it seems that this concept of purpose is
uniquely human it's a really interesting
one it's this idea of having an answer
to the why of what we do we know that
that is one of the activators of the
seeking system we know that the concept
of looking for the outcome or the effect
of our behavior is something that our
seeking system is urging us to do but
it's also interesting to take a step
back from that and just think about how
all of us have stories running around in
our brains about why we do what we do
for example if I'm talking to a class I
sometimes would say to them you know
what are you doing right now and it's
possible to think about sitting a lot of
times when I'm teaching a class full of
MBAs or classful executives they're all
sitting and that would be a truthful
answer but they also could say I'm
listening and if they're listening
that's a slightly different story
because it moves the emphasis off the
bum and into the ear and engages the
brain a little bit but they also could
say I'm learning and the idea of
learning is a bit different again
because that implies that I'm listening
to what you're saying but I'm also
comparing it to what I used to believe
and that I'm deciding if I need to do
any updating on what I believe you also
could say I'm trying to learn how to be
a better leader so that I could ignite
the people that I've that I lead each
one of these is just a different purpose
they can all be true they all have the
opportunity to be a true story in our
brain but we as humans have the ability
to shift that focus and sometimes at
work especially menial work that we feel
is repetitive we start to think about
the behaviors and so when somebody says
what are you doing that might say what
do I do at work I put these screws on
that machine what do I do at work I
process this film and I clip this out
and I upload it and those are the
behaviors of the work you also can think
about the wyeth at work what do I do
I delight
by putting this film on line that they
can watch and enjoy what do I do I built
an automobile which is a piece of
equipment that moves 80 to 100 miles an
hour those can all be true stories but
what we're finding is is a lot of time
this sense of purpose the higher order
purpose is lost and it's lost and it's
nudged out by the lower level what do I
do with my body all day long the
evidence and the research suggests that
when we think about our work as a set of
behavior scripted behaviors that we do
in a repetitive way we lose stamina we
lose resilience when we think of it at a
high level of control the why of the
work meaning what is the impact the
final result of this on the world it
really makes our stamina higher makes us
much more resilient to difficulties in
accomplishing that effect
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