Want to Maximize Your Time? Adopt a Purpose-Driven Model

Purpose isn’t all about impact; it’s first and foremost about using your time intentionally

You spend, on average, a third of your life at work.

Most Americans will work until age 62. If you start working right after college graduation, you will work for 40 years of your average 78-year lifespan.

Or to look at it another way, you’ll spend an average of 90,000 hours on the job.

That’s a huge percentage of our time — and time is finite. It’s no wonder then that rising generations want the time they spend at work to be … well, worth it.

Given my age, many people assume that I choose to work with purpose-driven organizations because they do something good. They think I am all about saving the rhinos and hugging the trees.

But, I’ll let you in on a little secret: The feel-goods have nothing to do with why I think a purpose-driven model is the best framework for business.

I back the model because it makes the whole organization intentional and significant. It engages team members and stakeholders around a common pursuit. It also limits time spent on tasks that cause people to ask, “Why am I even doing this?”

Hopefully, at the end of the day, a specific part of the world is a little bit better for our working on it.

The Problem with Empty Work

You can operate successfully without a purpose, but the work often lacks a certain level of fulfillment and intentionality. There is an emptiness to existing within these organizations accompanied by a trend of “it’s just a job,” and nothing more.

Do you want a third of your life to be spent that way? Probably not.

Research by Bain & Company shows that if a satisfied employee’s productivity level is 100% and an engaged employee’s level is 144%, the productivity level of an employee that is truly inspired by the company’s purpose is an impressive 225%.

That being said, having a purpose pinned up on a wall isn’t enough; your purpose must be embedded across the entire organization as your core strategy. If it isn’t, you will still end up investing into things that pull your focus and likely waste your time.

While that distraction may be something “good,” it’s still generally not the best or most productive use of your time if it isn’t advancing your purpose.

Purpose is About Using Your Time Well

Purpose is a through-line that should streamline decision-making and focus everyone’s efforts.

That’s what consultants mean when they talk about the North Star. Literally, that’s what the North Star was used for — a navigation tool to pull everyone in the same direction.

When it comes to time, however, think of purpose as a lens.

When you look through it, you can easily see what fits and what doesn’t. You can remove the things that don’t belong. You’ll see the thread you need to tighten so that everything aligns crisply and effectively. With the lens in focus, you, your team, and your organization are intentionally concentrated toward the same goal or vision.

Here’s How You Can Do It (Better)

There’s a lot of ongoing work that goes into being truly purpose-driven, but when it comes to maximizing everyone’s time, here are four things you can do:

1. Review your products, services, or programs.

Do they tie back to your purpose? If so, how? Do you know what impact each makes? Do you have a plan for tracking that so you can allocate resources accordingly? Depending on the size of your organization and the number of things you have going on simultaneously, this can take some time, but it will pay dividends if you do so thoughtfully. Bonus: make sure this review isn’t done solely by the c-suite, but in collaboration with key stakeholders.

2. Say no.

No is your most powerful tool. Surprised? You’re not alone. Mission creep is a term for a reason.

Seth Godin got it right years ago when he talked about the Minimum Viable Audience:

“Stakeout the smallest market you can imagine. The smallest market that can sustain you, the smallest market you can adequately serve. This goes against everything you learned in capitalism school, but in fact, it’s the simplest way to matter. When you have your eyes firmly focused on the minimum viable audience, you will double down on all the changes you seek to make. Your quality, your story, and your impact will all get better.”

3. Set goals.

We’re talking about time, so don’t waste it. Determine your key goals and collaboratively put benchmarks in place that your whole team understands. Track your progress and adjust accordingly.

4. Tie it back.

Make sure your departments and individual team members know how what they’re doing ties back to the purpose and advances it. There’s no one right way to do that; it takes leadership and clear, consistent communication. One tactic I’ve seen help is to regularly share customer or community impact stories. It helps everyone working to see the impact in human terms.

Drive from Your Purpose

I’m a minimalist designer and that means (among other things) that I’m always looking to take away unessential details to get to what is truly needed to tell a specific story or serve a specific function as effectively as possible.

Getting your organization to drive from your core is much the same. By saying no to things that don’t fit and tying what’s left intentionally back to your purpose, everyone can put their time and effort in the same direction.

I for one want everything going on within an organization to matter. Life is too short to waste time on anything else.

I’m an analytical cross-connector and purpose-driven builder simplifying big ideas into actions. Find me on LinkedIn if you’d like to connect, and subscribe to my newsletter for more stories like this one.