Think of the last time you had to make a difficult decision. A time where options were difficult to pick from. A time where the more materialistically profitable option did feel right. I have faced many such situation. I would like to share my personal experiences to help shed some light on this dilemma.

When I have such a dilemma I reflect on my aspired values to find direction as per the quote by Idowu Koyenikan in the visual above. The five values I attempt to live by are summarised I the following statement.

I choose to be authentic in living, empathetic about living beings, passionate about life, humble regarding the potential of live, and selfless in giving. 

When I am faced with accepting a transformational project from a client, but I feel that the top management is not driven by noble values or a clear intention, I would engage with them and tell them that my type of inputs will not help them, unless they are willing to change. Being authentic in this case risks me not getting the work. In most of these cases the CEO of the company has assured me that they are willing to change. In one case, while the CEO agreed to change their ways, I had a gut feel that it may not work. However I took the word of the CEO and took on the project and that project was aborted midway as they did not like the new culture where senior leadership was challenged by some of the next level leaders for the way they were deciding and working.

When I coach leaders individually or in groups I make an extra effort to pause judgement and fully understand the coachee. Being empathetic has helped them to trust me and open up and it has helped me to guide them more effectively. There have been some occasions where I did not spend enough time to understand the other person, due to lack of time and such instances were not as effective. This reminded me to be selfless and provide more time as required.

When I design a new solution for a client, which I love to, I tend to get fully emerged and time virtually stops. Such passion has helped me to produce solutions which served the needs of the clients well. However when I work on solution that are not interesting to me or not fully aligned with my expertise, I tend to end up rushing and not providing my best. This links back to being authentic when taking on such projects and selfless in giving more of me for the benefit of others.

I have learnt over the years that there is so many different view points, so much wisdom in the universe and so much to learn. This has helped me to be humble in the face of differing opinions and this required me to be empathetic and selfless.

As I write this I realise how values have not only helped me find direction, but also how the values that I aspire to live by are linked to each other creating a synergistic effect in helping me live a purposeful life.

I hope this short blog post provides you some food for thought.

Wishing you purposeful living