Your personal purpose – why and how to create one

In this episode, I talk about the value of having a personal purpose – what it is, and how you can go about creating one. Lots of the most successful sports people, business executives and other leaders have been successful precisely because they have defined for themselves what they’re trying to achieve in life, and what success would look like. If you don’t frame your own direction, then you will drift on ‘default’ mode, at the mercy of pure fluke as to what opportunities come along to shape your career and ultimately your life. The main reason we don’t create personal purpose is that – when staring across the blank space we have to play with – it can feel incredibly hard to pin down what it is we’re really about. This episode aims to give you a starting point so you can also discover the benefits of a deliberate life, lived on your terms. Show notes What Rob Cameron said about searching for his personal purpose last time (00:58) The seminal management book that first highlighted the value of a purpose-beyond-profit for corporations (02:00) What is a personal purpose? (4:51) Examples of the stated purpose of well-known people (6:40) All the executives who work hard to make money and only then realise that they’re missing meaning (8:52) People living their life in the default setting, not making deliberate choices (10:40) Why have a personal purpose? (12:08) Use purpose as a tool, not something that becomes oppressive (17:14) How should you go about creating a personal purpose? (17:43) Using the successes you had to date as a starting point, along with your values (19:32) Identifying the scope of your intended impact (20:25) How to go about writing down a first draft purpose (22:50) Why I’m doing this exercise again, and what I came up with last time (23:57) Moving from the purpose to the “and therefore …” three steps (24:52) Why having personal purpose helps you not to get sucked into negative frames (26:50) Links Download the Personal Purpose Framework Built to Last