“The great and glorious work of man is to know how to live for purpose” (Michel de Montaigne).
Purposefulness involves two different, but equally important, ideas. First of all, the purposeful person is one who is guided deliberate intentions and goals, Instead of the impulses of the moment. But second, the purposeful person follows his intentions. Determination and perseverance. In other words, if we are purposeful, we plan our work (deliberate intention) and then act on our plan (resolution). Both of these parts of purposefulness are essential. If we hope to get good results then no one can be left out.
The beauty of purposefulness is that it gives us something good to work towards. Although most of us spend a lot of time trying to move away from certain things, there is actually a great power that comes from having something positive that we passionately want to move toward. And purposefulness gives us exactly that. It identifies what we most deeply want to say “yes” to, and then helps us move toward that vision. Purposeful people aren’t just against things; They For things – and they are with power For them.
However, to be helpful, purposefulness must balance two qualities that are sometimes difficult to balance: persistence and flexibility. We certainly need to pursue our objectives with determination, but we also need the wisdom to know when we need to modify our intentions, or even change them altogether. We should not be fooled by purposefulness.
William Arthur Ward listed the following Four stages of achievement: “Plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, move forward positively and persevere.” Something like that four-step program needs to be adopted if we want to contribute in a worthwhile way to the world we live in. In the absence of purposeful planning and implementation, we are at the mercy of our external circumstances. If we do not live deliberately and deliberately, we can expect nothing more than to be tossed back and forth by every wind that blows. People around us should be able to expect more from our behavior. They should see us as people who know what our destination is and are purposefully moving towards it.
“The secret of success is perseverance in purpose” (Benjamin Disraeli).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
