What is Your Sense of Purpose?

From The Career Intensity blog:

As you put together a strategic plan for your career you need to understand where you want to go. You don’t necessarily need to know how to get there, but you need to understand where you passion lies and put in motion a plan to follow that passion.

Harvey Mackay’s weekly column provides a great example of the need for a sense of purpose. Harvey writes:

Leaders have a “sense of purpose.”

They think in terms of goals . . . There isn’t a college football coach with a greater sense of purpose than Lou Holtz. He proved it at Notre Dame, Arkansas and a host of other universities. Did you know that Lou once coached the New York Jets? He left the job after only eight months. Why? Because, as Lou told me, he came to the job “without a clear sense of purpose…Absent a focus of my own, I couldn’t give one to the team. I was embarrassed by my inability to provide them with proper leadership. So I left.” Few leaders are as honest.

Before you take on your next challenge think about what you hope to gain from the experience. Then ask yourself two questions:

Does this challenge fit in with I have in mind for my career?

Can I passionately pursue this objective?”

If the answer to either of these questions is “no” then this is not the right opportunity for you.