Clarity of purpose and direction is one of the keys to career and life success in my Common Sense Success System. I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. To develop your personal clarity or purpose you need to do three things. First, define what success means to you. Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success. Once you define what success means to you personally, I suggest that you develop a clear mental picture of you as a success. This image should be as vivid as you can you make it. Third, clarify your personal values.
Yesterday I met a really cool guy – someone who figured out his clarity of purpose and direction and lives his passion. Wayne Bennett is the president of a company called Team Worx. He does team building for large corporations. Wayne is passionate about two things – helping people learn to think out of the box and helping young people by giving them access to bicycles.
I have spent most of this week working with one of my large corporate clients, helping them manage an acquisition. Yesterday afternoon, we had Wayne and his people in to conduct a fun interactive teambuilding sessions for about 100 people. Wayne did a bang up job challenging people to work together and use creative thinking in solving some very interesting puzzles. As the teams solved puzzles, they earned “cash” that they could put to use in buying bicycle parts.
Part of the exercise was to work together to build a BMX bike. By the time we were finished, we had built eight bikes. Then came the really cool part. Wayne arranged for a local charity – in this case, a drop in after school program – to identify eight kids who needed a bike. Once the bikes were built, he brought in the kids and the meeting participants presented each of them with a brand new bike and helmet. A local bike store was there to make sure that the bikes were put together properly and to fit each kid to his or her bike.
The kids loved it. The meeting participants loved it. All in all, it was a great afternoon.
I’m telling you Wayne’s story, because he is a guy who has clarified his purpose and direction in life, and is living it – and from what I can having a whole lot of fun in the process. Why not? He gets to live his passion – helping people learn to think creatively, and helping disadvantaged children get free bikes. Why didn’t I think of that?
I went to bed happy last night. I loved seeing those kids with their new bikes.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people clarify their purpose and direction in life. Really successful people manage to tie their purpose and passion together into their job. Wayne Bennett of Team Worx is a great example of someone who is living his passion. He teaches business people how to think more creatively, and how to work together better. He also gives back in the process. His team building programs have resulted in thousands of needy kids getting bikes that they otherwise wouldn’t have. What’s your passion? How can you tie it to your direction in life? Take Wayne’s advice on this one – think outside the box.
That’s my take on living your passion and thinking outside the box. What’s yours? Please take a few minutes and leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
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