My 9-5 has been dealing with an acquisition for several years now and we are deeply in the throws of change.  During one of our leadership meetings, we were told that “there is no time clock on this leadership” facet, that we need to be available and driven and focused 24/7.  Based on where we are at in the process and what we have been shown, most of us are very well aware that investing that type of energy into this venture may be dangerous—or at the very least not worth it.  I started thinking about leadership in general and the question of worth.  What is worth the energy?  What am I willing to lead and be a 24/7 presence for?  Life truly doesn’t stop, time and the days are all an illusion and the reality is we live one continuous moment punctuated with sleep and shifts in light, but it never stops.  So it comes down to purpose and values and our vision for life, what work we want to do to fulfill our goals/dreams or our purpose.  Purposeful work doesn’t feel like work. It is guided effort toward a goal that has a bigger purpose than just us, something we spend our time doing to make things better or at least have meaning.  So then the question becomes what work doesn’t feel like work, like it has a chokehold on me?  What is the shit sandwich I am willing to eat over and over again?

For anything we want in life, there are things we have to be willing to do.  There are no shortcuts to the end goal because the goal isn’t to get to the end, it is to live in and create purpose—and purposely create something that calls to us, something that has meaning.  This ties into the reason I bring up leadership–that particular leadership forum triggered some different emotions in me in regards to how I spend my time and how I live my life.  The expectation set during that meeting is that we would take the helm of responsibility for the organization’s current financial position and that we would work tirelessly doing whatever we were told or what it took to revive the organization.  But they didn’t give us any direction for how to do that.  So basically, be constantly available and do whatever is needed in the moment but we aren’t going to look for the source of the bleed—just expend the energy doing something to make it look like we’re fixing it.  Meanwhile the executive position is to direct us to fix it with no direction.  It amazes me how in this society, one with all the gifts and advantages in the world we still promote sacrificing ourselves, our time, our energy for the sake of an entity.  True, if done well that entity is healthy enough to sustain people, but we live in a volatile market and the needs are changing along with the how—it doesn’t work anymore. 

Right after that meeting I was part of a seminar for my side business and they too were discussing leadership and mindset and the contrast was drastic.  These people profess no less dedication to their business and to expansion and work and they live that way. They too believe that leadership and working toward a dream has no time limit, like we don’t clock in and out of that mission.  What we put in is indicative of what we get out.  The difference came from the purpose behind it—my 9-5 claims their purpose is to help the community and in order to do that we need to make money so the real focus is on making money.  My business aims to help people create the best life they can live and in doing so they help others create their best lives as well—and in doing so we all help each other make money. Leadership begins with leading our own lives with integrity and purpose, a purpose bigger than just ourselves.  When we focus on someone else’s goal we burn out because we are subject to their vision and how they want things done.  The goal is to make money and keep under the radar—there will always be a cap to how far we can go because someone decides our position and value.

Real leadership is about dedication and direction toward specific goals.  Clarity of purpose sets the course and we need to have that purpose in our values first.  Regardless of what we put our energy towards, we have to understand that we are determining the outcome with our efforts and intention.  Leading for the sake of creating money for others is draining, even leading just to get money for ourselves is draining.  But when we put intent behind it to help others we open multiple doors.  We open the doorway to relationships and connection as well as other ways to satisfy a specific need or discover that there is more we can do, other things to address.  And in doing that work we also open the door to creating abundance and wealth.  If we lead ourselves down a path of value and purpose we can have all of those things we desire and personal satisfaction.  Follow the right course, the course that calls to us and do it in a way that helps others.  When we decide what is right for us, the rest falls into place.