Purpose moves us from confusion to clarity.
- Elizabeth Dixon
- Jul 1
- 2 min read
Purpose moves us from confusion to clarity.
40,000—that's the number of decisions the average person makes in a day. Of those decisions, some 95% are made unconsciously. If you read my book, The Power of Customer Experience, these numbers are familiar to you. We discussed them at length in regard to customer experience, but here, I want to look at them in light of purpose.
Because purpose has a way of helping us make those 40,000 decisions with more clarity. Rather than be confused about what our best "yes" should be, purpose gives us a clear filter for each decision we make each time we make it. If it's in line with our purpose, we can give it a resounding, "YES!" And if it's not? Well, then it may not be the right choice for us.
Bill found himself overcommitted and exhausted. He'd heard someone say how the heart gets tired before the body does, but he had not understood it until that point in his life. Now, he was weary in every sense of the word, but he couldn't slow down or even stop. He still had more decisions to make.
Say yes or no?
Do this or that?
Back out or still go?
It got to the point that even deciding if he wanted the extra guacamole on his burrito felt like an overwhelming, almost paralyzing decision for Bill.
For help, he reached out to a coach to help him get out of this confusing rut. To start, his coach gave him the analogy of an air conditioner filter. Without an air filter in place, everything, including dirt, gets into your air. It leaves room for too much to come in and take over what you're breathing in. But, when you have a solid filter in place, only the good air gets through. Then, you can trust that what you're breathing is what you want to be breathing!
Bill found what he lacked was a filter for his decisions. He didn't have clarity on what to base his decisions on. In other words, he didn't have clarity of purpose. Because purpose is the filter through which we can run all our choices. It's the filter that will give us clarity on the decisions we need to make.
The result for Bill? Having a filter shifted his decision making from confusion to clarity. Now, he can take all the decisions in front of him with a little more clarity (and get that guac on the burrito, too!).
Ready to reduce stress and live out of intention? Get your copy of The Strength of Purpose: A Guide to Knowing and Living Your Reason for Being and the accompanying Handbook: The Strength of Purpose Handbook: A Guide for Crafting Purpose, Journaling Progress and Setting Goals To Live Your Reason for Being.
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