Have you ever found yourself at work chasing your tail? I’m not talking about literally chasing your backside. I’m talking about small stuff day in, day out, all day, everyday and your life doesn’t change.
I’m telling you, even if you’re the most efficient email responder in the world, your life is probably not going to change unless, of course, there’s something fundamentally important about those emails, you are essentially just doing ministerial stuff on a day to day basis.
The sad reality is that a lot of these things that we find enjoyable are also the most inconsequential stuff. For example, checking your Facebook updates and notifications may be a lot of fun. But if instead of reading your textbook or doing your assignment, you waste your time on social media updates and emails, your life is probably not going to go where you want it to go.
You’re probably not going to achieve much of a breakthrough in that midterm or finals exam you’re studying for. The same applies to your relationships and this definitely applies to your work. Focus on what’s important.
Unfortunately, a lot of people think that they should focus more on what’s pleasant. They are under the impression that they should devote a tremendous amount of time on things that are convenient.
Well, here’s the problem. If everybody approached life that way, most people will be making minimum wage. If given a choice, most people would rather do the most pleasant and least time consuming stuff. In most cases, most people would rather do things that don’t take much effort or energy.
This is human nature. I really can’t blame them for thinking this way. After all, it’s hard wired into the human condition that we take the path of least resistance.
Unfortunately, if you did that, you’re not going to set yourself up for getting much of life’s rewards. The reason why lawyers, doctors, medical professionals and top level executives make so much money is because they have to pay a high price and go through quite an ordeal to get the knowledge that they have.
This requires sacrifice, not doing things that are quick, easy and pleasurable in favor of things that are unpleasant, inconvenient and are downright annoying. But if you’re able to do that day after day, week after week, month after month, eventually, you get to where you need to go and the rewards come. That’s how life works.
Unfortunately, if you refuse to work with a sense of purpose, it’s so easy to just continue to do stuff that really doesn’t matter. Sure it’s a lot of fun to check your email. It’s good to know what other people are up to on your Facebook friend list. But at the end of the day, none of that stuff really matters.
What matters is whether you are putting in purposeful work to the big goals in your life and the best way to do this is to work purposefully. In other words, you zero in on the big vision you have for yourself and you allow that vision to give you the inspiration, sense of urgency and the emotional power you need to focus on what you need to do to get to where you need to go.
This can take a long time. This is why a lot of people are not up to the journey. They fold. They lose motivation. What’s really happening is that they missed the forest for the trees. They focused only on what’s in front of them and they lose sight of the big picture.
If you don’t want this to happen to you and you want to tap the power of working with purpose, click here.
