What We Really Need!

I recently heard a talk about passion and mission. The talk coupled the two concepts in a way that I had not considered before.

Passion makes what you are doing worthwhile. Passion is sustained with a connection to a mission. You need passion to sustain yourself through tough times (as well as good times).

A mission directs the passion to accomplish something; mission puts passion into action. The mission, however, is given life by an achievable outcome.

The outcome is given life through action steps.

Action steps create the process by which achievement is made.
Consider this. You can have a mission without passion. You can have a goal or outcome without a mission. You can have an outcome without action steps.

The four concepts work together to create a solid ideal for success at the highest level.
For me, passion, mission and action start with an Outcome. Without a clear outcome, the other positions are like a ship without a rudder.

So what is passion? Burning desire. It is an intense, lively, eager interest in or admiration for something or someone. It is a compelling emotion or desire for something. It generally implies a deeper or greater emotion. We can have passionate relationships, a passion for an activity, a cause or idea. Passion is like the gasoline or electricity that action and mission runs on. There is no mention of mission here. Passion is simply a feeling.

Mission is now often associated with the term “mission statement.” A mission statement is a statement of purpose. Organizations use mission statements to define what they are about. In a way a mission statement is about the values that an organization or person embraces or let’s say, the values of said is the fabric by which a mission is made. A mission can be an important assignment or the act of sending or state of being sent. For centuries, the word mission has been used in reference to sending someone out with an end in mind, negotiations, religious mission, military mission. Notice, no mention of passion.

An achievable outcome or in NLP, a well-formed outcome, is the direction or focus of the passion and the mission. An outcome is what we are going to see happen, hear and feel when we have achieved our goal or completed the mission. Passion is the glue that holds the outcome together in the process of achieving it. The mission is the overall statement of operation. It is the outcome or result that gives us the means of evaluation of whether we have accomplished it. An outcome can represent a final product or experience or consequence. In NLP it is the end in mind. Without a well formed outcome, mission may not be specific enough. An outcome frame can be a goal or experience. Goals are tangible and measurable. How do you measure an experience? How do you know you are loved? How do you know when communication happens? How do you know when you are being compassionate? These are all experiences that can be framed the outcome questions.

Critical Outcome questions:
What do you want? :States your end result in positive or affirmative language

What will that do for you? Connects your outcome to a greater value or purpose. Outcome or change for what purpose?

What will you see, hear and feel when you get what you want? :You have 3 primary senses. A change or goal must be in all three for them to be permanent. Simply using visualization will not insure that your goal is ecological or real.

Is it self-initiated and maintained? You can control your behavior, actions, feelings. An outcome or goal that involves someone else changing is not well-formed and usually difficult.
Is it realistic? What contexts do you want it in? Appropriate, achievable chunk size. If the goal or outcome is big. Chunk it down into smaller goals. What specific situations do you want this?

What stops you? Chances are this is something inside of you. Look to the inside. It is easier to change than something outside of you. Is it a behavior, belief, attitude, self-talk?

What is your first step? The very next step you can take in the direction to achieve your outcome.

The final concept is the action step. Outcomes do not happen by magic. (This is called ‘magical thinking’) Some action will be necessary to achieve you outcome. I generally have people create 3 steps for the outcome. More may be needed but 3 will get most outcomes underway. Action steps for selling after your outcome frame might be: 1. Learn your product and who buys it; 2. Develop list of prospective client; 3. Make calls and set appointments. You can divide these steps into smaller steps, etc.

So remember: the Outcome process is the hinge pin that holds passion, mission and action in place. Without a clear outcome, mission, passion and action have no direction and could even be a waste of time and energy. It is the outcome frame that creates direction, sharpens focus, makes it easier to communicate your mission and outcome to others, can include experience as well as goals.

I see many people in my coaching practice who are stuck because they simply do not have a clear outcome. They know what to do, they have the passion, they have the mission. No direction. One woman in my Level 1 right now does an outcome for each day. In one week, she has changed her life in the most positively miraculous way.

A couple of young architects quadrupled their business by do an outcome process before every proposal, every presentation.
Start with the end in mind. Practice on little things like a great lunch with someone or a great presentation. Teaching your mind to run the outcome frame on automatic will create more of what you want in ways you didn’t dream possible until now.

In closing, Amy Wrzesniewski, PhD, professor of management and organizational behavior at New York University examined how people whose jobs are typically "stigmatized" (low-level, menial positions) make meaning of their work.

People, she said, experience their work differently. Some see what they do for a living as just a job, others view it as a career and the rest think of it as a calling. Her research found that people who saw their job as a calling--one-third of the respondents--worked more hours, missed less work and reported higher life satisfaction than others doing similar work.

"You'd think that those who reported higher satisfaction," she said, "would have jobs associated with doing more interesting work. But when we looked closer, this was not so. These were all administrative assistants working in the same organization....It made you think: How can people doing the same work, sitting next to each other in the same organization, think so differently about their jobs?"

Dr. Wrzesniewski did a study of 300 hospital workers in Massachusetts. She found that when asked about what they did, the workers, who all took out trash, fell into three categories: a job, a career, a calling.

Jobs: no training, no control, no freedom, I cannot wait for the weekend, anyone can do
Career: I am on the way up; this is just a stepping-stone, I cannot wait for the weekend
Callings: Lots of training and expertise, lots of control and freedom, this is my mission in life; made it a calling, knew the names of the patients, made up parts of the job like changing pictures in the room. Those who saw their job as a calling, "talked about it in glowing terms, they liked what they did and described it as needing a lot of skill. They not only talked about cleaning public areas, but also about cleaning in such a way as to allow more effective running of their units...making it as smooth as possible for patients."

Those who saw their job as just a job, on their other hand, saw their work as being simple and involving no skills.
Her conclusion: People can actively shape the meaning of their work by "job crafting--devising more creative ways to do the work."
How would your passion, mission, outcomes and actions change if you looked at what you did as a CALLING?