Habits Fuel Purpose – Part 2: The Importance of Self-Reflection

In this last post, we began to explore the connection between purpose and habits, especially the fact we must develop habits that keep us aligned to our larger purpose. In the end, cultivating this connection between purpose and habits will strengthen our ability to come through any change a more resilient person.

The key question remains – What practical ways can we strengthen the purpose – habit connection?  

First, let’s dive deeper into purpose. In a thought-provoking article entitled “Has Performance Become Your Purpose” business leader Kevin Cashman defines purpose as an intersection of “distinguishing talents and our deepest-held values”. He goes on to note that purpose is “our authenticity in-service to something larger."  Honestly, it is often easy to identify “something larger” (e.g. having a healthy relationship with our children or successfully leading a new initiative at work), but it is surprisingly tricky to figure out practical skills to realize this larger purpose. Habits fuel purpose. It isn’t enough to merely declare that you want to impact “something larger”, you must identify the practical habits or “distinguishing talents” you will use to make progress towards that larger purpose.  

The first habit we each should consider is self-reflection. 

I can’t overstate the fact that if we are in danger of wasting our change, it is often because we don’t give ourselves space to reflect on how the change is impacting us personally. 

Regardless of where you are in the cycle of your change, you will benefit from being honest with yourself about how the change is impacting you. It can be keeping a personal journal like the one I wrote after leaving Minnesota or making time to talk with a good friend about how you are dealing with the changes you are going through. 

Regardless of how you self-reflect, we each need space to think about where we have come from, where we are going and what we want to take with us in our next season – whether a stage in life or project at work. In this self-reflection, you may also find bad habits have prevented you from having the impact you originally envisioned. If that’s the case, you may start by reflecting on the simple connection between your calendar and your purpose. Did the way you spent your time reflect that “something larger” that you want to impact? If you fell short, which we all do, take time to reflect on the good habits you want to put in place to improve in the next season.  

Often the missing habits won’t be surprising (e.g. consistently getting enough sleep or learning to say “no” to your boss’ requests for commitments outside your current project), but the ability to improve these habits may be confusing. Cashman is correct, that our “deepest held values” play a significant part of fueling our purpose. If you are struggling to overcome a bad habit, go back to these values to help you remember the “something larger” that you want to achieve through your habits. Beyond this “something larger” you must find other external influences from other people to provide accountability that encourages your good habits. In my next post, I plan to explore the role that a personal support network plays in providing this accountability.   

In the meantime, I welcome your comments on self-reflection. 

How has self-reflection helped your ability to stay aligned with your larger purpose? 

What are the most effective ways you've found to be self reflective?



Originally published here via LinkedIn on August 4, 2017