IN A NUTSHELL...
"Without a vision, the people perish" Proverbs 29:18
Vision is more than just a dream or a wish; it’s a clear, compelling picture of the future you desire. It serves as the foundation for setting goals and sense of purpose in life.
In this section we explore Goals and Purpose in detail to help you form your own...
HERE IS A POWERFUL STORY...
Harvard Business School conducted a survey with the graduating students....
Question 48 was “Do you have life Goals?”
Question 49 was: “Are your goals written down?”
Only 4% of the graduating students had written their goals down.
Twenty years later the same people were contacted, and the results were astonishing:
The 4%, who had written their goals down, were worth more financially in total (the value of their businesses, charities etc) than the 96% who did not!
Make goals SMART
But be careful because...
Goals are about motivation...
Motivation is about what energises you to achieve something, for example:
This is quite a complex area and as we grow older these motivations change.
The biggest danger is to end up in a job that requires you to think and act in ways that are not in conformity with the inner “you.”
You will soon experience conflict inside – you will not be fully satisfied in what you are doing, because it does not align with who you really are and what you really want to do and to be.
Goals may differ over time:
So have a think...
My WORK LIFE goals are…
My PERSONAL LIFE goals are…
My SOCIAL LIFE goals are…
Having done this – is a conclusion beginning to emerge for you?
If yes, then write it down and reflect on it - go for a nice long walk or whatever you enjoy doing and let your mind chew it over.
When you feel real peace inside about a goal, it's probably the right one for you to go for.
MORE ON MOTIVATORS
Be aware that anything you put your mind and effort into will have a cost attached to it...
Achievement
Money
Success
Recognition
Making a difference
Personal growth
AND REMEMBER...
To follow your chosen career, you may need to take jobs that do not pay well to start with - but which provide you with the relevant skills, experience and qualification to achieve your longer-term aims.
A CAUTIONARY TRUE STORY
"At Business School during our MBA we had a speaker come in.
They were the Managing Director of one of the UK's leading manufacturing companies.
He said something we will never forget:
'So, I have the keys to the Jaguar (he dangled them in his hand),
I am MD at 42 of the largest business in my sector.
I am now divorced and live on my own.
And I do have to ask myself - was it all worth it?'
It made us all think - as it was meant to of course - did he have his priorities and his purpose right?
It was a sobering moment for a bunch of thrusting busting MBA students all gunning to go out there and make it all happen"".
PURPOSE IN A NUTSHELL...
A life coach says very simply "When you wake up each morning with a strong desire to get working on your current project - the chances are you are living out your sense of purpose!"
THE TWO GREATEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE...
The day you were born - and the day you find out why!
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"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." (Mark Twain)
This is about working with purpose - the alignment of what you do - with who you are.
What about knowledge - experience - attitude?... what's the most important (and what every employer looks for)?
This is what Henry Ford said:
"Give me a person of average intelligence - but with a burning desire - and I will give you a winner - every time!"
PURPOSE AND VOCATION
Vocation is also called "calling". For example - to be a medic, nurse, teacher, fantastic parent to your children...
If you are lucky enough to have a calling - lucky you! Most of us don't.
Purpose changes over time:
Purpose could also be defined as "to achieve my potential" - a broad definition but very positive! This is helpful as it allows you to look at any role and judge its value on what life skills, and business skills it will teach you.
Ultimately, what most of us want is to live a life that uses our creativity, encourages us to do more and better and to achieve things of value (for us, our employer, our nearest and dearest and other people).
Another excellent way of looking at your sense of purpose is to ask yourself "What makes me glad, sad or mad?" - this speaks into where your passions /compassions lie.
Purpose in the immediate timescale is often about meeting our immediate needs - hopefully within a longer-term vision of where we want to get to.
Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs"
This widely used model is also useful to understand how purpose evolves over time.
The basic premise is you are alone in a jungle surrounded by hungry things that want to eat you!
In this scenario your purpose / priorities will likely evolve as follows:
1 - get safe - build a shelter.
2 - get warm - build a fire
3 - get fed - find food
4 - get some company - build a little group of other people in the forest
5 - get a role in the group - chief fire maker, cook etc
6 - get an answer to the bigger question - to find real meaning in life - the "Why am I really here" question.
Purpose and success are closely linked:
“The 7 habits of highly successful people” (summary of the best-selling book by Steven Covey):
1. Be end focussed (have a clear goal / vision i.e. purpose!)
2. Be proactive (don’t just think it – do it!)
3. First things first (get your priorities sorted out)
4. Win-win (look for mutual benefits - not “I win you lose”)
5. Seek to understand the other person first (be a good listener)
6. Synergise (build on each other’s strengths)
7. Stay sharp (take time out to re-charge and re-energise)
So, this purpose question is quite multi-faceted, isn't it?
The main thing is to keep your search for purpose in focus - because it is what gets you out of bed in the morning - with joy - as opposed to drudgery in your heart!
"Realistic aims with big expectations are better than unrealistic aims with big frustrations".
Always keep this purpose question in the forefront of you mind when considering career options. Because everything you do, every minute of your working day, should be taking you inch by inch - centimetre by centimetre towards it.
If you wash dishes or clean floors for a while - do the job well! Take pride in the quality of your work. If you serve customers, do it with a smile and learn new confidence.
Every single thing you do will teach you something about work, other people and yourself. Embrace it!
AND FINALLY - a truly beautiful reflection...
God has a plan for your life...
‘We are God’s masterpiece…planned…long ago." Ephesians 2:10
‘To the average eye, it was a mutilated piece of marble. The aborted sculpture had been abandoned a half century earlier…but a young artist named Michelangelo saw something in that stone others did not.
Chiselling the eighteen-foot block of marble would consume nearly four years of his life, but that seemingly worthless stone was destined to become what many consider the greatest statue ever sculpted…
Michelangelo resurrected a dead stone and, breathing his artistry into it, brought David into existence. As he chiselled…he believed the masterpiece was already inside the stone. All he had to do was remove the excess stone so David could escape. He didn’t see what was. He saw what could be…He didn’t see the imperfections in the stone. He saw a masterpiece of unparalleled beauty. 'And that is precisely how the Artist [God] sees you.
“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Every work of art originates in the imagination of the artist.
And so you originated in the imagination of God. You were conceived by God long before you were conceived by your parents. You took shape in the imagination of the Almighty before you took shape in your mother’s womb.’
Regardless of what others think of you, or what you think of yourself, God sees you as a potential masterpiece. To see yourself as anything other than that is to devalue and alter your true identity. And it’s in discovering your true identity that you discover God has a plan for your life.
Source: UCB Word for Today 12th November 2025
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