How will you measure your life? 🎯
↩️UNFOLLOW University — April 21, 2023
Happy Friday!
My son, Caleb, was born one year after I began a new role at the software company, Intuit. One day I was leading digital change, the next I was changing dirty diapers. In hindsight, the two tasks have much more in common than I realized. 😬
The side effects of career success B.C. (before children) often meant I gave the least to people who mattered the most. Not because I loved PowerPoint presentations and frequent flights, but because the most important things in life weren’t very measurable. I optimized for what I could quantify.
Luckily, around the time Alisha delivered a new baby, I discovered a new book, How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen.
This is a book of questions from one of the most brilliant business minds of our time. These are the questions we often overlook or delay to our detriment. How Will You Measure Your Life? takes Clayton's revolutionary knack for framing innovation problems and applies it to the most important project: life itself.
Almost 93% of all companies that ultimately become successful had to abandon their original strategy. Successful companies succeed because they have money left over after their original strategy fails. The same is true of how we plan our futures and families.
Using his own family, faith and career as case studies, Christensen presents a handbook for high achievers who want to center their lives on integrity, true satisfaction and enduring happiness. Drawing on reflections after a cancer diagnosis, this is a refreshingly personal read. Clayton passed away 8 years after writing this book, giving it a lucid urgency worth wrestling with.
It challenged me to optimize for purpose even when it's hard to measure. Asking myself questions like “How soon can I start?” or “What are my salary requirements?” are less important than, “Who do I want to become?”
In fact, the most important questions to ask are often the most difficult to answer because they reveal what’s true instead of what’s convenient.
Most of all, this book taught me how to think of purpose as a strategy instead of a static event.
🤯 Radical Truth
Your purpose is not singular or linear.
We were taught to think of purpose as one linear path. But the origins of the word “purpose” (a thing proposed) consist of two complementary questions:
What do I want? (desire)
Who will I be? (design)
So what I call “purpose” is actually two proposed paths - desire and design - that will meet and move apart throughout my life.
This tension rarely goes away and career success can blind us to solutions. As Christensen stated, “The danger for high-achieving people is that they'll unconsciously allocate their resources to activities that yield the most immediate, tangible accomplishments.”
And when this happens, we maximize what we can easily measure at the expense of what we can’t. Christensen explains, “We think of our jobs as requiring all our attention - and that's exactly what we give them.”
“Beyond a certain point, hygiene factors such as money, status, compensation and job security are much more a by-product of being happy with a job rather than the cause of it,” he cautioned.
He’s right. Living with purpose is an unruly process where desire and design constantly fight for resources. How you measure your own life will largely rely on how you navigate the distance and conflict between them.
But they don’t have to be in competition. That’s why he proposes thinking about your life purpose as a strategy instead of a discrete, fixed point. At times, things will converge and connect in unimaginable ways. Other times, they will diverge and divide from what we intended. But every emerging opportunity is a chance to re-evaluate your desires and remember your design.
What you do today matters to someone. You get to pick who.
⚡️Courageous Question
How will you measure your life?
🗣 Wonderful Words
“Many of us thrive on the intensity of a demanding job, one that we believe in and enjoy. We think of our jobs as requiring all our attention - and that's exactly what we give them.”
🙏🏽 Prayer Package
God, thank you for making me on purpose, with purpose, and for a purpose. Honestly, achieving the next goal or task can sometimes feel more fulfilling than waiting on you. Fill my heart with your desires. Show me your design. Help me measure my days by your standard as I serve your people. Amen.
🎵 Priorities - Andy Mineo🎗
🛠 Practical Tool
Measuring what matters isn’t easy but you can start by diagnosing what doesn’t. I’ve found it helpful to discern the difference between measures of potential (what I could do) and purpose (what I’m created to do). Potential estimates the possibility. Purpose assigns the mission.
Here are some example questions inspired by Christensen’s book:
Potential asks: “What’s the best way to raise successful, compliant children?”
Purpose asks: “What relationship do I want with my adult children?”
Potential asks: “How much money can I make?”
Purpose asks: “How much money do I need?”
Potential asks: “What do I want to be known for?”
Purpose asks: “What do I really enjoy?”
Potential asks: “Who can help me?”
Purpose asks: “Who can I help now?”
Read the book at your own risk.
This week I got to sit in a room of 250 leaders, investors and entrepreneurs who are committed to lifting one another up as we climb. I don’t have to wait until I feel useful to be used for a purpose. I hope this week’s newsletter provokes a courageous action or a proud regret. Change is worth it.
As always, feedback and questions are more than welcome. You can learn more about my story here or check out my previous posts.
See you next UNFOLLOW Friday!
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Every Friday I’ll send you 5 courageous ideas to help you redesign your work life by making better career decisions:
🤯 Radical Truth - A story from me
⚡️ Courageous Question - A challenge for you
🗣 Wonderful Words - A quote worth remembering
🙏🏽 Prayer Package - A moment of meditation
🛠 Practical Tool - An actionable resource
