Monday Memo #4

Purpose is knowing your true nature.

The Monday Memo is food for thought to fuel your week.

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow we will gather in our first Collaboratory to talk about purpose, so in today’s memo I want to talk about what I mean by purpose and why I think it’s important.

We measure our lives in years. As one year ends and a new year begins, it makes sense to reflect on your life: where you are on your life’s journey, how far you’ve come, and where you want to go. 

And if you don’t have anywhere in particular that you want to go, then one path is as good as another.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” 

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don't much care where — ” said Alice.

“Then it doesn't matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Goals are ends.

A goal is an end state. Something you want, or that you want to achieve. But the thing about a goal is that once you get there, it’s never enough. 

I think it was a heavyweight champion of the world who said, “my whole life was about getting here. Now it’s just about staying here. Everybody wants to take me down, and I can’t go any higher. There’s nowhere to go but down.”

I just tried to look that up and couldn’t find anything! Maybe I imagined it, or dreamed it. My point is that while goals and achievement can be helpful, ultimately they don’t satisfy. They are stepping stones on a journey.

A goal is an end state. Purpose is an inner state. Purpose is an instinct, an inner sense that says “I’m on the right path” A sense of purpose is foundational to living a meaningful life.