Don’t become a strange memory.

As an adult, the memories that I recall the easiest and those that stand out the most to me are not what I would expect.

For instance, one memory that often pops into my mind’s eye as I’m completing some random task or trying to remember some aspect of growing up is not a positive memory.

In fact, the thought of it makes me nauseous.

My lips curl.

My toes crunch up in my shoes.

My stepfather is a car restoration hobbyist. As I was growing up, he would frequently bring his vehicles to a friend of his who had a small business repairing and painting cars. Once, when I was around 11 years old, I visited the garage to evaluate the paint job on my stepfather’s newest restoration project.

In my boredom, my tendency to entertain myself as an only child led to the exploration of the garage’s every nook and cranny. During the course of my adventure, I stumbled upon a gruesome sight; a visual that will not leave my memory to this date almost twenty years later.

A small frog, incapacitated, was being slowly consumed by a snake.

An awful sight, for most people, is likely conjured by that sentence alone. Imagine, being afraid of snakes, what a surprise and fright this must have caused me. I immediately ran back to the adults, expressed my concern, and began to cry.

The response I received was not much short of “that’s life.”

And now, as I type this, I get a lump in my throat thinking of the slow, painful and plodding death the frog must have experienced. No one coming to his aid. And no way out of the situation.

Today, as this memory once again presents itself to me in a strange, inappropriate manner, I try to find a correlation to the work I am doing for others through Kindred Labs.

Many of the people I work with are rooted in the “this is how we’ve always done things” mentality. The legacy processes and rituals of their businesses and careers that once benefited them are now leading them into a slow, painful and plodding death of sorts.

And even those that recognize the source of their pain and frustration, are often unable to change. The concept of a “burning platform” is not new. Even those who can see the approaching death of their career path or their business (in its current state) fail to summon the motivation to question things.

What I mean is, they cannot remember how they got to where they are now, let alone figure out where to go in the future.

This is why reconnecting to a greater purpose that drives a body of work is extremely important.

And getting there is easier than it seems. To start, simply ask yourself the question:

What pisses me off?

Basically, what problem are you dying to solve?

What will you suffer for?

What do you want to contribute?

These questions are crucial if you don’t want to die a slow, painful death in today’s economy.

Originally published at www.thekindredlabs.com on November 11, 2014.