In a passionate gist with some friends in a cookout, politics dominated the length of the discourse. We all questioned why an American presidential contender keeps making comments many mostly describe as offensive and disgraceful. To further understand his actions and utterances, we decided to look into his purpose for seeking to be president.

A principal point in ensuring you don’t lose focus in your life and career should be providing the answer to the question, “Why do I exist?”

It appears as if people no longer work towards their purpose in today’s world. Recently, I was asked to join a team to work on proof of concept for a performance management framework tool for a client. Now this is outside my skill set and requires so much time from my normal job schedule. Coincidentally, I also had so much tasks all lined up in my established area of expertise.  While many in the team saw the ad hoc duty as an opportunity to add the tasks to their resume, I could not say the same for myself because I might not be able to give it the time it requires as it will take me off my purpose and plans for the next few months.

Your chances to succeed are multiplied when a focus is placed on purpose before passion.

Purpose precedes passion in the journey through life. Without it, you would most likely be controlled by the currents of circumstances or events around you rather than the other way round.

Discerning your purpose in all you do or where you find yourself will allow you to clearly focus more on what matters most to you.

With so many conflicting messages about passion and success being constantly presented to us these days, it can be confusing to know who you are, what you’re meant to do, and who to connect with as you seek to lead your team or family, grow your business, ministry, life or career.

Purpose precedes passion in the journey through life. Define your purpose.