What Surrounds Our Essence? – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

What else do we carry beyond our life purpose?

Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash

What does a person who lives by their purpose, values and vision look like? We can ask the same of a company. What does a company with a real culture look like, one guided by its values or in tune with its corporate purpose? Something clearly shapes how it operates. All, or nearly all, of its decisions make sense, and its plans come from deep reflection and a clear sense of how to invest resources to deliver on what it set out to do. In a word, coherence. Coherence runs both ways: you project it and others pick it up. In a person you notice it at first glance, in a company the moment you walk through the door. So what surrounds our essence, our purpose?

Why does acting with meaning, and letting purpose guide our decisions, get better results than the alternative? Unethical business practices, corruption and every other act that goes against doing right always leave turbulence behind, a trail that can only be cleared through reflection, remorse and a genuine will, backed by action, to do better. That’s why purpose in life sits so close to the core of who we are. It holds much of our identity and many of the values that should guide what we do.

Every day we’re surrounded by powerful tools to move forward. First, we enjoy a unique freedom to build our own projects, a freedom history shows no one can take from us even in the darkest times (think of Viktor Frankl). We give it up when we hand someone else the responsibility and authority to run our lives. We do it because it’s easier. The harder road is the one where the rewards come from our own ingenuity, our effort and our drive to reach our full potential.

Another major element around us is every action guided by purpose, everything we can steer through our values. When what we say matches what we do, it creates a resonance that draws more people to us. We see it every day in business. When a company freely chooses to live by its values, the people around it have two options: leave the ring for good, or deepen the relationship, and the business along with it. The same happens in our personal lives. Good relationships become lasting bonds, built on a shared vision and the drive to keep moving forward.

Along the way, a person’s purpose is surrounded by strong elements that make it possible to do good. There’s no trick and no shortcut to acting in line with that purpose and those values. Once we know why we’re here, a lighthouse switches on that never stops shining. No corner of the universe will leave us in the dark, because one way or another that beam will reach us, if not through our eyes then through our conscience as we reflect. We have to dare to discover our purpose in life, and then look at what else surrounds it.

Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA (what I was Watching, Listening to, Reading and Learning):

• Watching: The Coldest Game. A good movie on Netflix. As a chess fan and a history buff (war history in particular), I loved it.
• Listening to: El arte de prestar atención (The Art of Paying Attention). One of my best podcast finds of 2022. I’m delighted with it, and my sincere congratulations to the host for sharing so many useful tools.
• Reading: Mario Sandoval Alarcón. A book that let me cross-check many stories I’d been told, compare it with other books I’ve read and, above all, try to understand my country’s recent political history. A legendary figure I finally got to read about, through this work by his granddaughter.
• Learning: How to Stop Procrastinating. A good HBR article on something that constantly gets the better of me. It has made it easier to talk about openly and work on with more focus.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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