For many of us, January is a month for reflection and considering our intentions for the coming year. It's also when many of us set our professional goals.
However, the goals we set as part of a corporate performance management process often miss the opportunity to drive greater impact because they are not typically as meaningful for us personally or connected to what we see as our purpose in life. I've found that connecting my career goals to my personal vision/mission and reframing goals as intentions helps me live my professional life with purpose and find more joy and personal fulfillment in my work.
Do your dharma
"It's better to do your own dharma even imperfectly, than someone else's dharma perfectly."
This quote really resonates with me. The word dharma refers to your purpose in life, the very reason you're here. Paraphrased from the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important ancient yogic texts, it’s basically saying "you do you" when it comes to life's purpose. Of course, that’s hard if your purpose is a bit fuzzy. Mine was.
"Why am I here?" It's one of the biggest questions in life. For many, the answer isn't clear. I used to be envious of people who knew exactly why they were here. You know, the ones with a clear calling, a passion they were seemingly born with; the people who live with such unshakable purpose that it radiates around them. I eventually found the clarity I was looking for, but not easily. It was a process. Clarity came with a lot of introspection, experimentation, and hard work.
With the discovery of purpose, setting professional goals became a different experience. I wanted my career goals to align with my dharma. I’ve found reframing goals as career intentions helps me align and support the personal and professional aspects of my life in a way that’s more meaningful and impactful. Career intentions are similar (enough) to goals, so you can most likely use them with your company’s performance management process and not duplicate efforts.
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Below is a free one-page overview on how to advance your life’s purpose with career intentions. Subscribe on the Executive Hippie Life site and follow us on social media channels @ExecHippieLife for more!
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