I shared in my last communication about my company’s revamped mission statement in it’s distilled form: Inspire. Impress. Improve.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it felt to me like joy combined with a reason to come thundering out of the starting gate every morning.
To be honest, it wasn’t until much later, that I fully understood why those three words had brought tears to my eyes, when I read them out loud in front of my team.
I saw that the company mission connected so deeply with me because it was also my life mission! How could I not see something so obvious?
In my life, I want to inspire others with a vision of great possibilities. I want to impress others with God’s healing and love. And I want to improve the lives of those around me.
Empowered by this larger purpose that integrated and focused all my energies, I understood what C.S. Lewis meant when he wrote, “A sense of divine vision must be restored to man’s daily work.”
The vision continues to shape my life. Instead of developing buildings that are just pretty and profitable, I now only care to design and develop projects that truly infuse people and communities with joy, meaning and significance.
Turning passion into purpose — whether in business or in our personal lives — is a lifelong and challenging journey. But it leads us to our true vocation in life — the place where, as Frederick Buechner says, “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
My stumbling journey in that direction has taught me I can reach peak performance — and sustain it — only when my work mission and life mission converge.
We all deserve to invest our time and energy in a direction that makes us smile, gives us chills and, every now and then, brings tears of joy to our eyes! And I think we can…