This is me asking you to be bold, to be brave and to allow yourself to become all you can be.
To live your best life, you need to be you. The authentic you, the you that is pursuing what you love doing, the you that feels the energy and drive that is caused by alignment with what you are really about. As Michelangelo put it: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” The statue is the essence and the purest expression of who you are, the best that you can be. The sculptor is who you are today. The authentic you is not a person that is focusing on conventions and the expectations of others, that is adjusting to fit in. If you don’t feel the excitement, the electric surge of pursuing what you love doing, of what you feel is your purpose, you are not doing anyone, including yourself, a favour.
Steve Jobs summarized it beautifully: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
The reason why I wanted to highlight this topic is that until about 5 years ago words like purpose and passion had no real meaning to me. Not because I wasn’t interested: I have always been fascinated by people with a clear purpose or calling. At the same time I had never felt this kind of strong pull towards something, I had not found my North Star. I have always focused on getting ahead, working hard and making the most of what came my way. This was more than enough to keep me busy and I never questioned if what I was doing was ‘really me’. I never entertained the thought that I could (or should) pay attention to what gives energy, which things or interactions feel good, what I am naturally drawn to. When I finally started to pay attention and felt these moments of alignment, it changed everything.
It is my conviction that one can really excel in something by putting in the work and the dedication, but that hard work and dedication alone will never deliver the ‘X factor’. It will not give you that spark that inspires others. More importantly, you run the risk of living your life without getting to know the ‘real you’, which would result in you and the rest of the world missing out on the contagious energy that is generated by pursuing doing what you love. That vibe leads to success because people can feel your passion. Another reason why people that love what they do are more successful is because they are less discouraged by setbacks and adversity. They will keep on going because they simply love doing what they do.
What has surprised me, was that getting to know my ‘why’ was not some kind of revelation or a vision of an end game. Instead, for me at least, it has been about starting to notice all the small things that light me up inside and realising that these moments have something in common: together they form a direction, not so much an understanding of a destination.
Obviously, what causes these small surges of energy is different for everyone. All it takes to learn what really feels right is paying close attention to what your gut reaction is to the different things you do and the encounters and experiences you have. For me, these have been things like being able to help someone through a meaningful conversation, advocating the importance of taking an inclusive approach to engaging people in the workplace, listening to a podcast on the role of trust in high-performing teams, writing these blogs and talking with colleagues to make them see that they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed now and again, especially in a high-pressure environment. Finding the time and space to fit in more of this, more of what I love doing has been the start of what feels like a different life altogether.
Finding your why, doing more of what really energises you, changes everything. Please don’t wait for a crisis to do this – life is now: we’re here only once and each hour and week that passes by will not return. I invite you to look out for those sparks and to light up your world and everyone in it!