Seek Purpose Not Distraction
Hey team. I wanted to share with you a thought. I’ve read similar things like this, but it came to mind as I was thinking about the company, our purpose, and the different things we’re trying to achieve. The things I’m personally trying to achieve in my life. While there are many of them, I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of distractions that can get us off track.
I don’t know if you feel this way sometimes, but we can easily get distracted. I joke around sometimes that I have ADHD. I’ll be sitting there and all of a sudden something shiny appears. Whoop, squirrel! I get off track very easily.
As I get older, I’ve realized I need to hone in and stay more focused on what my purposes are and what I want to achieve. What do I mean by that? That you need to seek purpose in your life, not distraction.
You need to seek purpose in your life, not distraction.
What is a distraction? Let me give you a few examples based on what I’ve read and how I understand it.
Social media is a distraction. It gives you a fake connection. We think we have 687 friends. None of them, at 3:00 in the morning, are going to bail you out of jail—except for maybe the two or three that are real friends. Think about it. Who’s going to come out on a rainy night at 1:30 in the morning to help you change your tire or bring you gas on the Banfield? You don’t have that many close friends. Not 687. You just don’t. They’ll laugh at you if you post it. They’ll thumb up it, but they’re not going to actually come and solve your need.
Fast food is another example. It’s fake nutrition. There’s all kinds of stuff in there that’s just not good for us.
Video games? That’s a fake achievement. How many of you list on your resume that you got to level 27 on Splinter Cell or that you’re a level 10 something-or-other in Dungeons and Dragons? Nobody puts that on their resume because it’s a fake achievement. You’ll put real achievements: “I was the valedictorian,” “I got straight A’s,” “I maintained a 4.0 GPA all through college.” That’s what goes on a resume. Or, “I was a state champion wrestler.”
Nobody puts on there, “I made it to state but didn’t place.” They don’t say, “I lost my first match.” You put “first place” or “second place division champion in football.” That’s something to brag about. Not, “I warmed the bench and got three minutes of playing time in four years.” That’s a fake achievement.
Easy just isn’t true. And that’s a fact.
Think about luxury. That’s fake satisfaction. You think you’re satisfied because of luxury, but it makes you soft. It’s not true satisfaction. It’s a fake version of itself.
Same thing with drugs and alcohol. Those are fake pleasures. They might make you feel good for a moment, but they come with a serious curve that can drop you off. I know so many people who’ve lost their lives because of drugs and alcohol—or the abuse of them. Family members, people we deal with, people I saw in the military who let drugs and alcohol keep them poor, degrade them, and put them in places that caused them nothing but grief for the rest of their career.
It’s all fake. So, you need to seek purpose.
We have a purpose: be valuable, because nothing else will do.
How are we going to accomplish that purpose in multiple different ways? We use our core values to achieve it, and we use lots of other tools and principles to guide us.
If I wake up every morning and go to bed every night asking, “Did I add value to my life and to the lives of people around me?” then I’m on the right path. Did I add value to my team members by doing a video? Did I add value to my team and the people around me by sitting in a meeting, listening, and offering sage advice when necessary? Or complimenting someone on their smart take on a problem and how to solve it?
Did I add value to a customer today? To a client? To my community?
How do I accomplish those things? What avenues are at my disposal to add value?
If we’re asking those kinds of questions, it’s not just about our purpose—be valuable, nothing less will do—it becomes a lifestyle. It’s a great thing to think about, and that’s why it’s there.
What have you done to add value to your children this week? To your spouse?
Did I love Karen and add value to her life in a way that’s meaningful to her, not to me? One of the things in my mission statement is that I love Karen in ways that are meaningful to her. If I love her in ways that are meaningful to me, it will fall short. How I feel valued and how Karen feels valued are very different because we’re different people.
Do you care enough to know how people feel valued so you can then add value?
Something else for us to think about: what ways do your team members around you feel valued? Do they feel the relationship you’re offering, the help and hope you might be extending? What’s going to make them feel valued?
As you go through this week, I want you to think about those things. I want you to know that I value you, and I hope you’re feeling valued by the things we’re doing as a company—for you, with you, and to you. And to our community. I hope you’re feeling the value we’re offering and extending.
If we’re missing the mark in some way, talk to your supervisor. Talk to a leader and tell them, “Here’s what value is to me. Here’s how I think value could be added to my experience.”
Now, if that’s having only one workday but a 40-hour pay period—“I only want to work one day a week, Chad, five hours one day a week, but I’d like to get my full paycheck”—I don’t know if that would really be valuable to you. I don’t know if that would be valuable to our community or our customer if you only worked one shift. I say that jokingly.
But God bless you. Have a wonderful week.
I know I could go on and on and talk about value every day, all day, because it matters. It helps set us in motion for how we’re going to accomplish great things—by being valuable.
So have a wonderful week. Take care. And remember, we love you. God bless. See you next week.
