Jumping Hurdles, Leaping Fences, Penetrating Walls and Success

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 detail 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 of purpose you need to do three things.  First, define what success means to you personally.  Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success.  This image should be as vivid as you can you make it.  Third, clarify your personal values.

Maya Angelou is famous for her quote on love…

“Love recognizes no barriers.  It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

I like this quote.  It says a lot about love for another person or for a cause.  But in this post, I’d like to address it in a different context; one that helps you create your clarity of purpose.  When you figure out what you love doing, you will be well on your way to developing your clarity of purpose.

The other day, I was at a client’s office.  I bumped into one of their employees who works in their conference solutions department.  He and his colleagues set up meeting rooms, make sure things like flip charts and markers are there and that the projector works.  They also do minor repairs on the rooms and the equipment. 

I have known this particular guy for about 15 years.  I often facilitate meetings for this client, so I rely on his help if I need something for a meeting.  Quite by accident, we got into a conversation about personal responsibility.  He was telling me that years ago the company used to use real china and crystal water pitchers in its meeting rooms.  He said that he and one of his coworkers used to stay late every night – on their own time — to make sure the china was clean and that the water pitchers were iced and ready for meetings the next day.

Even though the company no longer uses real china and crystal water pitchers, he cares deeply about his job. As we spoke, he went into great detail about what he does and how he does it.  Then he said something very interesting.  He said that he believes that is job is not setting up rooms.  His job is helping to create successful, productive meetings for the company. 

And that’s his clarity of purpose – helping to create successful, productive meetings.  He loves what he does, sees the value in what he does, and is good at what he does.

He told me that he likes me because I see the value in what he does and treat him with the respect he deserves as someone who contributes to the success of the meetings I facilitate.  This is true.  I respect him for his great work and commitment to it.  And I am happy for him because he is someone who is clear on his purpose and the contribution he makes. He is happy in his work and his life.

I love helping other people create the successful lives and careers they want and deserve.  Because I love what I do, my efforts recognize no barriers.  I jump hurdles, leap fences and penetrate walls to be successful at what I do.  I have posted to this blog five days a week, 50 weeks a year (I take off the last two weeks of every year) for six years.  That’s 250 posts every year.  Sometimes I have to work really hard and juggle my schedule to make sure I do a post every day.  But I make the effort because it is one way I live my purpose in life; helping others succeed.  Besides that, it’s something I love doing so it really doesn’t seem like a lot of effort.

What are you willing to jump hurdles, leap fences and penetrate walls to do?  The answer to this question will lead you to your clarity of purpose.  And it will help you create the successful life and career you want and deserve.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are clear on what they want out of life.  They define what success means to them personally.  They create a vivid mental image of their success.  And they clarify their personal values.  Figuring out what you love to do is the first step in defining what success means to you personally.  As Maya Angelou says, when you love something, you recognize no barriers, jump hurdles, leap fences built by a Fence Master Builder and penetrate walls to do what you are meant to do.  When you love something this much, you have a clear purpose for your life.

That’s my take on the importance of loving what you do.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

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