Ten years ago I was flying high. I ran an exciting company working to drive human insight and creative thinking through innovation. I was a multimillionaire on paper, had three gold frequent flyer cards and had just been invited to No.10 Downing Street to give ideas on innovation to the British Prime Minster’s team.
Yet something was wrong. After five years in the fast lane I was emotionally frazzled and physically exhausted. My heart was breaking because my career choices were not aligned with the optimistic world-changer who volunteered as a youth leader at 15, taught science in an African school at 18 and studied medicine at 19.
Working with my coach at the time, I grokked, in a moment of inconvenient truth, that I was using the most powerful tools for transformation—psychology, neurobiology, philosophy and anthropology—to help rich companies get richer by inventing stuff most of us don’t need, and then persuading people to buy that stuff with marketing that suggested they were not sexy/smart/rich/good enough without it. Within weeks I exited my company, convinced I could no longer spend another second creating problems in the world.
Every one of us runs every moment of our existence using a life philosophy that includes features passed down from our parents or the media, invented by a younger version of us or hard-wired in during early experience. Without awareness of the assumptions that underpin our business model and work-life balance, we tend to create suffering for the people and planet around us.
We can only become free to create a life, a business and a world that fits our deepest aspirations when we invent (or discover) a life philosophy that helps us thrive. This is not about smarts. This is about wisdom—reflection and mindful awareness—consciously surfacing the assumptions that drive our business and entrepreneurship, and systematically and courageously challenging them. This same process is what helps “disruptive” innovators create market-changing breakthroughs like AirBnB and Uber.
I’ve observed that the core drivers of enterprise creation and acceleration are six powerful motivators that can work for or against us: Fear of being unemployed, having to get a “real job” or not being successful. Fury at those who refuse to help. The desire for fortune. The desire for fame, or recognition. Frustration with poverty, suffering, ignorance or waste. These can drive us to build world-changing organizations, but can also drive us crazy or cause us to stumble.
The final motivation is freedom of the human spirit. Purpose emanates clearly from you once you are free from the drives of fame, fortune, fury, fear and frustration. It is your truth once you have reached peace within.
Purpose is not a big, audacious goal; it is the way you can be in every moment that brings the most of your potential into the world. It connects your brilliance with what your community needs most. It may not be convenient, moneymaking or safe, but it is your truth. Purpose isn’t a career choice or business goal; it is why you are in business.
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Additional reading: In Pursuit of Meaningful work
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Don’t worry if you can’t define your purpose in words. Having the exact words is not nearly as important as feeling it.
It is only when we help people from all walks of life to switch on to their potential to solve their own community’s problems—by first breaking through their own habits and limitations—that we get the better world so many of us yearn for. We can only have a breakthrough when we are prepared to release the assumptions and habits that drive us all toward breakdown. As countless wisdom traditions teach, surrender is the key to true and lasting joy, peace and awareness.
Adapted from Switch On: Unleash Your Creativity and Thrive With the New Science and Spirit of Breakthrough (Watkins)
