Coleman - HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

HBR Guide for Women at Work

HBR Guide to Being More Productive

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing

HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business

HBR Guide to Changing Your Career

HBR Guide to Coaching Employees

HBR Guide to Collaborative Teams

HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers

HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict

HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback

HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence

HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers

HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need

HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job

HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

HBR Guide to Leading Teams

HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions

HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter

HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives

HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work

HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

HBR Guide to Motivating People

HBR Guide to Negotiating

HBR Guide to Networking

HBR Guide to Office Politics

HBR Guide to Performance Management

HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

HBR Guide to Project Management

HBR Guide to Remote Work

HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy

HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically

HBR Guide to Work-Life Balance

HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth

John Coleman

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

Boston, Massachusetts

HBR Press Quantity Sales Discounts

Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at significant quantity discounts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums. Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, and letters from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, as well as excerpts of existing books, can also be created in large quantities for special needs.

For details and discount information for both print and ebook formats, contact .

Copyright 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions , or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the books publication but may be subject to change.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Coleman, John, 1981 author.

Title: HBR guide to crafting your purpose / John Coleman.

Other titles: Harvard Business Review guide to crafting your purpose | Harvard business review guides.

Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [2022] | Series: HBR guides | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021034693 (print) | LCCN 2021034694 (ebook) | ISBN 9781633699830 (paperback) | ISBN 9781633699847 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Job enrichment. | Quality of work life. | Self-actualization (Psychology)

Classification: LCC HF5549.5.J616 C63 2022 (print) | LCC HF5549.5.J616 (ebook) | DDC 658.3/1423--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034693

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034694

ISBN: 978-1-63369-983-0
eISBN: 978-1-63369-984-7

Do you struggle to find purpose in your professional or personal life? Youre not alone. We have all heard stories where someone suddenly discovers their lifes purpose out of the bluethat one thing that gives their lives meaning. But most of us will not magically stumble upon a single purpose that makes everything we do worthwhile. Instead, we need to proactively craft and shape multiple purposes over the course of our lives and careers.

Whether you are new to the workforce, in the middle of your career, or facing a career transition, this guide will provide you with tips and advice for mining all areas of your life for purpose. Through stories of real people, from bus drivers to executives, youll see how you can then take what youve found and shape it into a life of meaningwithout requiring you to leave your job.

Youll learn how to:

• Dispel three common myths about purpose
• Confront and address feelings of monotony in your life
• Cultivate your interests and hobbies to better find purpose
• Invest in multiple sources of meaning, including love, beauty, and service
• Let go of past purposes and overcome your aversion to change
• Use job crafting to shape your role into the job you want
• Identify opportunities for craft and task mastery in your work
• Develop positive relationshipsboth personally and professionally
• Connect what you do to serving others
• Create a culture of purpose in your team and organization
• Live into corporate purpose and ensure that it sticks

Were experiencing a crisis of meaning.

An exercise for focusing your efforts.

How do you find your purpose? You dont.

Where to look for what moves you.

Six spots purpose can liveat the same time.

Learn to let go.

Turn the job you have into the job you want.

Aim for self-improvement and task mastery.

At work, at home, and in your community.

Elevate connections with those in your network.

You dont have to be a top leader to have an impact.

Help colleagues understand and act on the mission.

Curtis Jenkins is a marvel. On May 24, 2019, CBS Evening News aired a short segment about the school bus driver from Dallas who must be among the most purposeful men in America. I spent two years on a public school board in Georgia, and I know that driving a school buswhile remarkably importantcan be grueling and thankless. But Curtis approaches his work with energy, optimism, skill, and care.

Curtis doesnt simply drive the bus; he creates what the segment referred to as a yellow bus utopia. He assigns each of the children responsibilities on the buspolice officers, administrative assistantsand he turns each journey into an exercise in community. His technical job is simply to pick kids up at their bus stops, drop them at Lake Highlands Elementary, and return them safely in the afternoon. But hes crafted his work into so much more.

These are my children, he says in the segment. These are my community. I love em all.

And whats striking beyond Curtiss creativity is the deep joy he so clearly takes in his workhis eyes dance, his smile is infectiousand the extraordinary care he invests in his passengers. His kids comments say it all: