Purpose statements
Here's an alternative to the typical New Year's resolution list. It's inspired by Discover Your True North, a book by Harvard professor Bill George. The book went on to become the reference text for "Authentic Leader Development," one of the most popular courses at HBS.
You can't just read this book. You have to work your way through it, setting aside time to think about things like your life story, your values, and all the things that contribute to your uniqueness. It's a labor-intensive exercise, but ultimately well worth the sweat.
The book culminates in something called a "purpose statement" — a simple declaration that defines your place in the community, capturing what's special about you and connecting you to a larger aspiration.
Writing a good purpose statement is hard. Most people falter in their first few attempts, getting stuck in conventional roles and categories, or regurgitating a string of corporate babble.
A good purpose statement expresses who you are and what you feel compelled to do. It colors outside the lines, often evoking imagery that conveys a timeless and poetic truth. When a purpose statement hits the mark, you feel it in your gut. When others read it, they feel it too, and they can't help but nod their heads and exclaim, "Yes, that's exactly what you do!"
A weak statement would be something like this: "I continually and consistently develop and facilitate the growth and development of myself and others, catalyzing higher performance for individuals and teams." A stronger variation might be: "I find the elephant and then ride it out of the room."
My own attempt at a purpose statement is this: I look for interesting pebbles on the shore, and I keep building bigger castles.
It's meant to encapsulate a few things. I see myself as a seeker. I'm drawn to ideas (pebbles) that come from the deep and have been shaped through friction with others. I like to create structures (castles) that are strong, grand, and enduring. I'm driven to expand the scope of my search, treating it as a lifelong and never-ending process.
Yoga teachers often talk about the importance of "setting an intention." This exercise is a way of setting an intention for life, tapping into your root instincts.
E. E. Cummings once wrote: "To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight, and to never stop fighting."
That's why a purpose statement is so important for this year and beyond.