Do It on Purpose

Yogi Berra is visiting our town this week. I'm glad Yogi is still going.Not only is he in baseball's hall of fame, he's the poster boy for the quotation hall of fame. Among Yogi's most memorable comments -- "We are lost, but we're making good time."

There are days when I get moving so fast I forget where I am going. That can happen to groups of people, organizations and companies too. As human beings, we naturally create systems to accomplish objectives. Before we know it, maintaining the system can become more important than the outcome it was intended to provide. As Yogi says, "We're lost, but we're making goodtime."

Keeping a genuine purpose in mind is challenging. Most of us spend very little, if any, time contemplating purpose. Even the most important purpose can be misplaced in the incidentals of daily doings. Doing things on time can take priority over doing things on purpose. The "why fors" and "whofors" get lost in the "whens" and "where fors".

The other side is we become so focused on purpose and outcome that we forget to enjoy the process that takes us there. We run with blinders on. We forget what Yogi said, "You can see a lot just by observing."

Real joy comes from the knowledge that there is a connection between what we are doing and a worthwhile purpose. When the things we do make sense, it draws our purpose to us and us to our purpose. When we are doing "on purpose," we can enjoy the journey to the destination. Otherwise, "If you don't know where you're going," says Yogi, "you'll wind up somewhere else."

Enjoy the Journey...Do it on Purpose!