John Wayne Mullins 
Responding to awareness is usually dependent on your maturity as a leader. From a biblical perspective, I believe God always wants to connect with us so he can lead us to be a better example of him, so we can be a better example to others. But ultimately, I believe he wants us to living out our purpose.
Having purpose and knowing it can be a powerful thing, but it’s something I’ve learned that some people don’t think a lot about. Some people don’t even know how to respond to the question when asked what their purpose is.
But, why is awareness so important and what’s it got to do with our purpose?
Awareness brings clarity. I recently read the Deeper Path by Kary Oberbrunner and it his book, he wrote about clarity and shared it is an important ingredient for growth, in fact it is essential. Clarity knows where you are going, what you value and represent. It is the most accurate vision of yourself and your business. Having clarity represents your inner values as a business owner and leader. Getting there isn’t always fun or easy but it’s worth it.
Gaining awareness is one of the things I enjoy most coaching leaders on. Leaders are called to inspire and influence others because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. John C. Maxwell writes about this in his book the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. However, if you lack clarity about your purpose or if you’re stretched too thin as leader or even as a company because you’re saying “yes” too much, it can create an unclear path and ultimately result in your being pulled in multiple directions that really don’t lead to living out your purpose. It may be fun, it may even be in your sweet spot, but it may also be leading you further away from your vision.
Being coached gives permission for you to be asked the right questions in the right way that can lead to incredible breakthroughs. Coaching is not mentoring. In order to grow deeper, whether its in your faith, in your leadership abilities or in your life, aware
ness has to take place. Gaining awareness isn’t always pleasant. Sometimes it takes something painful for you to have that moment or gain that “aha”. It’s not until you take the time to reflect on those moments where you can be asked those important questions. If you’re honest with yourself, you can move in the direction that’s ultimately closer to living out your purpose.
In a world that’s filled with chaos, it’s easy to allow yourself to become so consumed with the things of this world that honestly don’t matter. It’s easy to become unfocused and unclear and lose sight of your vision.
I found myself here recently, saying yes to too many things and putting myself in a position where I became stretched so thin, it was preventing me from being fully engaged or able to really give my best to every project or commitment.
After reflecting and writing down all of the projects and commitments I was working on, I had to asked myself – are these really apart of my purpose? Are they really helping me come closer to my purpose and vision or bringing me further from it? And after sitting down with my coach, it became clear that I wasn’t clear, my focus was off.
So what do you do? Have you ever found yourself in this position? What did you do?
It can be a lot easier to lead others before you lead yourself. But leading yourself is crucial if you want to lead others. I learned a long time ago that others are watching you. Earlier this year, I wrote about leading yourself and shared 4 tips to leading yourself better. But in it, I wrote about how to get out of your own way. This is why awareness is so important and why reflecting can be so powerful in your personal growth.
If you want to go deeper and become more effectively, you have to get out of your own way and get intentional about getting clear and staying focused. Write down your goals for this year and you might as well prepare for next year. Then write down all of your competing projects and commitments and ask yourself – what’s important? What has my attention? The key is to identify where you are and where you want to be. Then make the path to where you want to be.
This Friday, December 8th at 11am EST, I’m going to be going live with one of my long time mentors and fellow coaches, Sandra Goode Harrington. In it, we’re going to be sharing the process of getting clear about your goals and how we prepare each year about our goals for the following year and what we’re going to be intentional about. We’ll be taking questions so come prepared. If you’d like to join in on this free lesson, it’s free and I’ll be we’ll be hosting the live call free on Zoom. This is a free leadership series with no gimmicks or something to sell. It’s a way to share with you how to get and stay focused.
You can join from any PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/845746512
See you on the call.
