Two incidents came to mind that I couldn't really push aside. The first incident was me sitting down with a person who has been in the corporate space for many years and hearing him lament the fact that things were not going well. "It's a job and pays the bills, but there isn't any sense of fulfillment." It was agonizing to the point where he wondered what he was doing in that place. That's the first incident.
The second: I met up with a person who came in off the street. I hadn't met him before. He asked me, "What is the most important question in life?" I replied, "The most important question is 'Why am I here?'" He immediately countered that by saying, "And what is the answer to that?" to which I said, "I can't answer that. I cannot give you an answer because that's an answer that only you can give to yourself. It involves a whole lot of areas put together. It involves your lineage, your heritage, your experiences, the talents that you have, the geography in which you live, the history that is a part of your life, your concept of the divine – all of them come to bear in answering that most important question – Why am I here?"
If you were to put these 2 instances side by side, it comes down to the same thing. You look at a job and think that it's paying the bills but still wonder – why am I really here? It has to do with purpose. What is my purpose, whether in life or in the area that I work in? Is there some reason why I am in a particular place or not? A good question actually, to ask of ourselves and to be able to answer it as well. Because, inherent within that answer is the ability to have a sense of peace and harmony with the world, our friends, colleagues, family, work place and so on. It boils down to this one question of purpose.
In a book that John Beckett wrote called "Mastering Monday", he says, "The whole question of purpose is actually built around 5 key themes that make for a good work place agenda. If you can put together 5 of these themes, then everything that we do gets aligned on those themes. When that happens, then God's peace and favor are evident." That's another almost difficult subject to even talk about. Peace is almost an illusive word. We talk about peace; and can dismiss it in terms of world peace and what's going on all around between countries – it sometimes doesn't really touch us. But what about peace in the work place? What about peace in the family? What about peace in relationships? When there is a lack of peace, then there is something that is missing. We are on an edge and it doesn't seem that everything is working well.
So, let's look at these five areas, let them percolate through the day, and see if we need to make some changes. What are the 5 themes?
1. Purpose. What is our purpose? Why are we here? What am I doing in this particular company or with the work that I'm doing? John Bersin says that purpose can be both purposeful and non-purposeful, when you look at work. You can either be in it for the money, which is non-purposeful work, or you can be there because you like the work that you are doing, which is purposeful work. Where do you see yourself?
2. Values. What are your values? Do you have any values that you hold dear – values that will not be compromised? You have heard me talk many times about Clayton Christensen who said that one of the values he held was, that since he was a deeply religious man, nothing would stop him from going to church on Sundays. That was a value for him. In his college, a basketball final was on a Sunday and he refused to play. His teammates, one by one came and begged him and he said no. He made this statement later. He said, I realized, that It's easier to hold on to your values 100% of the time than it is 99%." Values are things that you don't compromise on. They are kind of boundary lines you have that hold you in, and hold you to those things that are important to you.
3. People. How do you handle people? How do you view people? Are they just robots who help you to get where you are? Do they have intrinsic value in themselves? Do you engage with them, build relationships?
4. Stewardship. The important question 'Why am I here?' Is answered also by the gifts and talents that we have. How do we use these gifts and talents? Are they being optimized? Or have you put your talents in cold storage and said that this is not the time? Maybe later?
5. Serving. Do we serve one another or do we lord it over everybody? Can we stoop down to do a trivial task that doesn't really have anything to do with the things that we are called to do, maybe not part of our responsibility? But can we do them anyway, with a sense of humility? I remember when I was just out of college, hearing how people were interviewing at that time for a particular company. One of the tests they had, was to keep a piece of paper lying on the floor from the point of entry to the place where the applicant would come and sit, just to see whether the applicant would walk over the paper or pick it up and put it somewhere. It meant something for the people, whether the person they were going to hire had an attitude to service or thought that it was not their responsibility.
Purpose. Values. People. Stewardship. Serving. Five areas that can make for peace and favor of God's presence in our lives. In each of these, God has a plan for us. Why are we here? What kind of values does He want us to have? How do we treat people who are made in the very image of God? What about stewardship? What do we do with the things that He has given us? Do we understand that there can be no pride in the things that we do or who we are? And do we serve?
Important questions for us, and maybe I'm landing on a somber note. But it's necessary for us to answer these questions if we are to find harmony in the things that we do. And so I put this out to you, my friends, and ask you to think about them through the day: purpose, values, people, stewardship and serving. Ask yourself what your thoughts are in all of these areas. My prayer and hope is that within your work place, within your family structure, within your friend circles, there will be a sense of peace and harmony and the favor of God in your lives.
Allow me to say this prayer on our behalf. Almighty God, to each one of us, give wisdom. As we seek to answer these questions, You give us the wisdom to know how. And then in finding out how, may we pursue the right thing to do in response to who we are and why we are here, what kind of values we have and how we treat people. What are we doing with the gifts you have given us and whether we do it in an attitude of humility and service? So help us God, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen
• John D. Beckett, "Mastering Monday." pages 114-116
• Josh Bersin, "Purpose at Work: It comes From Within." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/purpose-at-work-it-comes_b_8567042.html?section=india
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