money, position, approval, prestige, fear, or even because I’m good at it?”

If the answer is yes, productivity systems like GTD, Franklin Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and FlyLady aren’t going to help you.  You’ve got some real soul-searching to do first.  Find out why you are here…. because purpose is the only reason for getting up every morning.