Most of my readers know in addition to being a coach I am a public speaker. My latest speech is entitled “Managing Your Career in a World of Chaos”. During the presentation I spend time engaging my audiences in what is driving the changes that are making it more difficult to live a great career and the 5 things they can do better manage their career. Although I’ve received great reviews one lingering questions keeps popping up on the review sheets. “How do I find clarity on my purpose and my passion?”

Most of us don’t think too deeply about these questions because on the surface it seems like a fairly easy question to answer. We often think our purpose is to serve others. But who should we serve, what do we have to offer and how would we know we’re doing well? If you can’t answer these questions then spend a little time reflecting on what are you passionate about and are you living the best life you can.

If you’re in direct contact with a paying customer it pretty easy to see who you are serving. But what if you’re not in direct contact with a paying customer and your goal is to lead a healthy balanced life. Leading a healthy balanced life means you put as much emphasis and concern on your home life and taking care of yourself as you do attending to work.  Deciding who you serve starts by listing everyone you serve now.  The simple process of making a list is so enlightening. Do it and you’ll discover who you are serving people, not serving, shouldn’t serve and are under serving.  

Once you have the list now how do you measure success? There’s a difference between measuring activities and measuring outcomes. So what are outcome measurements? The best example I can give you is The Delancey Street Foundation. I used to live in San Francisco and worked for the Gap, Inc. Gap’s headquarter was located near the Delancey Street Foundation a place where criminals live and work together. Most residents are labeled “psychopaths”. Delancey Street is run by Dr. Mimi Silbert a 95 pound, four foot eleven inches woman and is the only non-offender in the place. That’s right the felons run the place themselves without guards or supervisors. Nearly 60% of the people who enter the program make it though and sustain productive lives on the outside. Contrast her results with that of our prison system which has 67.5% rearrested within 3 years.  I heard Dr. Silbert tell corporate executives this; “You often tell your people what you measure gets better. And yet you allow them to just measure the process instead of the outcomes you want to achieve.” What would change if success was defined by what outcomes were achieved versus how many activities we’re involved in doing well? What if the prison system didn’t measure the number of prisoners who didn’t escape but the number of prisoners who didn’t return?” What would change in how we build and hold prison authorities accountable?”  That comment has stuck with me for 10 years.

So to you I ask what outcomes do you want in your life? What would change if you focused on outcomes instead of activities?  For everyone on your list decide on what outcome you want to achieve and see what changes.