What is your purpose?

I’ve been reading Hero on a Mission by Don Miller. In it, he discusses Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl’s formula for experiencing a meaningful life has three main points: take action by creating a work or performing a deed; experience something or encounter someone that you find captivating and that pulls you out of yourself; and finally, have an optimistic attitude toward the inevitable challenges and suffering you will experience in life.

And it got me thinking.

How do you approach your position?

In my professional journey, which has taken a fairly varied path, I can remember what happened when I went through a divorce. I was a pastor at the time, and pastors, well, apparently can’t pastor if they’ve been through a divorce. Clearly, it means they don’t know what they are doing. 

So I was divorced, out of work, and trying to find anything that would keep me afloat while allowing me to stay close to my kids. I floundered for several years. I lacked direction. I was holding on and just trying to survive.

Until the city I was living in needed a Tourism and Marketing Coordinator.

The reality is, I had already been doing work for the community. I had volunteered my time to help promote a local tradition in Delta, Colorado, Deltarado Days, and had created tourism posters because I saw an opportunity to help the community tell its story and showcase what made it special. 

So I applied and got the job.

And something happened.

I realized I was living with purpose again.

I was promoting the community. I cared about the town’s success. It was rewarding. Trying to make the place where you live and work better was exciting. I was no longer spinning. I was no longer lost. I had focus and purpose.

I share this for a reason.

Make sure you do what you do with purpose.

During those years when I was struggling, I worked different jobs. I worked at schools. I even did a stint as a janitor. What kids can do in a bathroom still amazes me.

But I was just doing a job.

I had a list. I had work to get done. But I didn’t have a purpose, and the jobs suffered because of it. I did those jobs because I could do them.

That’s not a very good reason.

Here’s the thing. I could have found purpose in those jobs. I just wasn’t there mentally.

The reality is, I can see very clearly what having purpose gave me.

When you care about the community, when you care about its businesses, its residents, its visitors and its future, the work becomes more than a job. You start looking for ways to make things better. You start seeing opportunities instead of just tasks. You become invested in the success of the place you represent.

I’m thankful I can be that person.

If you work in tourism, economic development, downtown development, or really any position where you have an opportunity to make your community better, I hope you recognize your purpose too. 

Because having a purpose changes everything.