Have you ever had a dead-end job where you felt like you were dragging yourself out of bed each morning? That’s what happens when there’s no passion in your day-to-day work. When there’s no purpose behind what you’re doing.

Without being able to engage with an organization’s why in a meaningful way, it’s difficult to have a great experience. That team member or leader will be less motivated, inspired, and efficient in what they do because they’re not working from a place of passion or purpose.

Everything in business leadership starts with tapping into our passion and purpose. It’s non-negotiable. And there’s a good reason for it.

Purpose in Business Ownership

If you want to be a business owner or leader, you need to be attached to your purpose.

When you’re following the right purpose, you’re more likely to feel great about who you are and the value you bring. On the other hand, when you’re not connected to something deeper, everything feels off.

To be on-purpose means to be living in a way that aligns:

1. who you are as your most authentic self,

2. what you’re endlessly passionate about,

3. and how you’re serving others in the world.

We have all been given gifts. It’s well worth the time it takes to uncover and then share those gifts by using them to serve and support others. After all, our gifts are what make us unique.

It’s important to note here that “money” does NOT count as a PURPOSE, as money is actually a BY-PRODUCT of providing great work and service to others. Chasing money for money’s sake is not the endgame. Everyone needs to pay bills, and being passionate about money does not mean it is your gifting or purpose in life.

Uncovering your purpose is about understanding what your gifts are, why you were given them, and how you’ll use them to serve others.

A Note on Passion and Purpose in Business

It’s also important to distinguish between purpose and passion. Our passions are what we love to do, while our purpose is our reason for being here on Earth. These two can be one and the same, but don’t necessarily have to be.

For example, someone may be passionate about surfing in Malibu, California, but is that passion related to their purpose and how they’re supposed to serve the world?

When you can tie your purpose and passion together, you’re ready to develop and scale the business of your dreams.

How To Align Your Business with Your Purpose

If you don’t think it’s possible to wake up energized and excited for each day, I’m telling you that it is. And you don’t necessarily have to change your entire business to get there.

These are the overall steps and inner questions that take a business leader from questioning to confident while aligning business with purpose.

1. What do you do and why do you do it?

Start by clearly defining what it is that you do in your business. What service or product(s) do you provide? What is the core of your business?

Once you have that basic understanding, ask yourself why you started. What made you choose this business or this industry? This is meant to get the wheels turning in your mind about the deeper “why” behind your business—what actually drives and motivates you to keep going.

2. What do you enjoy about what you do?

This is key to understanding what you like about your work. What actually motivates you to continue working in and on your business? If you only had to complete the “fun” parts of your workday, what would the day include?

Explore what aspects of your current workday or work week still feel aligned with your purpose and passions. You may start to notice connections between what parts of work you enjoy and why you started the business.

3. How do you do it differently from everyone else?

This is all about your unique gifts and talents. There is something about what you do and how you do it that no one else can replicate.

Your work might be unique due to your:

• Personal background

• Education

• Lived experiences

• Skillset

When you recognize what makes you unique, you can share those gifts with others and serve them by supporting what they need. As a result, you solve the problems of others in some way, shape or form that, by extension, can be somehow monetized.

3. What do you dislike, and how can you creatively problem-solve?

If you spent a good amount of time uncovering what you like about your work, you likely also have a running list of things you don’t like. The parts of your day-to-day that you’re dreading. These things can fall into two categories.

Your dislikes are either:

A) a non-negotiable part of running a business that may or may not be outsourced, OR

B) the result of a decision that was made and can still be changed.

The last step is to creatively problem-solve to remove as many barriers as possible to an enjoyable workday or work routine. That could mean shifting your hours, adjusting your boundaries, or making a pivot in your industry or niche.

There are usually loopholes in businesses that leaders can’t see because they’re too close to the problem. This is why it’s crucial to spend time both working in the business and working on the business.

Having a consultant can help you realign your business faster than doing it all on your own. If you’re ready to realign your business with your purpose and passion, get in touch with the team at Walters & Associates.