Clarify Your Purpose With These Simple Questions

It’s so easy to get caught up in the work to forget the “why” of the work. To be confused about the direction you are going. Your purpose. We need to remember our purpose and keep it at the forefront of what we do.

My middle daughter demonstrates this lack of focus and purpose everytime we play a game. Whenever we play Sorry!, we know we have about 10-minutes before she’s going to start singing and dancing. If we want to finish the game, we have to help her get back on track. Once we clarify what we are doing and the fun of the game, Haleigh is back on track.

All of us need to do this in our businesses as well. It’s so easy to forget why we’re doing what we’re doing, then get distracted by some song and dance that seems more entertaining or interesting. But it’s important to get to clarity on your purpose again.

Getting Off Track Is Fixable

It’s easy to get off track. But it’s easy to get back on track too. If you’re confused about your purpose (or “why”), we can be sure our customers are confused. I have a one-liner that I tell people when they ask me what I do. “I help small businesses get the right people in the right seats going the right direction.”

This is the purpose of my business. It gets me on track every time. It answers the two questions below. I know what I do and why I do it. Instead of being lost in the SEO of this blog post or distracted by my Facebook page, I can remember that in this post I want to help people become better influencers, communicators, and leaders.

Now it’s your turn. Think about a project or program you are working on. Why are you doing what you are doing?

Keeping Your Purpose In Focus Will Keep You On Track

Try this exercise to get out of the minutia of your work and find direction again. Start by stepping back and asking a couple clarifying questions. I promise you will immediately come back to your purpose and to a point of clarity. The following questions will help you get there.

• Why are you doing that?
• What are you trying to accomplish here?

Use the PDF below to go through the questions. Make sure to restate your purpose at the end, this will reinforce the clarity you need.

P.S. These can be helpful to get back on track even with relationships!