
Two friends decided to change businesses since the previous ones did not survive a recession. They did not have so much –just some funds with the dreams and hopes of succeeding. Stephen had researched and wanted to go into real estate investments. He knew the pros and cons. He had been able to identify his financial Stage, chosen his real estate investing Strategy, picked a target market, and decided his investment property criteria. He had knowledge of virtually everything he needed to accelerate the ladder of real estate. Joel, on the other hand, had heard folks talk about the lucrativeness of importation, and it piqued his interest to set out on that path. Although he had discovered his line of interest, he seemed to exhaust time on dreams and hopes of succeeding rather than take action in its regard.
Stephen, having only a few amounts of money to invest, knew he needed to get some more funds to add to what he already had, so he thought of selling a car that was not so beneficial to him. He was not sure if his friend needed a car but he was bent on selling that car to anyone to achieve his own purpose of investing, so he took up his cell phone and to call his first potential customer –his friend. After the backs and forth, Joel soon started buying the idea of the car since he had always wanted another car anyway. He thought it was a good opportunity to buy a car from his friend at a cheaper rate compared to the market rate. “You know what friend; I will buy your car. I have always wanted another car anyway”He would eventually pay for it with the little funds he had saved from his previous business.
With this, Stephen was able to get the total amount of the money he needed to invest in order to make more money while Joel got a car he was not sure he needed, dreams of becoming wealthy through importations of merchandise he hadn’t figured out, and hopes of succeeding.
Who do you think is the main of purpose in this story? The one who sold a car he didn’t need to invest into something that will generate him more money to buy more cars or the one who bought a car he did not necessarily need with this saved funds, but at a cheaper rate than he would have gotten it in the car-market?
“When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, any wind is the right wind.” — Seneca
Stephen and Joel may have had the same hunger for wealth and success, but the level of clarity of Stephen was distinct from that of Joel. whilst one woke up with an intention to succeed, the other woke with the dreams and hopes of succeeding. Because Joel did not have that clarity of purpose, he unintentionally became the prey of Stephen’s purpose. A lack of clarity of purpose and intentionality is one reason people move in circles for the most part of their lives without results. Unless you have clarity about the importance of the result you want to achieve, you won’t have the intention to take action.

Even if you have goals, they are very haphazard. One goal contradicts the other. You’re all over the place with no sense of direction at all. A life without clarity of purpose is as meaningless as this. Success starts with clarity of purpose. Without knowing exactly what you want, there is no way you can get it.
Imagine if you want to travel overseas, but you have yet to decide on which country to visit, can you buy a flight ticket or formulate your itinerary? Do you know how much to spend and where to stay? How do you plan to get there and what are the attractions you are going to visit?A lack of purpose means a lack of goals. It means nothing is leading you to an imaginary final destination. You literally have nowhere to go, you find it absolutely torturous to be on the way, and you don’t even like the route. A lack of purpose is just as bad as a lack of clarity of purpose.
People who are not clear about their purpose may have an idea of what they want to do with their lives, but they are not quite certain. And, because they are not certain about the steps to take to actualize their purpose, they are vulnerable and can easily become prey to people who have a sound idea of what they want to achieve. When you are clear about the context of the outcome you want, your why, you then start thinking about the action steps needed, the what. If you are clear on the purpose and importance of the result you want, and the action steps you need to undertake to achieve the outcome, you then think about how to do it.We all want to achieve a result in the easiest and simplest way possible.
When you have that mindset you become more intentional about your time. There will only be specific activities, relationships, teamwork, and collaboration that help you achieve the result you want. Focus on maximizing those and saying no to everything else. This creates better boundaries, helps you become more present, and makes you more intentional about where to invest your time.Without purpose clarity as a person, business, or organization, you will barely be able to decide between priority and severity.
Hence, waste resources placing urgency on things that are non-critical but priority and ignore those that are both critical and priority. Understanding the priority and severity matrix will help you get clear on tasks you should be doing and others that you can buy some more time to achieve. Decide what you want. Decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priority and get to work.
To achieve clarity of purpose, you need to define the success you really want. Ask yourself “What has to happen in order for me to feel successful?” when you have answered that, map out the step you need to take and things that will be critical to help you attain them. Then focus on achieving them. When you have attained this level of clarity, you begin to live each day of your life with intentions. These intentions will guide you so much as not to fall prey to other people’s purpose. It is easy to be swept away by life as we hurtle around the sun year after year. If we don’t assert ourselves and design our lives around what is important to us, we will let ourselves get swept away.
“Theree is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.” – Napoleon Hill