What is a Purpose?
For my latest series of blogs, I want to focus on the word ‘purpose’ and how it can impact on your strength, resilience, and overall success both in the workplace and your personal life.
Helen Keller – the esteemed American author, disability rights advocate, political activist, and lecturer who lost her sight and hearing aged just 19 months – once famously said: "True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
Her quote suggests that lasting happiness comes from dedication to something meaningful, rather than solely seeking personal pleasure. It implies that if you focus your life on external goals and values, rather than immediate gratification, you’ll develop a deeper, more enduring sense of fulfilment.
This idea contrasts with the pursuit of happiness through self-indulgence, which may provide temporary satisfaction but ultimately leaves you wanting more.
Instead, Keller's quote emphasises the importance of purpose and commitment as keys to true happiness.
Before delving deeper into purpose – how to build it into your life and its importance and benefits – I want to explore its basic meaning.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, purpose can be defined as “why you do something or why something exists,” or “the feeling of knowing what you want to do.”
Photo “name gravity” Unsplash. What is your “why”?
This doesn’t just relate to your career - it’s also about what you believe in, what you value in life, and what motivates you.
Purpose can often be confused with motivation – but it’s much more than this.
Rather than basic daily tasks, goals related to purpose are far more stable and far-reaching. For example, they could relate to having a successful career or keeping healthy.
Purpose has an external aim that reaches beyond the self. This could be a drive to help others, to look after family and friends, or a longing to improve your community and work against injustice.
Finally, purpose is driven by achievement - getting the most out of everything you do, developing your abilities, and striving towards long-term goals and a satisfying future.
Bringing this to a personal level, when I set up my business The Resilience Coach in 2017 – to offer executive coaching and Leadership Development to senior professionals – I clearly identified my purpose as “to positively affect 100,000 people by the year 2025.”
This could be by developing a client’s self-confidence, providing clarity and direction to their role, providing them with the tools and techniques to create the right conditions to apply “transformation” to their department or company, and much more.
I’m extremely happy and proud to let you know I recently achieved this stated purpose!
Look out for the next articles in this series – “How to Develop Purpose,” “The Importance of Purpose,” and “The Benefits of Purpose.”
If you need further information about these approaches, or any other resilience topic, please contact russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.