The Purpose of Purpose #30 #cong22

Synopsis:

A general mind wandering of my meaning of the word purpose.

Total Words

797

Reading Time in Minutes

3

Key Takeaways:

  1. If you don’t know your purpose, someone else will decide it for you.
  2. For true happiness, your purpose has to be selfless.
  3. The benefits of having a clear purpose.
  4. Don’t let life be interrupted by your purpose.

About Ronan McMahon:

I am a husband, father of 5 treasures, businessman and councillor. Born and always lived in Dublin. I love work, thinking, people and I love Ireland.

Contacting Ronan McMahon:

You can connect with Ronan on LinkedIn or send him an email.

By Ronan McMahon

I deliberately took my time in putting my thoughts down on paper, so as I could think more deeply on my meaning and thoughts on “Purpose” And I am glad I did.

“To Live Fully”…. Well is that my purpose? And sure, what does that really mean?

I have spent most of my working life in a business environment and a company or an organisation need a purpose. Some organisations are well organised and spend lots of resources including time in defining their purpose. Once they have ascertained a purpose, they can have a vision or ambition as to what their purpose looks like, they ascertain their risk appetite and form a business model to achieve their purpose or at least achieve progress towards their purpose.

On an individual or personal purpose, as I thought about ones’ purpose, one has to be careful not to have it too rigid – to be fluid and I would even go as far as having it “not achievable or perhaps having various degrees of achievability”– because just like a company if their purpose is achieved what is the point of continuing in business, without redefining their purpose or coming up with a new one. In other words, you have to keep your purpose ahead of yourself.

It is good to have a purpose because if you don’t know where you are going, how do expect to get there. It also gives you motivation to keep going, especially when one meets hurdles or bumps along their journey.

In sports, teams and individuals generally have a purpose. Professional teams and individuals have a purpose of winning or being the best, and it’s generally measurable. There can be a wide spectrum of different purposes in sports and sports clubs – Health and Wellbeing of individuals, Fitness, Community building, Friendships etc

What is the purpose of a Purpose? Now that got your thinking…. Well again there are many purposes of having a purpose

  • Impetus – it gives you impetus to keep going
  • Justification – It helps you on your journey to do things that help you achieve your desire or purpose.
  • Goals – it helps you set goals or milestones along the way so as to keep you in the right direction and to keep taking smaller steps along the journey of life.
  • Motivation – If your purpose is clear and desirable, it will give you motivation to keep going. Making those hard decisions and sacrifices to achieve your purpose.
  • Clarity – it helps keep your objective clear and focused.

Having a life Purpose is important and the important thing is not that you achieve it, but the important thing is that you are steadfast in the journey to achieve it.

A purpose must be selfless, in order for one to be happy in the long term. Happier people are people who try to make others happier (and they realise that the happiness will come back to them anyway).

People who don’t have a purpose generally are floating and letting others decide what their purpose is in life. Like a boat floating on the oceans and just drifting and letting the tides, currents and winds take them in all directions.

I have heard people say “I don’t know what my life is all about?” – this is not a negative thing as it shows that one is thinking and perhaps searching for a purpose. If they keep thinking this, they will sub-consciously come up with a purpose for themselves, it may take time. (It doesn’t need to be written down and to have even consciously thought about one).

I hope I haven’t rambled on for too long. A final point – it is also important to make sure that Life is not interrupted by your purpose…

In essence if I was to sum up as to my ultimate life purpose, it would be,

“To make a lifelong contribution to leave this beautiful world in a better place than when I entered it, through small and big actions”

And participating in the 2022 CONGregation is certainly a contribution to achieving that purpose!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *