What Good Doers Are We

For those of you who know me and have followed my writing, you know how much I believe in defining personal purpose – a purpose that transforms people and places. But there’s often a more complex side to purpose we often miss. Or choose not to discuss.

Some questions to consider: How often do you wake up or start your day with a list of things you must do? What deadlines cause you to hyperfocus…deadlines that might even create goal anxiety or stress? When might you be so intent on getting things done that you disconnect from the others around you? If you are a manager, when do you solely focus on doing and forget how to inspire the best in your teams?

What good doers are we!

If we are not diligent about how we show up in the roles we play, it’s easy to get caught up in doing, not being. Doing and being are not mutually independent skills. The synergies and the balance between them are where success, insight, and resilience sit. They are interdependent in the same way teams are most successful when they work together.

It’s easy to lose track of what is happening around us if we always have our heads down and focus solely on the finish line. While you may be successful, I can guarantee it will not be sustainable. An athlete may train to win. However, success cannot be sustained if little to no attention is given to the team’s long-term development. Taking risks – being agile – is where we learn and create innovation. Where we discover what we can control and what we cannot.

We lose the moment if we see only the work and not the nuances of team interplay. We miss designing our own best future. Unfortunately, those lost moments may dramatically undermine a trusting culture and trigger disconnection. Power risks resting at the top; communication breaks down, and priorities don’t encourage creative problem-solving. The potential to lose the human side of our organizations becomes more real. And as we know, this lack of people skills and focus is why we have difficulty attracting and retaining talent.

Over time, a purpose of only doing tears connection and productivity. This disconnect can destabilize an organization and threaten its ability to build its best future.

What Lies In Wait

Purpose can transform. It helps us see the world as interdependent. Identifying goals – the dreams that lay in wait – assumes connection. Oh, what can we do when we trust in each other?

An interdependent intent feeds energy, insight, and commitment when we come together. Why? Because interdependency demands holding the whole of it – we are all part of something bigger – not separate from it. It builds resilience and grows our potential and performance over time. Our ability to inter-relate allows us to embrace curiosity with courage. And most importantly, it creatively creates connection. When we focus more on being, we create a culture that makes doing easier, more productive, and more sustainable.

And So It Goes

Do we start the journey seeking connection and relationships? Are we brave enough to unmask our weaknesses when we seek our purpose? We can be, but only if we are honest with ourselves.

And so it goes. The pursuit of purpose anchored in being is intertwined with others. And, when we give ourselves the grace to see more, hear more, and learn more from those around us, we create new connections that create a world full of promise.

“The more I help out, the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade.” ―Adam Grant, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success