How to define your purpose
Lately, you feel that you are stressed, overwhelmed, tired and that you don’t have a clear purpose in your life? Do you think that you need to change your approach towards the decisions that you have been making? You got to the conclusion that your professional career has no meaning or is having a lack of it?
The subject of this article will be the theory called the Golden Circle. The theory proposes that we should make decisions, send messages, sell something and live our lives from a purpose perspective.
The Golden Circle
We must forget the idea of inspiration coming from “What” you do, but from “Why” you do everything that you do.
The name of the theories author is Simon Sinek. Nowadays, he is one of the references in Leadership. The book that he wrote about the subject is called Why? How great leaders inspire action, and he made a presentation of his theory in TED. Just to give you an idea, Simon’s TED had over 35 million views … yeah, that’s right !… 35 million views! Also, the presentation was translated into 45 different languages!
So let´s move on and understand the Golden Circle. It is a straightforward theory.
The theory suggests that many companies and people search for inspiration from the perspective of “Outside To Inside” (What -> How -> Why). But, the Golden Circle theory proposes to follow the opposite path that is “ Inside To Outside” (Why -> How -> What).
The author assumes that today’s major brands like Apple and Harley Davidson follows this rule. The idea is to show that buying one of your products, you will be part of the world brought by them.
So now, let´s see how we can approach such theory into your daily life in a professional and personal way.
Professional Perspective
Now, think about your company or the one that you work for, and try to do this simple exercise.
See through the perspective of how your company approaches the market and clients. It is through “What” or “Why”? If the “Why” is not clear enough, or even you confirmed that it is not chased, try to discover and provoke within the company the “Why.”
Otherwise, if you can not promote such perspective in your company, then find out by yourself. Sometimes (I dare to say most of the times), it is easier to align your “Why” with the companies ideals.
When you begin to work with such a mindset, all the things surrounding you in your work environment will start to sound different. It will be your differential. This will guide you to a new path with possibilities of growth and achievement. But, if you don´t know your “Why,” the situation is a bit different…
Personal Perspective
Here the introspection is deeper. Looking at ourselves is much more difficult and complicated.
Companies, financial reports, strategic planning., market researchers and other types of enterprise data are easy to analyze when you compare them to what is happening in your mind and heart.
The guidance is the same from the professional perspective, but now you should look deeply into you! Check your attitudes, previous decisions, mindsets and so on. “Why” do you act in such a way, “Why” do you make certain types of decision, “Why” did you come to this world!
Discovering your “Why” in both perspective will change your life. Besides this, it will help you be more comfortable with yourself.