# Purpose **Domain:** Meaning / Human Development **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Purpose** is an organizing commitment that gives direction to attention, effort, sacrifice, and the use of one's distinctive capacities. ## Mechanism and Practice Purpose does not require a large audience. It becomes durable when a person recognizes the form of service appropriate to their life and follows it consistently without measuring its worth only by scale. ## Relationships - **Related concepts:** [[wiki/Agency|Agency]] · [[wiki/Leadership|Leadership]] · [[wiki/Personal Transformation|Personal Transformation]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “Every role in a community has value. Some people will build large platforms, while others will support friends, family, and neighbors, and both kinds of service are sacred. Following one's own calling is enough.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Releasing Power Through Cooperative Leadership - Livestream (Feb 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Following Your Own Calling Is Enough by Bryant McGill|Following Your Own Calling Is Enough by Bryant McGill]] > “You do not have to know your exact purpose to begin. Many people say they do not know their gift or calling, but simply doing something starts a process that evolves over time, sometimes leading somewhere you never could have imagined.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Direction, Patience, and the Sailboat Model of Progress - Livestream (Feb 2018)* [[reminders/Purpose/Purpose Emerges After You Begin by Bryant McGill|Purpose Emerges After You Begin by Bryant McGill]] > “No one receives a purpose before beginning; people discover it by deciding, acting, failing, revising, and acting again in the company of others who are also in motion. Choose a direction tonight, take the first concrete step, surround yourself with people who act rather than people who wait, and let each consequence teach the next decision. The life you were looking for is not hidden at the end of certainty; it is assembled, one chosen fork at a time, by the person willing to move.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Acting With Purpose Before Certainty Arrives - Livestream (Feb 2017)* [[reminders/Purpose/Purpose Is Assembled One Choice at a Time by Bryant McGill|Purpose Is Assembled One Choice at a Time by Bryant McGill]] > “Disappointment is something we do to ourselves. You were appointed to a calling, and when results do not arrive quickly, it is easy to dis-appoint yourself from it; by the same power, you can reappoint yourself at any moment. Reappointing yourself begins with a single decision to keep going.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *From Dream Chasing to Patient Creative Practice - Livestream (Jul 2017)* [[reminders/Purpose/Reappoint Yourself to the Calling by Bryant McGill|Reappoint Yourself to the Calling by Bryant McGill]] > “Suffering gains meaning when it becomes service to others. People who have endured great hardship often have the most to offer. Turning pain into purpose is a powerful transformation.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Time, Trust, and the Formation of Leaders - Livestream (Jan 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Turn Suffering Into Service by Bryant McGill|Turn Suffering Into Service by Bryant McGill]] > “Purpose often lives inside the wounds. People who wonder what their purpose is may find it in the hardships they survived and can now help others navigate. The things a person hides are often what others will love most once confidence arrives.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Becoming Too Expensive to Harm and Healing the Wounds Predators Notice - Livestream (Jan 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Purpose Often Lives Inside the Wounds by Bryant McGill|Purpose Often Lives Inside the Wounds by Bryant McGill]] > “Purpose is chosen. Each person decides what their life is for, and that choice can be made at any moment. Choosing a purpose is more powerful than waiting to discover one.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Inner Wealth - Livestream (Aug 2015)* [[reminders/Purpose/Purpose Is Chosen by Bryant McGill|Purpose Is Chosen by Bryant McGill]] > “Choose the purpose, inventory the tools, own the traits others criticized, tell the story, and let repeated service reveal the calling that waiting alone could not disclose. The decision comes first, and clarity follows the doing.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Moving Toward Your Purpose With Courage and Intelligence - Livestream (Nov 2015)* [[reminders/Purpose/Clarity Follows the Doing by Bryant McGill|Clarity Follows the Doing by Bryant McGill]] > “A persistent inner nudge toward a gift is worth heeding. The sense that one should paint, write, play music, or build something is often inner genius calling. Acting on that voice is how many great lives begin.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Constructing Genius Through Humility and the Courage to Stand Tall - Livestream (Oct 2015)* [[reminders/Purpose/Heed the Inner Call Toward Your Gift by Bryant McGill|Heed the Inner Call Toward Your Gift by Bryant McGill]] > “An inner calling can persist through every hardship. A deep, unexplainable sense of what one is meant to do can act like a thread that keeps a person connected to their purpose.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Getting Real With Yourself and Choosing Your Passion With Darius, Part 1 - Livestream (Sep 2015)* [[reminders/Purpose/The Inner Calling Persists Through Hardship by Bryant McGill|The Inner Calling Persists Through Hardship by Bryant McGill]] > “Clarity about purpose often emerges through action. Showing up, serving, and experimenting reveal direction over time. Each attempt, even one later abandoned, adds knowledge and skill to the toolbox.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Long-Term Strategy, Social Capital, and Delayed Gratification - Livestream (Oct 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Clarity Emerges Through Action by Bryant McGill|Clarity Emerges Through Action by Bryant McGill]] > “Your pain may point to your purpose. Hardships you have overcome can become the very area where you are best able to serve others.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Moving Through Fear With Service and Flexible Action - Livestream (Feb 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Your Pain May Point to Your Purpose by Bryant McGill|Your Pain May Point to Your Purpose by Bryant McGill]] > “Answering a calling can bring opposition, sometimes from the very people expected to help. Many who pursue a mission describe facing tests along the way. Persevering through them builds authority and strength.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Time, Trust, and the Formation of Leaders - Livestream (Jan 2016)* [[reminders/Purpose/Opposition Can Strengthen a Calling by Bryant McGill|Opposition Can Strengthen a Calling by Bryant McGill]]