Jon StojanDiscover your reason for being (and better serve your life and business in the process) with coaching expert Dan Kent.
We’ve all heard the saying “Your life is the sum of all your choices,” but what does that mean for you? The decisions you make throughout your life, no matter how small, affect how you live -whether choosing to meditate when you wake up or greeting your team members with a genuine smile. Everything you do reflects how you live your life. And in turn, it either adds to or derails you from your essential purpose.
According to a survey conducted by PwC, 79% of business leaders think purpose is central to business success, and the Harvard Business Review found organizations that have a clearly articulated purpose experience better growth than those without. Besides the benefits a clear purpose can yield to your business, it also leads to better healthincluding increased physical activity, healthier sleep, reduced risk of disease, and more.
It seems that the obvious route is to make choices which lend themselves to a purpose, but it’s not so simple. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the minutiae of running a business. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But you and I, and coaching expert Dan Kent, know this is not the case, and rather, overseeing a company presents many obstacles including feelings of doubt, loneliness, and worst of all, languishing.
“Until you are clear for yourself on what your bigger purpose is, all of the work that you’re doing is going to feel empty,” Kent shares. So what exactly is a purpose if not the reason you chose to start a business in the first place?
Kent defines purpose as “how we define why we do what we do, to sustain, add to, or amplify the meaning we ascribe to our lives.” Are your daily choices backed by a sense of meaning that contributes to an overarching sense of purpose, or do you simply go about your day not considering how your actions affect your life? If so, it’s time to change that.
That’s where Dan Kent can help. As a Business Coach, mentor, consultant, and business owner, he is adept at all things business, but more importantly, what it truly means to be a successful leader. Many assume a great leader is defined by how profitable their business is or the notoriety they gain, but it goes much deeper than that. To be a great leader, you have to invest in yourself first to become the best version of yourself, a mantra Kent preaches in his coaching practice Best Self Coaching. And part of becoming your best self is honing in on your essential purpose. Yet, this idea is too often left on the back burner.
Kent believes any long-term successful business serves your life, and to reach this point, you must discover your essential purpose, something Kent refers to as “ground zero”.
“It’s the place from where all of your decisions should be made – big and small,” he emphasizes. And if your choices are not currently serving you, neither is your business. But there are ways to overcome this roadblock. It all begins with aligning your actions and outcomes with your purpose – the recipe for ultimate life and business success.
“What could be more important and rewarding than living a life that made a difference? What if every big goal you set from this day forward was rooted in your Essential Purpose?” Kent discusses. You may be wondering, how can you make this your reality?
That’s where Kent’s coaching practice, Best Self Coaching, comes in. As part of his dedication to helping business owners identify blindspots and effectively move through challenges, he created a program called Clearing Obstacles: A Business Roadmap. Within this program, he divulges the necessary steps to reveal what your purpose is.
But to get from here to there, you need to be willing to put in the work. Within the course introduction, in the “Your Essential Purpose” section, Kent has compiled a list of questions to help you seed the full narrative. All that he asks is to answer them with depth and from your heart.
“You must be connected to your purpose and meaning if you want to build a business that will serve your life,” says Kent. And with his guidance, this can get you on the right path.
“Once you’re clear on what that is, and you’re driving that work, whether it’s even just leading a team and supporting the livelihood of 40 families of your employees, if that’s what fills your cup, it almost doesn’t matter what you’re doing in the day. It’s contributing to your bigger essential purpose.”
This is not a “get-rich-quick scheme”. Finding your essential purpose requires a big investment of dedication to ultimately shift your business into a position that serves your life.
“You will achieve the things others can’t because you will do the things others won’t,” Kent affirms. If you’re ready to make meaningful choices aligned with your purpose, it’s up to you to make the change. You must be both willing and able to do so.
To get in touch with Dan Kent and learn more about finding your essential purpose to become a better leader, visit his website here.