Mining Transitions for Purpose Seeds

When I accepted the position with that small, family-owned business I truly thought it would be the organization I retired from. I was fascinated by so much of the work and developed many great relationships. Not long after my first annual review and amazing pay increase that accompanied it, a friend asked me to look into a position he had interest in but couldn’t act on directly due to the role he was in. As I talked with him about what I learned, he shared that it wasn’t something he could pursue but he immediately encouraged me to consider it for myself. I was content so I hadn’t given it a single thought - until he suggested it. After a brief conversation with the owner of that company, one where I was very transparent about how I felt in my current role and about the business I had started hitting with a stick in my spare time, I received a job offer. Interestingly enough, the salary was about what I had accepted in my current role a year before and well below where I was at the time with the recent increase. That said, it was in an industry that I had a lot of experience in and would require slightly less time to fulfill - which meant I could focus even more on my new business.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for it, but I moved forward anyway. Targeted reflection allows us to recognize opportunities that we may have missed otherwise. It also helps us turn tough career situations and pay cuts into leadership gold. None of that happens though from reflection alone; we still need to take decisive action to rebuild and claim any land we may have lost along the way. If we do this, we have a shot at using any short-term loss to build long-term clarity around a purpose that can fuel each step we take moving forward. And when we base those steps on a foundation of values, the results are amazing. Before I share some of the adversities that tested my values, consider these five questions so you can mine any transition you’ve experienced for your purpose seeds:

1. What career transition or pay cut still carries weight?
2. What blind spot or habit did it reveal, and what seed of greater purpose (e.g., definiteness of plans) was hidden?
3. How could a decisive pivot strengthen your definiteness of decision or plans?
4. In what ways might nurturing this seed improve your influence without title—at home or work?
5. What three small, immediate actions can you take this week to plant and nurture it?

As I’ve suggested so many times before, write each response down right away and share one step you can take immediately with someone you trust to hold you accountable.